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[ozbob]

Treasurer and Minister for Employment and Economic Development
The Honourable Andrew Fraser
18/03/2010

Half a billion dollars worth of road upgrades on their way

Construction will soon commence on a major upgrade of the southern end of the Gateway Motorway and a new, toll-free Port of Brisbane motorway.

Treasurer Andrew Fraser today announced the first project would be a $240 million, two-lane expansion of the last remaining four-lane stretch of motorway between Brisbane's northside and the Gold Coast.

"This Government is making a total investment of more than $2 billion in duplicating the Gateway Bridge and upgrading the Gateway approaches," Mr Fraser said.

"This is the final piece of a project that delivers an unbroken six-lane stretch of Gateway Motorway from Brisbane's northside to the Gold Coast.

"About 70,000 motorists a day travel through the current four-lane stretch between Mt. Gravatt-Capalaba Road and Miles Platting Road.

"The Bligh Government will deliver a four to six-lane expansion, which will slash travel times through the area, lessen the impact of traffic incidents and provide a safer traffic environment.

"It's expected to be completed by the middle of 2011."

Mr Fraser said the second project, a new extension to the toll-free Port of Brisbane Motorway, would be put out for tender.

"The new Port of Brisbane Motorway will be almost double the length of the existing road, and it will remain toll free," Mr Fraser said.

"The two-lane motorway-standard road will be run from Lindum Road to Pritchard Street and will connect to the existing Port of Brisbane Motorway.

"The new path of the Motorway will bypass the dangerous dog-leg corner on Lytton Road, which has been the scene of several heavy vehicle accidents.

"It will pass through the Lytton Industrial Estate, providing better connections for local businesses and improving safety for all road users by avoiding the sharp turns on Lytton Road.

"The State Government will continue to seek funding from the federal government to provide a four lane upgrad e to the entire motorway from the Gateway Motorway to Pritchard Street, in line with the ultimate plan."

Mr Fraser said in order to facilitate the projects, a new tolling structure for the Queensland Motorways network would be introduced from 1 July 2010.

"To ensure that the upgrades can proceed, we have brought forward the toll increase that was announced last year," Mr Fraser said.

"For one of the cheapest toll roads in Australia, you get an unbroken six-lane stretch of highway from North Brisbane to the Gold Coast.

"For private vehicles there will be an increase from the previously announced toll that will now come into effect on 1 July 2010.

"That will take the Gateway Bridge toll to $3.85 for privately owned vehicles from 1 July.

"No-one likes tolls, but without them we wouldn't be able to maintain the massive investment in this critical piece of road infrastructure - they fund this upgrade.

"It's important to note that crossing the Gateway will remain cheaper than the Clem Jones Tunnel.

"The Gateway also remains, on a per-kilometre basis, one of the cheapest toll roads in Australia.

"This will be the last step-increase in tolls for the existing motorway network. The base tolls will now be set in legislation and future toll increases on the existing network will be capped at annual CPI rates. This will remain the case after the sale of the tolling franchise in 2011."

Mr Fraser said the new tolling structure would align it with the Clem 7 tunnel, Airport Link and other toll roads in Victoria.

"The introduction of a fairer tolling structure will take into account the type of vehicle, what the vehicle is used for, and its impact on the road surface.

"This is about ensuring that average mum and dad motorists are not subsidising trucks and other commercial vehicles.

"Studies have estimated that for every 20 per cent heavier a vehicle gets, we ar on the road surface is doubled. That's why heavier commercial vehicles that cause significantly more wear to the road surface will now pay more than privately-owned family vehicles."

The toll prices from 1 July 2010 can be viewed at www.qldmotorways.com.au.

==============================================================

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Fears toll increase will force people out of work

Fears toll increase will force people out of work
COURTNEY TRENWITH
March 18, 2010 - 1:36PM

The Gateway Motorway toll increase will force some low-income earners to give up work as transport becomes increasingly unviable, an advocate group says.

The toll will rise by almost $1, or 30 per cent, to $3.85 for a private car or small truck from July 1, Treasurer Andrew Fraser confirmed this morning.

That equals $9 extra per week, or $36 per month for regular commuters.

Queensland Council of Social Services president Karyn Walsh told brisbanetimes.com.au the jump would be enough to tip some over the edge and declare work at the other end of the motorway no longer financially worthwhile.

Mrs Walsh said many people would view the toll hike on top of other recent government increases targeting motorists.

On July 1, last year, the 8.3 cents a litre fuel subsidy that operated since 1997 was scrapped and car owners were slugged with registration fee increases of between 6 and 11 per cent.

