Article: Ipswich Motorway upgrade to cost $17,600 per 10cm

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!

Ipswich Motorway upgrade to cost $17,600 per 10cm

Ipswich Motorway upgrade to cost $17,600 per 10cm
Article from: The Courier-Mail

By Steven Wardill

June 13, 2008 12:00am

EVERY 10cm of the Ipswich Motorway will cost taxpayers $17,600 to upgrade but the Rudd Government denies ever committing to fix the entire route.

One of Queensland's worst roads, it will continue to be a nightmare for motorists until mid-2019.

The revelation that the eastern end of the motorway linking to Brisbane remains without funding will almost certainly add to the final cost, with the price tag estimated at $3.3 billion compared to $1.2 billion just four years ago.

    Should the Government foot the bill? Have your say.

The Government yesterday insisted it only ever committed to upgrading a key western section near Ipswich rather than the entire 19km route.

However, this is in stark contrast to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's comments last year when he said a federal Labor Government would deliver "the full upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway".

The Rudd Government doubled the bad news yesterday by naming just 70 Queensland schools in the list of almost 900 receiving funding under the national secondary school computer scheme.

The revelation that the eastern end of the motorway linking to Brisbane remains without funding will almost certainly add to the final cost, with the price tag estimated at $3.3 billion compared to $1.2 billion just four years ago.

There is also fresh doubt over the delivery timetable after claims the road could be completed in three years were replaced with a finish date of mid-2019 "subject to federal contributions" in the latest South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese's spokesman yesterday said there was never a commitment for the Darra to Rocklea section, which would cost on current estimates in excess of $1 billion.

"An upgrade to the (Darra to Rocklea) section of the motorway, like all other potential transport projects, will be considered by Infrastructure Australia as part of our long-term commitment to addressing infrastructure bottlenecks and tackling urban congestion," he said.



This included $1.1 billion to continue work approved by the Howard government ? the stretch between Wacol and Darra and the major interchange with the Logan Motorway at Gailes.

Labor had also promised $1.1 billion more for the Dinmore to Goodna section rather than the now defunct $2.8 billion Goodna Bypass favoured by the former government.

However, Mr Albanese's spokesman denied there was ever a commitment towards the remaining section between Darra and Rocklea, which would cost on today's estimates more than $1 billion.

He said this section would have to fight for funding like every other unfunded project by getting on Infrastructure Australia's priority list on merit.

"An upgrade to the remaining section of the motorway, like all other potential transport projects, will be considered by Infrastructure Australia as part of our long-term commitment to addressing infrastructure bottlenecks and tackling urban congestion," he said.

The claim is contrary to numerous comments by Labor, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd before the election and Blair candidate Shayne Neumann on the night of the election victory.

Opposition transport spokesman Warren Truss said Mr Rudd had promised motorists the full upgrade and any watering down would guarantee further gridlock.

"Settling for anything less now would be proof that Labor seriously misled the constituents of Blair and effectively stole the seat," he said.

But Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt yesterday dropped the state's advocacy for a full upgrade, saying the Government may not even push for this section to be funded through the commonwealth's $20 billion Building Australia Fund.

"It is too early to say if Queensland will nominate the Darra to Rocklea section of the Ipswich Motorway for funding under the Building Australia Fund," Mr Pitt's spokesman said.

"The way the fund is to be structured and operated and what amount of funding Queensland could reasonably expect to get has not been finalised."

[ozbob]

RAIL Back On Track has consistently lobbied for sensible use of the Ipswich rail line - increased services and track capacity. This will be sustainable for the longer term.

For example -->  26 Nov 2007: SEQ More Citytrain services needed for Ipswich line

We have been given some assurances that more services might be available from September this year on this line.  Caboolture line is also needing more early/mid peak services, it is seriously overloaded at times.

A morning peak service leaving Ipswich at 5.59am would be useful now and encourage more people to avoid the chaos on the highway.  Similarly another peak service from Central to Ipswich at 4.30pm would also assist.

[Zoiks]

Where abouts in the inner city are we running out of capacity. Obviously the rail bridge but are we also running out in the tunnels between Roma Central Valley etc?

[ozbob]

In terms of the Ipswich line, one of the factors is that about 40% of the traffic is freight, mainly coal but some general and cattle.  There is a proposal to triple the line from Darra to Redbank, this would help to allow more peak services. When the upgrade between Darra and Corinda is finished, more express services from Darra to the City (ex. Ipswich and Rosewood) would be possible. As well as increased frequency of all stoppers from Darra.  Coal is running 24/7 and there are problems with fitting it all in. I have even seen the odd coalie mixed up in the peak period but this is usually the result of a delay or something.

I suppose as the commuter passenger demands increase, which they surely will, freight paths during the day will be reduced with even more night running.

Inner City, there is still room on the main western line (thank our QR people in the 1950s for their vision and the quad track Roma St to Corinda). I think the Northern line and Southern line are under more capacity constraints and there is talk of another rail bridge across the river.  This would possibly occur before an underground loop.

My own personal opinion is that if a western bypass line was built the freight could be taken right away from all the suburban lines and QR could effectively operate like a metro. Very high frequency, short sections and so forth.

Cheers
Ozbob

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!

Ipswich Motorway is a congested, stop-start road

Ipswich Motorway is a congested, stop-start road
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Neale Maynard

June 13, 2008 12:00am

A IPSWICH Motorway users have long complained about it but until you've driven it at peak hour, it's hard to understand the sheer frustration it creates.

And the most frustrating part is that when the traffic halts, it does so for no apparent reason.

There's no breakdown, no accident, no man with a stop sign ? just some unseen force that unleashes itself when too many cars cram into a too-small space.

You could understand it if, like so many southeast Queensland arterial roads, there was a set of traffic lights or something obvious that caused cars to come to a halt with the usual concertina effect behind them.

But during a recent less-than-memorable peak-hour drive on the motorway, the traffic behaved like there were invisible stop-go men randomly positioned along the road.

Eighty minutes from Brisbane to Ipswich, about double what it should take. And I'm sure regular users will tell me 80 minutes isn't that bad.

What was all too obvious was that the Ipswich Motorway is choking to death, a victim of surging population and housing prices that force people further out into the suburbs, and it needs a complete fix, not some partial remedy that will only deliver permanent pain.

Catch a train, ease the strain!   

[Zoiks]

I really dont get it.
We move out to the suburbs to reduce our housing prices. But then we keep our jobs in the city, spend 80+ minutes on a heavily congested  road sipping at that expensive petrol while watching trains pass and get to the city in half the time, and half the cost.

[ozbob]

You and me both Zoiks!

I just drove back from my daughter's house at Goodna (no trains this weekend Corinda to Ipswich). The house at Goodna is within walking distance of the railway line.  The road works going on around Goodna to Gailes is mammoth, and still it is not really going to solve much in the end.  Providing a couple of extra peak services on the rail will have a very positive effect. Hopefully the day when 15 minute frequency off peak and more peak services beyond Corinda is not that far away either. When that happens I suspect many motorists will aim for rail. We then have to address the parking problems at stations by perhaps providing a better feeder bus system for them