Article: Brace yourself, highways to hell coming

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Brace yourself, highways to hell coming

Brace yourself, highways to hell coming

   by: Alex White
   From: Sunday Herald Sun
   February 05, 2012 12:00AM

MELBOURNE is on the road to a congestion crisis, with an extra 101,500 cars forecast to clog the city's freeways within five years.

VicRoads' official traffic projections, released exclusively to the Sunday Herald Sun, show an enormous influx of cars on five major Melbourne thoroughfares by 2016.

Traffic experts have warned the projections - which do not include trucks or motorbikes - exposed the growing threat of city-wide gridlock.

RACV spokeswoman Thanuja Gunatillake said the State Government had no strategy in place to deal with the growing chaos on Melbourne's freeways and said the future was "dire" for motorists commuting to the city.

The Eastern Freeway, Western Ring Rd, Tullamarine Freeway, the West Gate Bridge and the Monash Freeway all would be flooded with thousands of extra cars every day by 2016, according to the VicRoads figures.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal:

THE Monash Freeway between Forster Rd and Huntingdale Rd will be the worst affected with more than 37,000 extra cars per day.

UP to 1610 of the extra vehicles per hour will join the city-bound morning peak hour, causing further delays on the already packed route.

THE West Gate Bridge, one of Melbourne's biggest traffic trouble spots, will be pushed to the limit with 18,469 extra cars crossing daily.

DRIVERS on the Tullamarine Freeway will jockey with 20,831 added cars per day.

MOTORISTS on the already clogged Eastern Freeway between Springvale Rd and Blackburn Rd will battle an extra 500 cars in the morning rush.

THE Western Ring Rd between Princes Freeway West and Boundary Rd will increase by 12 per cent, reaching 134,400 cars per day with 5488 cars flooding the road during morning peak hour.

The data was released by VicRoads under Freedom of Information laws after a four-month campaign by the Sunday Herald Sun. Statistics on trucks were not available for all roads, but the data indicated an extra 1223 trucks would use the West Gate Bridge, taking the daily freight traffic to almost 13,000.

The RACV estimated congestion cost the Victorian economy $3 billion a year and would continue to sky-rocket as roads became more jammed.

"The picture is pretty clear. We cannot waste any more time," Ms Gunatillake said.

"Congestion affects everyone. We tend to think of people in cars, but 85 per cent of the public transport system uses the same network," she said.

"This shows a dire need for investment in transport."

Ms Gunatillake called on the Victorian Government to invest now in key projects including an 18km project that would incorporate a tunnel linking the Eastern Freeway to the Western Ring Rd with connections to the Tullamarine Freeway.

She also called for a better public transport strategy in Melbourne's growth suburbs.

Minister for Roads Terry Mulder said the State Government had applied to Infrastructure Australia for $30 million to build the controversial East-West road link, which will require significant private investment.

"The Coalition Government's new East-West Link is a once-in-a-generation project that will transform the way people move around Melbourne in a way not seen since CityLink and the city rail loop were built," Mr Mulder said.

"The improved East-West Link will provide an alternative to the M1 corridor, remove traffic from Melbourne's inner arterial roads, particularly at Hoddle St where the Eastern Freeway ends abruptly, and link industry in Melbourne's north, east and west." No time line has been given for the project or state funds committed.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen slammed the Government's strategy and said building more roads was not the answer.

"We have seen massive expansion on the freeways in the past decade and we still have chronic congestion," Mr Bowen said.

"The Government is putting some money into the rail system but some suburbs will never have rail and it is inevitable they will drive cars. We need to expand the public transport network."

Drivers were also shocked about the potential delays.

Motorist Judy Guardiani feared longer waits meant more stress for many Melbourne drivers.

"There are too many angry people on the road already, something needs to be done," she said.

VicRoads director of network and asset planning Robert Freemantle denied there would be congestion chaos in the future.

"Melbourne's freeways have been designed to operate efficiently while carrying the bulk of the daily traffic volume and heavy vehicles, and they will continue to do so into the future," he said.

"With increasing traffic volumes due to population growth, VicRoads continues to implement an ongoing program of road improvement projects designed to accommodate this trend."

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

5th February 2012

Congestion looms ... Re: Commuters set to flex muscles

Greetings,

Sound familiar?  Brisbane is a worse position, and a failure to properly utilise the rail network is going exacerbate the looming congestion crisis.

A failure to give buses proper priority on the road network is a curious policy of the BCC don't you think?  Loudly trumpeting their committment to bus transport but failing to give it priority?

Best wishes
Robert

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

From the Herald Sun click here!

