Page 3712 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014
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three water crossings. It makes the Canberra metro route up the middle of wide boulevards along Northbourne Avenue and Flemington Road to Gungahlin town centre look like a walk in the park.
It is hard to find a policy, let alone any consistency, in the Liberals’ statements on capital metro. Half the time their position is that capital metro is too much. Then they will say it is not enough. We need to see a plan for the rollout of light rail across the city right now.
What are the Liberals’ alternative transport policies to cope with the growth of Canberra, and the northern suburbs in particular? I have heard Mr Coe wanting more cars using bus lanes. Is that it? I have asked before, “Is the Liberal position to wait until Northbourne Avenue is a gridlocked car park morning and evening and the inner north is clogged with rat runners?” Is that Mr Coe’s position, that we wait before building light rail until Ginninderra Drive, Barry Drive and Parkes Way are backed up and Belconnen roads are “chock full to Charnwood”?
In the dire situation that the Liberals ever win office on a “damn the tram” platform, then what do they have as alternative transport options for north Canberra? Will they rule out any plans to revive the Monash Drive plan, pushing an expressway through Canberra nature park across the slopes of Mount Majura and Mount Ainslie to bring traffic to and from Gungahlin and Civic? That is a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars for a start, and a major loss of bushland, and that is before building the car parks in Civic to take the extra cars being driven there.
What policies will the Liberals have to check the rat running through inner north Canberra and Belconnen suburbs that is already an aggravation to residents and drivers? Will the Liberals take over the median strip on Northbourne Avenue and cut down all the trees so that they can build an extra four traffic lanes down the middle to cope with the extra traffic? Will the Liberals’ lack of a policy other than “axe the tracks” just leave Gungahlin residents eventually sitting in congested traffic for up to two hours each day along the Civic to Gungahlin corridor?
The Liberals have no alternative transport option and neither will commuters. Then they will be saying, “Why didn’t we build light rail?” It has been suggested to me by a Harry Potter fan—and I imagine the Liberals’ transport spokesperson is one—that the Liberals are under the leg-locker curse from the series, also known as the locomotor mortis spell. Locomotion or any policy development is impossible under the spell the Liberals seem to be under.
As good as the rapid bus services are along the corridor they will struggle in the future as more congestion sets in, especially without dedicated bus lanes. Light rail running along purpose-built corridors offers a ride of quality, smoothness and comfort that buses can never achieve. Buses are running on the sides of roads that inevitably develop unevenness and wear and tear from other traffic and throw passengers around. Modern trams will deliver a wholly different public transport experience for passengers.
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