Australia Infrastructure including IA discussion

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> The Queensland roads in desperate need of upgrades

Six desperately needed Queensland major projects have been added to the national to-do list, including upgrades to killer regional highways, congestion-busting improvements for Brisbane's northern suburbs and a Sunshine Coast road so choked it is rated as suffering traffic overload on a national scale.

Along with removing highway black spots – 65 per cent of Queensland's road fatalities occurred outside major cities, Infrastructure Australia has added the Brisbane northern suburbs corridor, the Browns Plains to South East Busway initiative, improving the Queensland inland freight route, and increasing capacity and safety on the Browns Plains to Beaudesert and the Mooloolah River interchange on the Sunshine Coast.

Infrastructure Australia will release the full report today, for the first time updating it half way through the year as it tries to fast track big projects to create jobs and get the COVID economy moving.

Infrastructure Australia chief executive officer Romilly Madew, said the Priority List had been updated in order to showcase the extended pipeline of investment, now worth more than $64 billion.

"The Priority List is a critical tool in recovery, as it directs investment to the infrastructure projects that will kickstart economic growth and have the greatest returns for all Australians," she said.

Of the 245 lives lost on Queensland roads in 2018, over 65 per cent of the crashes occurred in areas outside of the major cities, it says.

The killer sections of narrow country highways make up just 3 per cent of the state-controlled road network by length but carry 20 per cent of vehicle kilometres travelled and 15 per cent of 'fatal and serious injury' crashes.

Options to make them safer include wider centre-lines, centre barriers and increasing shoulder widths and noisy line markings.

In Brisbane's north, the 60kmh and 70kmh Gympie Arterial Road crawls along at 36kmh in the morning peak and 32kmh in the evening peak and will only get worse without smarter intersections and better public transport, the report warns.

Remaining on the previous list, it says the M1 Motorway is one of the busiest roads in Australia. It already carries 150,000 vehicles a day, which the section between Eight Mile Plains and Tugun cannot handle.

As well as the Queensland initiatives, other new priorities were the Perth Metronet train system, the M12 Motorway in Sydney and also redeveloping the ageing Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

[verbatim9]

Brisbanetimes --> Infrastructure Australia's sights turn to northern Brisbane

Tackling road congestion in Brisbane's northern suburbs is now officially a key priority in Infrastructure Australia's updated assessment of the nation's needs.

Several years ago, the Gold Coast's M1 was the road corridor in the spotlight, but that has priority has shifted as work is already under way.

On Wednesday, the federal government's infrastructure body will include studies to improve the road capacity in Brisbane's northern suburbs, as part of the national COVID-19 recovery, as a new "high priority".

Infrastructure Australia has released, for the first time, a midyear assessment of its priorities for infrastructure projects listed by the federal and state governments as Australia plans its recovery from COVID-19.

The Infrastructure Priority List identifies which projects will have the most immediate impact on communities.

The new IPL, which guides the timing of project business cases, includes six new Queensland high-priority and priority projects:

Brisbane northern suburbs corridor capacity
Browns Plains to South East Busway public transport connection
Queensland's inland freight route capacity and safety
Browns Plains to Beaudesert road capacity and safety
Mooloolah River Interchange capacity and safety
Queensland regional road network safety improvements

Plans to improve Brisbane's northern road network featured in last year's federal budget, when both major parties pledged money to upgrade key highways and intersections.

In November, preliminary details emerged of planning by the Queensland and the Australian governments around Strathpine to the west of the Bruce Highway and the Gympie Arterial Road.

The need to address Queensland's rising regional road accident problem was also noted.

Of the 245 lives lost on Queensland roads in 2018, more than 65 per cent of crashes were outside major cities, IA found.

Infrastructure Australia chief executive Romilly Madew said, overall, there was now a pipeline of projects with an estimated value of $64 billion,

"Australia is planning its recovery from a rolling series of crises: drought, flood, the bushfires and now COVID-19," she said.

"As we look forward, the focus is on delivery and as the nation's infrastructure advisory body, we are continuing to improve our ability to move quickly to identify investments that will improve productivity."

Ms Madew said south-east Queensland had "many safety and capacity constraints at the moment" however despite this all levels of government also recently delayed the finance-setting City Deal agreement for 12 months.

