Page 932 - Week 03 - Thursday, 30 March 2006

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(1) Will barriers be constructed over the Oaks Estate Bridge to prevent accidents like that which occurred on 16 January 2006 as reported in The Canberra Times on 21 January, entitled “Barriers to rivers”; if so, when will they be constructed and what type of construction will take place; if not, why not;

(2) Have barriers previously been considered for the Oaks Estate Bridge; if so, when were they considered and what reasons existed for not constructing barriers earlier;

(3) How many accidents have been recorded involving the Oaks Estate Bridge for (a) 2001-02; (b) 2002-03, (c) 2003-04, (d) 2004-05 and (e) 2005-06 to date.

Mr Hargreaves: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:

(1) Roads ACT has commissioned a consultant to assess the safety of the low level crossing. The report is due to be submitted to Roads ACT before the end of March 2006. Roads ACT will consider the recommendations of the report and implement any agreed recommendations in 2006/07.

(2) The provision of barriers on the Oaks Estate Road Bridge has not been previously considered. Barriers are not normally provided on low-level bridges and causeways subject to frequent flooding because they can trap large amounts of debris, which may result in additional lateral hydraulic loading on the bridge leading to extensive damage or loss of the bridge.

(3) Accident records involving the Oaks Estate Bridge:

Roads—rule changes
(Question No 869)

Mr Pratt asked the Minister for Urban Services, upon notice, on 14 February 2006:

(1) In relation to the National Transport Commission’s proposed changes to Australian road rules, why did Urban Services announce in a media release dated Monday, 30 January 2006 that it was calling for public comment on proposed changes to Australian road rules when there was only three days left before comments were due to close;

(2) Given that the proposed changes to road rules were issued on 7 December 2005, why did Urban Services leave the announcement so late into the comment period;

(3) Is it acceptable that ACT residents are only given a three day window to research and determine if they will make any comments regarding the proposed road rules; if so, why; if not, why not;

(4) What has been done to ensure important information like these changes to road rules can be disseminated to the public in a timely fashion, enabling residents sufficient time to review material and act on their views if necessary.

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