Page 3776 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
In fact, the benefit-cost ratio for the project is expected to be around $4 for every $1 invested in the project. As discussed before in this place, this incorporates assigning monetary values to savings in time, emissions, accidents and other economic and social factors. Given the large number of road projects that take place around Australia and around the world, the methodology for calculating the BCR of such projects is often very accurate so we can have a relatively high degree of confidence in these figures.
The TAMS website states that the Majura parkway project will provide a range of benefits, including improved traffic flow and safety, additional capacity on the ACT road network, reduced travel times, improved access to the Majura Valley, dedicated on-road cycle lanes to encourage cycling, improved access to the national and regional freight route and supporting infrastructure for the Canberra international airport to become a major international freight and commuter hub.
However, there is a real problem looming as the project progresses, and that is the link between the city and the Majura parkway. The project was in part justified by the government as being a way to divert traffic from Northbourne Avenue as being an alternative route into the city and Russell from Gungahlin. In an answer to a question on notice last term, Mr Corbell said:
Majura Parkway can form part of the peak express routes that service directly from Gungahlin to Fairbairn/Majura/Brindabella Parks.
However, it seems that the government has not properly thought through exactly how people are going to travel on the Majura parkway to the city. I think many Canberrans would assume that there is going to be an opportunity to exit the southbound Majura parkway lanes onto Morshead Drive, which turns into Parkes Way, to access the city, ANU or Russell. However, this is not so. There are no plans for a southbound exit onto Morshead Drive. Instead, motorists wanting to travel to the city will have to use Fairbairn Avenue, a road which is already at or near capacity.
Further to this, the process of travelling onto Fairbairn Avenue is not going to be particularly smooth as it involves exiting the southbound carriageway, waiting to turn right at lights and then waiting again at a signalised intersection which serves the traffic turning onto the northbound lane of Majura parkway. So there will be two sets of traffic lights before motorists can crawl along the single-lane Fairbairn Avenue. At that point, motorists will then have to work through the Anzac Parade-Limestone-Fairbairn roundabouts, with the flow of traffic from Limestone making it very hard to access the roundabout for those travelling city bound. All this means that Majura parkway is not going to be a particularly user-friendly way of accessing the city and surrounds, especially from Gungahlin.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I am not the first to raise these concerns. In fact, the government foreshadowed each of these issues and commissioned a report into the impact on Fairbairn Avenue following the construction of the Majura parkway. The Fairbairn Avenue duplication traffic modelling document is dated 13 November 2013 and was provided to the opposition through FOI. The document’s introduction states:
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video