Infrastructure Australia's infrastructure team manger Robin Jackson said the Brisbane's northern suburbs early studies identified "serious problems".

He said some recent infrastructure audits had augmented work that had been forwarded by the Queensland government.

"It identifies that a lot of the arterial roads to the north of Brisbane are likely to face challenges over this period and those are quite severe," Mr Jackson said.

"That is why it is listed as a high priority. It includes a number of roads including the Gympie Arterial Road."

Ms Madew said the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project had been prioritised.

Several local councils - including near the flood-devastated Grantham - believe there are more negatives than positives to the $9.3 billion project and AgForce and the Port of Brisbane want a completed study to identify a freight link from Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane to be released.

That route selection study is released before a business case can begin.

Ms Madew said Infrastructure Australia detailed investigation began when when a detailed business case was submitted to seek federal government funding.

On page 95 of this Infrastructure Australia report, solving the route from Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane - added to the list in 2016 - is classed a "five to 10 year problem".

Browns Plains to South East Busway public transport connection

I wonder what they are thinking of here? There is already the 150/140. Are thinking of a new mass transit corridor via Mains Road or the alternative via Eight Mile Plains Warrigal Road?

[timh]

I've seen ideas floating around in various gov documents for some sort of BRT for Mains Road. It makes sense. I think it was in the Council of Mayors wishlist in the long term section too

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Jonno]

Here comes the NWTC Freeway!!!

[ozbob]

https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/infrastructure-priority-list

Infrastructure Priority List
Update to the February 2020 Priority list
August 2020

>> https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-08/FINAL_Mid-year 2020 IPL_low_res.pdf

[verbatim9]

Brisbanetimes --> Infrastructure Australia's sights turn to northern Brisbane

Tackling road congestion in Brisbane's northern suburbs is now officially a key priority in Infrastructure Australia's updated assessment of the nation's needs.

Several years ago, the Gold Coast's M1 was the road corridor in the spotlight, but that has priority has shifted as work is already under way.

On Wednesday, the federal government's infrastructure body will include studies to improve the road capacity in Brisbane's northern suburbs, as part of the national COVID-19 recovery, as a new "high priority".

Infrastructure Australia has released, for the first time, a midyear assessment of its priorities for infrastructure projects listed by the federal and state governments as Australia plans its recovery from COVID-19.

The Infrastructure Priority List identifies which projects will have the most immediate impact on communities.

The new IPL, which guides the timing of project business cases, includes six new Queensland high-priority and priority projects:

Brisbane northern suburbs corridor capacity
Browns Plains to South East Busway public transport connection
Queensland's inland freight route capacity and safety
Browns Plains to Beaudesert road capacity and safety
Mooloolah River Interchange capacity and safety
Queensland regional road network safety improvements

Plans to improve Brisbane's northern road network featured in last year's federal budget, when both major parties pledged money to upgrade key highways and intersections.

In November, preliminary details emerged of planning by the Queensland and the Australian governments around Strathpine to the west of the Bruce Highway and the Gympie Arterial Road.

The need to address Queensland's rising regional road accident problem was also noted.

Of the 245 lives lost on Queensland roads in 2018, more than 65 per cent of crashes were outside major cities, IA found.

Infrastructure Australia chief executive Romilly Madew said, overall, there was now a pipeline of projects with an estimated value of $64 billion,

"Australia is planning its recovery from a rolling series of crises: drought, flood, the bushfires and now COVID-19," she said.

"As we look forward, the focus is on delivery and as the nation's infrastructure advisory body, we are continuing to improve our ability to move quickly to identify investments that will improve productivity."

Ms Madew said south-east Queensland had "many safety and capacity constraints at the moment" however despite this all levels of government also recently delayed the finance-setting City Deal agreement for 12 months.

Infrastructure Australia's infrastructure team manger Robin Jackson said the Brisbane's northern suburbs early studies identified "serious problems".

He said some recent infrastructure audits had augmented work that had been forwarded by the Queensland government.

"It identifies that a lot of the arterial roads to the north of Brisbane are likely to face challenges over this period and those are quite severe," Mr Jackson said.

"That is why it is listed as a high priority. It includes a number of roads including the Gympie Arterial Road."

