Premier Statement: Open roads policy for Brisbane

[ozbob]

Premier
The Honourable Anna Bligh
08/06/2008

Open roads policy for Brisbane

A congestion busting "open roads" policy could be introduced in Brisbane under a new proposal being considered by Premier Anna Bligh.

The US style policy would see specialised "bulldozer-style" trucks clearing accidents from roads and freeing up traffic much sooner after incidents happen.

The Premier will fly to the United States on Wednesday to attend the World bio-conference in San Diego as part of her second trade mission as Premier.

Her trip will also include an overview of a number of important transport and traffic initiatives.

A visit to the Transcom Regional Incident Traffic Management Centre in New Jersey will give the Premier the chance to see first hand how an advanced traffic management centre rapidly detects and clears incidents.

The Premier said that about 25 percent of congestion on our roads is caused by traffic incidents.

"This proposal will have a major impact on clearing incidents, especially at notorious hot spots like the Gateway Motorway, Pacific Motorway and the Logan Motorway," she said.

The Premier added the policy was about looking at new ways to tackle congestion and better manage our road network.

"During my trip to the United States I will experience this open roads policy in operation in New York," said Premier Anna Bligh.

The Premier said a fun part of the proposal was a plan to name the congestion-busting trucks after famous Queensland Rugby league players.

"I think most Queenslanders would like the idea of trucks named "Big Artie", "The King" "The Axe" or "Gordie" using a bit of muscle to free up our roads," she said.

"The legislation that I propose will see these trucks pushing cars or trucks off to the side of the road if they have too.
"We will also consider ways to recover costs from the owners of the vehicles that caused the incident.
"I am committed to do everything in my power to give people a reliable journey. So they can get to work on time or spend more time with their families."

"Recently major incidents on the Gateway Bridge, Story Bridge, and a truck roll in Toowong on Thursday brought the city to a "stand still".

"You don't have to be Einstein to understand the positive effect that clearing incidents more quickly will have on our network.

"It sometimes takes hours to clear these accidents and we are looking at ways to speed up that process."

The Premier said that many US cities and states had adopted an "open road" policy which was focused around rapid clearance of incidents - especially heavy vehicles.

"We might have a bit of fun with naming the trucks but this will involve a lot of planning and a lot of co-ordination among our response agencies," she said.

"I believe that reducing the impact and duration of incidents is an imperative in the fight against congestion.

"Research also shows that the likelihood of secondar y crashes caused by the first incident is high and of course that leads to further issues and further congestion.

"The loss of people's time, the resulting increase in pollution and the economic consequences of congestion need to be addressed."

The Premier said that the "Open Roads" or "Quick Clearance" policy would focus on clearing roads as quickly as possible.

"The aim would be to clear all accidents within 90 minutes of the arrival of the first traffic response or police officer at the scene of a major traffic crash or minor incident that closes down lanes of traffic," she said.

If successful the implementation of the policy would see:
? A multi-agency traffic incident team in a Brisbane Metropolitan Traffic Management Centre
? Police motorcycle patrols dedicated to attending and clearing incidents
? special recovery vehicles that can easily pick up and move large damaged vehicles and other objects and place t hem onto flat bed trailers to clear blocked roadways.

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[ozbob]

 

[curator49]

While some incidents probably can be moved off the road fairly quickly, there will be others where an injury or worse may have occurred. In cases such as these don't the vehicles have to be left until police have investigated the incident? Then, no matter how many big tow trucks or bulldozers you have the incident will still block traffic until police give the OK to shift the vehicles.

Recent "Police Incidents" on the Story Bridge and Gateway Bridge were as a result of incidents other than motor vehicle accidents. These incidents closed the respective bridges for some hours and had the city traffic in chaos. Incidents, such as trucks hitting toll booths or other vehicles and catching fire are another that cannot just be bulldozed out of the way.

It just sounds as if Cap'n Bligh is trying to sound as if she is doing something when really there is nothing more that could have been done in the circumstances of those incidents. More gobbleydook from the "spin doctors".

[Derwan]

It could be solved if there were more river crossings.  The city is only "brought to a standstill" when incidents affect the river crossings. Additional river crossings are required outside the city centre.  Brisbane needs to rid itself of this "funnel" traffic network that forces all cross-river traffic (apart from Gateway traffic) into the city area.

[stephenk]

"The legislation that I propose will see these trucks pushing cars or trucks off to the side of the road if they have too.
"We will also consider ways to recover costs from the owners of the vehicles that caused the incident.

I wonder if the car owners (of which many are likely to be completely innocent) can recover the cost of damage to their vehicles by the bulldozers!

[Otto]

We already have 'TRU' vehicles in Brisbane which can push broken down vehicles on the carrigeway to safe locations to open up the blocked lanes/roads sooner. 'TRU' vehicles cannot be used to move vehicles if the owners do not consent or which have been involved in accidents if the damage bill exceeds the amount set by law, or if injury is caused untill police give the all clear.

A previous administration had proposed a very similar idea to Blighs Bulldozer idea, but that was knocked on the head by the Police due to possible evidence being disturbed which may lead to future prosecution. Our 'TRU' system was the end result...

[ozbob]

Thanks Otto!

I found this OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES ON TRAFFIC RESPONSE UNITS  PDF  external link

[mufreight]

Government sanctioned demolition derbies with the motorist again having to pay.
YES this is indeed the SMART STATE.
cheers