Page 1705 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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data that may need to be corrected. I have not had any representations of concern from the commonwealth, including at the health ministers meeting, where the federal health minister was there to raise any concerns about the processes underway to correct the data.
Transport—strategy
MR HARGREAVES: My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development. Minister, you recently released an update on the city to Gungahlin transit corridor project. Could you please tell the Assembly how this important project is progressing?
MR CORBELL: I thank Mr Hargreaves for the question. As members would be aware, early last month I released an update, the second update from the government, on progress to examine options for both bus rapid transit and light rail transit from Gungahlin to the city along the Flemington Road-Northbourne Avenue corridor. This assessment has been looking closely at the range of options to deliver fast, frequent and quality public transport down one of the busiest corridors—indeed, the busiest corridor—in the city providing more incentive for people to use public transport and helping to manage congestion as population along the corridor grows.
The project is a key part of the government’s considerations flowing from the 2012 transport for Canberra policy, which outlines ways to deliver faster, more convenient and more sustainable transport options for Canberrans. The project is investigating the feasibility of replacing the Red Rapid bus service between the city and Gungahlin with either a bus rapid transit or a light rail transit corridor. Both options require their own segregated corridor which allows for higher speeds, better frequency and reliability.
In each option the examination to date suggests that the service is proposed to run at a 10 minute frequency by 2021 and eight minutes or less by 2030. As I indicated, I recently released the second project update, which included the independent cost estimates for both the bus rapid transit and light rail transit options. This work was undertaken by the consultants URS Australia. These cost estimates show that bus rapid transit is estimated to cost between $300 million and $360 million, while light rail transit would require an investment estimated at $700 million to $860 million. These cost estimates are subject to further detailed assessment and refinement.
Further design work is now being undertaken and a detailed business case is currently under development to allow the government to determine whether a BRT or LRT option is economically feasible for this transit corridor. Apart from the cost differences, there are other advantages and disadvantages of each option. These have been laid out and explained in project update 2.
The project update also indicates alignment possibilities along the corridor under both the BRT and LRT options. It is intended that the transit corridor would be in the median on the Flemington Road element of the corridor and moving to the kerbside or staying in the median on the Northbourne Avenue segment.
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