You are hereDoT documents reveal freeways not cost effective
DoT documents reveal freeways not cost effective
This week Greg Barber won a long running battle with the Department of Transport to make public documents reviewing the cost benefits analysis of road and rail transport options in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. In an 11th hour bid to avoid having the matter heard in court, the Department of Transport decided to release the documents as originally requested by Greg on 29 April 2009.
At last we are able to place this information in the public domain, where it should always have been. And the reasons for the Transport Department's reluctance to release these documents is immediately clear, with their own studies revealing that every $3 spent on roads will return only around $1 - based on figures analysed before the cost of the WestLink Freeway blew out from $3.5 to $5billion. Comparatively, rail upgrades and improvements stand to deliver positive returns.
As Greg Barber commented yesterday, "This road tunnel is so economically daft that neither private investors nor the federal government wants to build the thing."
Stay tuned for more data as it comes to hand. We expect information relating to 12 more transport infrastructure projects to be released in the coming weeks.
To read the today's front page story in The Age click here
Join the campaign for smarter, greener and cheaper transport in the West.
To satisfy your inner transport data nerd, open the below attachment and read one of the documents the Victorian Department of Transport didn't want you to see.
~ Another transparently democratic moment brought to you by The Greens ~
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| West Gate Alternative.pdf | 5.56 MB |
Something I have pondered over the years, is why is Victoria so ANTI rail?? A one time leader in Australian rail, not least thru electrification early in the 20th century, Victoria, and indeed Melbourne had an enviable rail network. As the 20th century wore on we started to tear up our country rail lines, and apart from the City Loop, no major investment in Melbourne's rail system was undertaken. Compare this to Brisbane, Perth and in particular Sydney who have a very comprehensive rail system, particularly for inner city areas where it is needed most, for mass cross city transit. In Victoria, we seem to be the village idiots of rail transport in Australia (in fact I would argue we are global village idiots on rail).
We all keep banging on about public transport and how positive it is for the environment, in fact we've been doing that since the sad old days of "The Met" and the PTC. But still, in Victoria we do nothing. Our once "world class" ( in the first 1/2 of the 20 century) metropolitan commuter rail system, is now a decrepid, ramshackle joke. The pits. A total laugh (unless you need to use it). An embarrassment. Broken. Stuffed. Seriously #^&%@*& - A THIRD WORLD MONUMENT TO YEARS OF NEGLECT AND INCOMPETENCE.
What is it I ask, with Government (both Lib & ALP) and Bureaucracy (yes, those rocket scientists) in this state, that we never maintain, let alone invest in our rail infrastructure, but we continue to sink 10's and 10's of billions of dollars into roads while at the same time chastising and brow beating the general public of the need to be more environmentally aware, and running silly ads with black balloons coming out of electric TV's and VCR's??
How many black balloons would be coming out of the Westlink Tunnel if the Brumby Mole builds it?? I bet the Brumby Mole wouldn't like you to know that!
David