Page 1512 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014
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available. Can I suggest that this would have been the perfect forum for Mr Doszpot to get all the information he needs about footpath repair and prioritisation.
It is clear, unfortunately, from Mr Doszpot’s motion and from what he said in the chamber today, that he does not have a complete appreciation of how the footpath prioritisation and maintenance program works. To give the Assembly some idea of the extent of the network, there are some 4.1 million square metres of community paths in Canberra, comprising three million square metres of footpaths and 1.1 million square metres of bicycle paths or, in terms of total length of paths, 2,715 kilometres, with 2,295 kilometres of footpaths and 420 kilometres of bicycle paths. They play a very important part in the lives of the residents of our city now and into the future.
Pedestrian and bicycle movements are an important part of creating sustainable transport in our city. Thousands of Canberrans, young and old, use the path network every day for convenience, recreation and exercise, so the task of maintaining paths so they are safe and available is very important. It is also valuable that Mr Doszpot and other members of the Assembly understand some of the challenges that face the government when taking responsibility and a long-term approach to this maintenance requirement.
The age of paths varies from suburb to suburb. However, with Canberra celebrating its 100th birthday last year, it is clear that some of them are quite old. The areas which are old are being replaced over time. Roads ACT has had in place for more than 10 years an ongoing regime of systematic inspections of paths. This produces an annual program of repair and renewal works which seeks to get the best overall benefit from the resources available.
Mr Doszpot refers to particular suburbs in his motion, so let me offer the following detail on the areas and ages of paths in these suburbs: Yarralumla has 78,000 square metres, originally built in 1942; Deakin has 53,400 square metres, originally built in 1946; Griffith has 58,700 square metres, originally built in 1943; Forrest has 32,800 square metres, originally built in 1938; and Campbell has 28,400 square metres, originally built in 1944.
What Mr Doszpot may not know is that there is an extensive inspection program for paths based on the greatest risk areas having the highest priority. I think he would agree that this is a sensible approach to managing a community asset rather than, for example, deciding where upgrades should occur based on particular Assembly motions that may come up from time to time. This is designed to be a more strategic approach.
In its program, TAMS gives more regular attention to high use areas, for example around shopping centres, schools and aged persons institutions. For example, in Civic, paths are inspected on an annual basis. In high need suburbs the commercial centres and community facilities, such as hospitals and schools, are inspected between every two and three years. In these suburbs the residential areas are inspected at four-yearly intervals. As I said earlier, we are talking about over four million square metres of community paths across Canberra. It is a very large area to inspect and that, of course, impedes the ability of TAMS to inspect each area with great frequency.
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