Page 3567 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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upgrading and entrenching the design of key parts of our travel network. They have redesign options flagged for them right now, at this minute, and the government is ignoring those options.
So this motion calls on the government to ensure that roadworks and rehabilitation are not undertaken on areas which are subject to incomplete, not-yet-finished community consultation or planning processes. We are saying to the government: plan before you pour.
I would just like to put this motion in some context and possibly pre-empt some of the government’s speech on the topic. We do acknowledge that the government faces many transport challenges. Combined with budgetary pressures, it is not an easy task to change Canberra’s transport patterns. I also acknowledge the good things that the government has achieved. This budget has many good new transport initiatives in it. It is a step in the right direction.
But that is what makes the signal coming from the wasted roadworks so worrying, Why is the government wasting these opportunities for safe and sustainable redesign and ignoring the plans that are out there? You have to wonder whether the government just says that it wants these very green-sounding plans about a sustainable city and sustainable transport, but it just does not follow through. Why?
I want to touch on a couple of other points raised in the motion. As well as being concerned about roadworks in specific city areas, we are also concerned about the coordination of roadworks across the city at once. The recent Engineers Australia report card on the ACT picked up this point.
It specifically pointed out the poor overarching planning by the government in that they let multiple large road projects occur simultaneously, which makes it of course very difficult for people to get around. That is why this motion calls for a project management strategy for roadworks and other construction that looks at overall travel routes and minimises disruption.
Another point I wish to raise is the fact that the government often fails to properly provide for walkers and cyclists when routes are blocked off and changed. Woden Green is a good recent example. That development blocked off the main cycling trunk route from south Canberra, a change that was to stay in place for about nine months. Suddenly hundreds of commuting cyclists were shunted out to busy Callam Street without any warning. It was dangerous and chaotic.
An alternative safe route was put in after a considerable community uproar. But why was it not planned earlier? We have seen similar things happen around Canberra. What is happening at present is not good enough. We know that easy, uninterrupted, safe routes are an absolute key to getting people using active transport. If there are not safe alternatives and the safe alternatives are not maintained and supported, people will have no alternative but to drive.
In conclusion, I hope that the government takes seriously the points raised in this motion and commits to prudently using public roadwork funds and not waste money
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