8 Mar 2023: Infrastructure Australia Rejects BCC NWTC Proposal

[ozbob]

Infrastructure Australia Rejects BCC NWTC Proposal

8th March 2023

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) welcomes reports that Infrastructure Australia has rejected Brisbane City Council's (BCC) proposal for a road tunnel for the North West Transport Corridor (NWTC)(1).  RAIL Back On Track members are not surprised.

Brisbane City Council's proposal was a failure of critical thinking and evaluation. For example, BCC claimed on Page 17 of its business case that packaging a North West Motorway with Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Gympie Road were complementary initiatives. And that without the delivery of a North West Motorway, " a BRT in the form proposed is not feasible due to its impact on road capacity ... " (2).

In our opinion, this key claim made by BCC is false (3).

A 'Brisbane Metro' BRT service up Gympie Road would absorb all of the motorists from the resumed car lane, and still have spare capacity to absorb public transport passengers. No North West Motorway is required. A 'Brisbane Metro' BRT service operating every 2 minutes with 150 passengers on board would carry around 4500 passengers/hour/direction at peak. In comparison, a general car lane carries around 2160 passengers/hour/lane at peak.

In our opinion, the true purpose of including an unnecessary and unwanted North West Motorway in the business case was to psychologically compensate motorists for the loss of a car lane. And to prevent motorists shifting mode to catching buses.

Council should focus on adding bus lanes to roads in Brisbane's Northwest and restart its successful BUZ programme. If the current council administration cannot do this, perhaps a new administration will.

RAIL Back On Track supports a new rail corridor to the Northside. For full details see https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?msg=266857

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

References:

1. 'Back to the  drawing board': North-west tunnel proposal rejected
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/back-to-the-drawing-board-north-west-brisbane-tunnel-proposal-rejected-20230307-p5cq7n.html

2. North west transport network program business case
https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022-08/20220809-north-west-transport-network-making-it-happen.pdf

3. Capacity Calculations - Car
3600 seconds/hour divided by 2 second car spacing = 1800 vehicles/hour/lane
If 20% of the cars have a passenger, this is then 1800 vehicles/hour/lane x 1.2
= 2160 passengers/hour/direction (pphd).

4. Capacity Calculations - Brisbane Metro Bus
60 minutes / 2 minute bus frequency x 150 passengers/bus
= 4500 passengers/hour/direction

5. Gympie Road Lane Removal Scenario
Bus 4500 pphd - Car 2160 pphd = 2340 pphd spare capacity on the bus left after all the displaced motorists fill the bus.
Conclusion - No Northwest Motorway Construction required.

[ozbob]

Discussion --> https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?msg=268227