Page 1570 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 May 2006
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There are major problems with traffic flow on important road links such as Canberra Avenue for our neighbours in Queanbeyan who bring a lot of economic activity into Canberra. Traffic will increase in this area once the new defence headquarters at Bungendore are built, yet the government fails to plan for these types of important future traffic needs in terms of the road surface, infrastructure, lights et cetera.
We are concerned not only about the lack of commitment to road projects but also about the Stanhope government’s lack of commitment to road safety improvements. According to the Department of Urban Services, there is only funding in each year’s budget for two road safety improvement measures. This might include things such as roundabouts, chicanes, slow-down points and the like throughout Canberra suburbs. Only two projects per year can be identified and funded across the entire ACT.
The minister certainly knows, I know, we all know, that there are many examples of some pretty urgent works that need to be done in terms of traffic control and traffic speed control. I continue to receive numerous complaints from residents about reckless driving, burnouts and hoons driving dangerously along Canberra’s suburban streets. You would think that slow-down measures in well-known trouble spots in residential zones would be a priority under this government, but that does not appear to be the case.
The lack of funding for the Tharwa Drive duplication is an issue that affects the many commuters from the Lanyon Valley. Suburbs in the Lanyon Valley continue their rapid rate of growth. It is this growth that the government has failed to plan for. The length of delays on Tharwa Drive, for example, that can be seen most days are frustrating for residents of those areas. I receive much correspondence from constituents that make use of Tharwa Drive. They constantly express their disgust with the road and plead for action to be taken. Has the government done anything for these residents? According to the response to question on notice No 821 that I put to the minister:
The project has been deferred and the funds have been transferred to the Gungahlin Drive Extension Project … The Tharwa Drive upgrade will be reconsidered in future budgets …
That is great news for the residents of the Lanyon Valley, I say sarcastically. The government cannot afford to fund their road upgrade at the moment. Watch this space, but do not hold your breath. Perhaps this is a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Among the many emails I have received on the issue was one from a constituent who had initially sent Mr Hargreaves the same email some three weeks prior. Unfortunately, the constituent was tired of waiting for a response from the minister’s office and wanted an explanation. Some comments were made in the email regarding Mr Hargreaves’s use of the Tharwa Drive upgrade as an election platform. This particular fellow said, “I voted for you, Mr Hargreaves, because of it. I guess that was a mistake.”
The resident touches on other concerns. Why did funding need to be diverted from the Tharwa Drive upgrade to the Gungahlin Drive extension? Could funding not have been transferred from a non-essential project such as the arboretum? It appears not. That is just one example of a host of correspondence I have received about road infrastructure priorities, and space precludes me from reading another half a dozen of them. That one, I
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