"[For] people on low incomes or people on benefits ... it's become more and more difficult for people to maintain having a car, which then further disadvantages them to be able to access work where work is available," Mrs Walsh said.

"It's getting to a point where people have to give up opportunities to work because of transport costs."

Mrs Walsh compared the toll increase to a spike in mortgage interest rates.

"It's the combination of factors and weighing it up, it could for some people be the thing that just adds up and it's not worth it [going to work]," she said.

"It's a combination of interest rates, transport costs, electricity costs, it's really just this constant creek that's going on at the moment, which is making it very difficult for low income earners to work.

"It also impacts considerably on people's ability to participate in the community. [For example] children are often disadvantaged because they can't participate in extra-curricular activities."

Mrs Walsh said workers needed a car because of the lack of public and community transport and the unreliability of existing services.

She said governments needed to take flexible travel options into account when deciding to charge motorists for new road infrastructure.

She called on the Government to expand public transport concessions to those on the New Start allowance, which is only available to disability and parent pension recipients.

Mr Fraser said the Gateway Motorway toll hike was "justified" because it would help pay for a $240 million upgrade at the southern end of the road, allowing for six lanes uninterrupted from Nudgee to Carrara.

He denied the toll hike was to boost the appeal of the Government's plan to sell the rights to collect the toll next year.

The new owner will take on the $240 million debt.

"Whether it was in public or private ownership it would have gone up. It's about funding the motorway upgrade," Mr Fraser said.

He said commuters would pay the additional $9 per week for the convenience the upgrade would bring.

"What we expect is this won't have a material impact on traffic on the Gateway Motorway," Mr Fraser said.

"With community transport and public transport not really ... assisting people to get to work, or being able to rely on public transport to get to work, necessitates people having to have a car.''

[frereOP]

I think it underscores our dislike of charges, fees, tolls and taxes.
Things need to be kept modest and affordable or it won't receive popular support...

It's simply a case of you can't have your cake and eat it too.  We all complained when taxes (income tax) were high but everything was cheap or free.  Now that tax rates have been lowered and new sources of revenue have been found (eg GST, tolls etc) we all complain when the user pays principle applies.  Don't ever forget what Paul Keating as treasurer said:- "There is no such thing a free lunch".  Ultimately, someone has to pay and that goes for subsidies for PT as well.

[#Metro]

This is true.
The Gateway Bridge is an amazing piece of engineering and it has just been duplicated.
Its true, the toll will go up by $1. Ignoring all the squealing, its not the end of the world, and surprisingly, when the toll does go up people will still drive on it.

People don't like to pay for anything.

On the other hand, I sometimes get the feeling that I'm some kind of cash-cow to shamelessly extort money from which I worked for.
Ekka train fare surcharge, penalties on bills if you pay late, penalties if your transaction fails, if you park for too long, if you park in the wrong place, if you leave your wheelie bin out, if your dog didn't get registered, phone bill rates went up and just today I got a letter in the mail saying that my electricity rate will be going up again!

I'm sure that some of our taxes have gone down, but they have returned through the back door as penalties, surcharges, fees and the like.

A congestion tax is possible, but should it be done? What is the alternative people will flock to?
Will the alternative cope with regard to the sprawling form of the city (the PT system barely copes now despite all the improvements to it).
Public transport can be improved through a number of mundane measures, and planning measures as well.

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

Treasurer Andrew Fraser defends toll hikes for Gateway Bridge, Logan Motorway

Treasurer Andrew Fraser defends toll hikes for Gateway Bridge, Logan Motorway

    * Steven Wardill
    * From: The Courier-Mail
    * March 18, 2010 9:01PM

MOTORISTS will be squeezed for an extra $27 million annually in increased tolls on the Gateway Bridge and Logan Motorway.

After details of the new tolling regime were revealed in The Courier-Mail, Treasurer Andrew Fraser yesterday outlined the full extent of the price hikes.

Light commercial vehicles will be hit hardest by the new regime, with the introduction of a higher toll specifically for this class, while regular motorists will also have to dig deeper.

The Government insisted the higher tolls were necessary to fund $560 million of upgrades, rather than to make Queensland Motorways more attractive to investors when it is sold next year.

"The toll increase, it is important to emphasise, would have been put in place whether QML was in government ownership or private sector ownership," Mr Fraser said.

The upgrades include a $240 million project to expand the Gateway Motorway to six lanes between Wishart and Eight Mile Plains and a $320 million project to extend the Port of Brisbane Motorway.

