Page 1927 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 June 2015
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three years in the ACT budget. Works as part of this upgrade will include a new southbound road carriageway between Erindale Drive and Ellerston Avenue; new traffic signals where Ashley Drive intersects with Bugden Avenue, Statton Street and Clift Crescent; duplication of existing underpasses near Statton Street and Bugden Avenue; north and southbound on-road cycle lanes; and additional footpaths to link with existing paths.
Ashley Drive acts as a major thoroughfare for traffic travelling from Tuggeranong suburbs such as Monash, Isabella Plains and Richardson to Woden and to the city, so I am really pleased we will be able to upgrade this second stage of Ashley Drive to a dual carriageway.The ACT government is committed to providing infrastructure such as on and off-road cycle and pedestrian networks to encourage sustainable transport and thus help reduce the need for vehicle use. After all, around 40 per cent of Canberrans travel less than 10 kilometres to work, which is a distance that most people can easily cycle.
The budget responds to the needs of cyclists. More cyclepaths will be developed in the ACT, with $1.7 million committed from the ACT budget. This includes funding for the design and construction of new road crossings on Sullivans Creek cyclepath at Masson Street, Condamine Street and Goodwin Street, as well as funding to facilitate the widening of sections of the existing cyclepath from Wattle Street to Barry Drive.
The ACT budget provides for an upgrade of the government’s electronic lodgement system for development and building applications by investing $2.5 million to ensure that the building and construction industry has a world-class system which will provide real-time information about the progress of their applications. It will also provide for improved functionality.
As a small city-state, our focus is always on how we can develop and grow our region. This budget provides an additional $500,000 over two years for the Canberra urban and regional futures. This will bring the ACT’s contribution to this project to $1 million and will fulfil a commitment that we made at the last election to enable research to find new pathways and strategies for a sustainable future both for our city and for the surrounding region.
Madam Assistant Speaker, as you know, one of this government’s priorities is developing a healthy and active community. We all value the beauty and amenity of our city and there is no better way to see that than by walking and cycling. That is why we have committed a further $340,000 to the Heart Foundation to continue its important work in developing active travel solutions. This will be complemented by the significant investment in infrastructure announced in this budget.
This budget steps up for Canberrans. It invests in services that support our vulnerable young people and it steps up for our road users by investing for the future of road improvements. (Time expired.)
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (11.05): I rise to commend Mr Smyth’s amendment to the budget and talk about what really is a budget that takes
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