Brace yourself, highways to hell coming

Brace yourself, highways to hell coming

   by: Alex White
   From: Sunday Herald Sun
   February 05, 2012 12:00AM

MELBOURNE is on the road to a congestion crisis, with an extra 101,500 cars forecast to clog the city's freeways within five years.

VicRoads' official traffic projections, released exclusively to the Sunday Herald Sun, show an enormous influx of cars on five major Melbourne thoroughfares by 2016.

Traffic experts have warned the projections - which do not include trucks or motorbikes - exposed the growing threat of city-wide gridlock.

RACV spokeswoman Thanuja Gunatillake said the State Government had no strategy in place to deal with the growing chaos on Melbourne's freeways and said the future was "dire" for motorists commuting to the city.

The Eastern Freeway, Western Ring Rd, Tullamarine Freeway, the West Gate Bridge and the Monash Freeway all would be flooded with thousands of extra cars every day by 2016, according to the VicRoads figures.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal:

THE Monash Freeway between Forster Rd and Huntingdale Rd will be the worst affected with more than 37,000 extra cars per day.

UP to 1610 of the extra vehicles per hour will join the city-bound morning peak hour, causing further delays on the already packed route.

THE West Gate Bridge, one of Melbourne's biggest traffic trouble spots, will be pushed to the limit with 18,469 extra cars crossing daily.

DRIVERS on the Tullamarine Freeway will jockey with 20,831 added cars per day.

MOTORISTS on the already clogged Eastern Freeway between Springvale Rd and Blackburn Rd will battle an extra 500 cars in the morning rush.

THE Western Ring Rd between Princes Freeway West and Boundary Rd will increase by 12 per cent, reaching 134,400 cars per day with 5488 cars flooding the road during morning peak hour.

The data was released by VicRoads under Freedom of Information laws after a four-month campaign by the Sunday Herald Sun. Statistics on trucks were not available for all roads, but the data indicated an extra 1223 trucks would use the West Gate Bridge, taking the daily freight traffic to almost 13,000.

The RACV estimated congestion cost the Victorian economy $3 billion a year and would continue to sky-rocket as roads became more jammed.

"The picture is pretty clear. We cannot waste any more time," Ms Gunatillake said.

"Congestion affects everyone. We tend to think of people in cars, but 85 per cent of the public transport system uses the same network," she said.

"This shows a dire need for investment in transport."

Ms Gunatillake called on the Victorian Government to invest now in key projects including an 18km project that would incorporate a tunnel linking the Eastern Freeway to the Western Ring Rd with connections to the Tullamarine Freeway.

She also called for a better public transport strategy in Melbourne's growth suburbs.

Minister for Roads Terry Mulder said the State Government had applied to Infrastructure Australia for $30 million to build the controversial East-West road link, which will require significant private investment.

"The Coalition Government's new East-West Link is a once-in-a-generation project that will transform the way people move around Melbourne in a way not seen since CityLink and the city rail loop were built," Mr Mulder said.

"The improved East-West Link will provide an alternative to the M1 corridor, remove traffic from Melbourne's inner arterial roads, particularly at Hoddle St where the Eastern Freeway ends abruptly, and link industry in Melbourne's north, east and west." No time line has been given for the project or state funds committed.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen slammed the Government's strategy and said building more roads was not the answer.

"We have seen massive expansion on the freeways in the past decade and we still have chronic congestion," Mr Bowen said.

"The Government is putting some money into the rail system but some suburbs will never have rail and it is inevitable they will drive cars. We need to expand the public transport network."

Drivers were also shocked about the potential delays.

Motorist Judy Guardiani feared longer waits meant more stress for many Melbourne drivers.

"There are too many angry people on the road already, something needs to be done," she said.

VicRoads director of network and asset planning Robert Freemantle denied there would be congestion chaos in the future.

"Melbourne's freeways have been designed to operate efficiently while carrying the bulk of the daily traffic volume and heavy vehicles, and they will continue to do so into the future," he said.

"With increasing traffic volumes due to population growth, VicRoads continues to implement an ongoing program of road improvement projects designed to accommodate this trend."

[ozbob]

Editorial Sunday Herald Sun --> Only way out of gridlock is to get moving on roads

The white flag of surrender or a call to arms?

[WTN]

Do we:

Build super mega 30 lane highways slicing through every suburb? With spaghetti junctions next to your house?

Bulldoze all the footpaths and median strips for more lanes?

Turn all our green parks into skyscraper sized carparks?

Neither are desirable. Want everyone to drive in peak hour congestion free? Well, that's a hard ask.