Treasury forecasts estimate the new regime will make Queensland Motorways an extra $9 million annually from private motorists and $18 million extra from the two commercial vehicle classes. Total tolls generated last financial year were $161.2 million.

Mr Fraser revealed the Government had considered a toll on the Port of Brisbane Motorway, but ruled this out.

He said modelling showed locals would be hit with tolls, but if only commercial vehicles were charged, it would force trucks on to local streets.

Shadow treasurer Tim Nicholls accused the Government of treating Queensland motorists "like the frog in the pot". "(Premier Anna) Bligh and Labor keep increasing the temperature until it reaches boiling point," he said.

Transport Workers Union state secretary Hughie Williams said the increased costs for commercial operators would send more businesses broke.

However, Mr Fraser insisted the new commercial tolls were a "value-for-money proposition" with the motorway upgrades.

"For most tradies with commercially registered vehicles, their time is a lot more valuable than the increase in this toll," he said. "They don't want to sit in traffic. They want to be on-site working, earning a quid."

[curator49]

Hughie Williams is complaining that it will send some businesses broke. I am sure that it will be just another add-on to the bill that the ordinary man-in-the-street will have to pay. It will be part of "business overheads" like buying equipment, etc and these are allowed for in any invoice that may be charged. It just doesn't show as a separate item on the account.

User pays comes into everything these days. Gone are the days when a toll was placed on a newly built road or bridge until it was paid for and the toll then removed. The Walter Taylor Bridge at Indooroopilly and the Hornibrook Highway Bridge are two cases in point where a toll was charged until the structure was paid for. Now, it is requirement for profit making companies who must do exactly that - make a profit sufficient to give their shareholders a decent return for their investment.

[Jon Bryant]

The increases are the wrong way around.  It is the passenger vehcles that should be charged more to stop them using the bridge and stop driving.  Let's stop penalizing the poor Tradies and trucks who have to be on the roads.  Let's not go down the path of some cities who end up banning the trucks and tradies during peak hours so selfish car drivers can get to work. This is the wrong way around.

[mufreight]

Might be a little behind the times but I was brought up in an age when Government was obliged to provide the infrastructure and tolls if applied were kept to a minimum untill the asset was paid for.
Why else do we pay registeration fees and taxes if not for the government to provide the infrastructure.

[#Metro]

I think business vehicles get charged more because they have more capacity to pay.
When wages rise, prices aren't far behind...

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail click here!

Infrastructure plan floats levies for motorists, homeowners

Infrastructure plan floats levies for motorists, homeowners

    * by Steven Wardill
    * From: The Courier-Mail
    * March 23, 2010 8:32PM

ANNUAL levies of $100 on houses and cars have been considered by the Bligh Government to fund billions of dollars in future southeast Queensland infrastructure.

Draft editions of the Government's latest regional transport plan also show consideration has been given to charging motorists a fee for every kilometre they travel.

The Opposition yesterday accused the Government of having a "secret plan to hit southeast Queensland residents with billions of dollars in additional taxes".

Transport Minister Rachel Nolan insisted the plan would outline the region's future infrastructure needs but would not include new charges.

Draft copies of Connecting SEQ 2031 show the Department of Main Roads and Transport found a local government rates levy of $100 per property would raise $120 million a year.

A $100 vehicle registration levy would raise $190 million a year.

And distance-based road-user charge technology could raise $500 million by 2015/16 through a 5¢-per-kilometre toll. A 15¢-per-kilometre toll by 2031 would raise $3 billion.

All three proposals were contained in a draft under the headline "hypothetical target funding model" which were "not included in draft plan".

Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said a family with a house and two cars would be hit with a $3300 bill each year from 2015/16 if the charges were introduced.

"If the Government did not intend to introduce these measures, why is it having them costed behind the backs of Queensland taxpayers?" he said.

"These massive new taxes will hurt Queensland families, make Queensland business less competitive and cost Queensland jobs."

Ms Nolan told Parliament the Government had already publicly ruled out including any new charges in the plan.

Instead, it would include the next round of infrastructure planning.

[Jon Bryant]

1960 politics in 2010.  The answer from our politicians still remain build more and more roads. Sigh!!!!!!!!! 

[#Metro]

I was thinking about this today.
People will really hate road user charges. It would be like having a pre-paid car, where you have to top up constantly.
And it would charge you. Ouch.

I think a road user charging scheme will only work if the fuel excise and car registration fees are dropped as part of the deal. And there is massive investment in PT.
Otherwise, I am almost certain, the idea will not go down well with the voters at all...