Page 4029 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 September 2017
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intersections of both Hindmarsh Drive and Brewer Street have created noticeable improvements, particularly in regard to road smoothness, protection and the extension of the life of those roads. We are also improving the technology employed in our road surfacing, reinforcing the strength of roads under continuous stress from large trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles. We are trialling the new TonerPave, which incorporates 30 per cent recycled printer toner substance, along with the world-first Tonerseal, which integrates recycled tyres as well as other substances to reduce carbon emissions and environmental waste.
Our roads are not the only area where the ACT government is improving the provision of services while achieving environmental outcomes. In addition to over 6.8 million rubbish collections and over 3.4 million recycling collections that the ACT government undertakes each year, we are rolling out green bins. The green bins pilot program began earlier this year in Weston Creek and Kambah and has been very well received in the community. The green bins will be rolled out to all suburbs over time, helping to reduce leaf litter and nutrients in our waterways. As we move into lawn-mowing season the government will continue our regular mowing program. Almost 30,000 hectares of grass on public land and along our arterial roads is mowed every year. I encourage residents to log on to the TCCS website to familiarise themselves with the mowing schedule in their neighbourhoods.
The government are also building better streets and footpaths in continuing our work on the maintenance of our 2,500 kilometres of footpaths in the ACT, because good quality footpaths and cycleway infrastructure and safer streets are part of building healthier, active and vibrant neighbourhoods in our city. Our towards zero growth healthy weight action plan highlights the importance of supporting active living. Ensuring that we have quality footpaths and better connections, along with improved school zone safety, helps to improve active travel—cycling and walking.
Road safety around schools in the territory is also being improved through the active streets program, which was piloted and evaluated at four schools earlier in the year. This will see a $1 million expansion of the program, which will also encompass a range of schools in my electorate—Chapman, Curtin, Holy Trinity primary, Garran primary, Hughes primary, Melrose High and Sacred Heart primary. This is part of the $30 million our government is investing over the forward estimates to improve walking and cycling infrastructure in Canberra, including improvements inside the Woden town centre, better links from the town centre to the Canberra Hospital and the Woden bus interchange, the construction of Butters Bridge in the Molonglo Valley, and upgrades to help improve accessibility for seniors in Weston.
Another important area of city services, particularly on the south side, is graffiti management. The Canberra Liberals will, no doubt, appreciate the reminder that the Callum Street drains in Woden have been reopened as a legal graffiti site to provide a constructive alternative for young people—and perhaps some MLAs—who want to engage in genuine street art, supported by the Woden Youth Centre. This is just one of the 25 so-called managed sites across Canberra serving as an outlet for youth creativity, supplementing the annual half a million dollars invested in last year’s hiring of a graffiti management coordinator to help the government remove and prevent non-lawful graffiti.
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