Ms Madew said the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project had been prioritised.

Several local councils - including near the flood-devastated Grantham - believe there are more negatives than positives to the $9.3 billion project and AgForce and the Port of Brisbane want a completed study to identify a freight link from Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane to be released.

That route selection study is released before a business case can begin.

Ms Madew said Infrastructure Australia detailed investigation began when when a detailed business case was submitted to seek federal government funding.

On page 95 of this Infrastructure Australia report, solving the route from Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane - added to the list in 2016 - is classed a "five to 10 year problem".

Browns Plains to South East Busway public transport connection

I wonder what they are thinking of here? There is already the 150/140. Are thinking of a new mass transit corridor via Mains Road or the alternative via Eight Mile Plains Warrigal Road?

I've seen ideas floating around in various gov documents for some sort of BRT for Mains Road. It makes sense. I think it was in the Council of Mayors wishlist in the long term section too

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

IA Update--Browns Plains to South East Busway public transport connectivity

Proposed Initiative
The initiative aims to improve the capacity, safety and public transport connectivity of the corridor between Browns Plains and the South East Busway. Options to address the initiative could include:

• improving bus priority, such as through dedicated or priority lanes
  
• improving bus and pedestrian infrastructure to encourage public transport use
  
• upgrading intersections and key public transport interchanges and stations
  
• encouraging public transport use through traffic signalling, reduced car parking and other measures.
  

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

Infrastructure Australia Priority Road Projects Not Fit for Post-COVID World

6th August 2020

RAIL Back On Track members welcome Infrastructure Australia listing a number of new public transport focused projects on its Priority Project List as part of the national COVID-19 recovery (1) but note that the full lists of projects contains many "congestion busting" road projects which are out of steps with COVID recovery initiatives from around the world.

In the last 2 weeks we have seen the UK Prime Minister kick start £2bn cycling and walking revolution (2) and Canada announce $3.3B for active transport over the next 18 months (3).  The World Bank noted in April that the post-COVID recovery could also be an opportunity for countries to scale up cleaner, more sustainable solutions" (4)

The current Infrastructure Australia Priority list still contains far too many freeway and road widening projects which are all well known to create more congestion not reduce it (5) with little economic benefit (6).  The world has moved on from the decades of building mega freeways and continually widening roads across cities.

RAIL Back On Track again calls on all levels of Government to stop pursuing road and freeway projects to "bust" congestion and instead prioritise investment in active and public transport to bring Australia in line with the rest of the world.

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

References:

1. https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/listing/media-release/february-2020-infrastructure-priority-list
    Update to the February 2020 Priority list https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-08/FINAL_Mid-year
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-kickstarts-2bn-cycling-and-walking-revolution
3. https://www.canadabikes.org/federal-government-announces-covid-19-resiliency-fund/
4. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/04/22/earth-day-2020-could-covid-19-be-the-tipping-point-for-transport-emissions
5. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-06/traffic-jam-blame-induced-demand
6. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/does-road-building-produce-any-economics-gains/

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1291176437433749504

[ozbob]

Facebook ...

[verbatim9]

^^Very true there are no or limited Active Transport initiatives. The Browns Plains to Se Busway Mass Transit corridor.sbould include new segregated bikeways. At least from Browns Plains to the nearest Ttain Station. Then as a second stage have it  continue to the Veloway.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1291395449862070272

[ozbob]

IA

Infrastructure beyond COVID-19
A national study on the impacts of the pandemic on Australia
An Interim Report for the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan

https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-12/Final_COVID%20Impacts%20on%20Infrastructure%20Sectors%20Report_14%20Dec%202020.pdf

Page 59

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1338930422940483584

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/RailExpressNews/status/1338960160375521281

[ozbob]

Media Release

https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/listing/media-release/infrastructure-beyond-COVID

COVID-19 accelerates structural shifts in infrastructure use, new report finds

16 December 2020

A major new report from Infrastructure Australia has found that the Australian infrastructure sector responded well to the challenges of COVID-19, while the pandemic accelerated structural trends such as digitisation, more local and regional infrastructure use, as well as service innovations and adaptations.

The response of the sector to the health and economic impacts of the pandemic highlight the relative resilience of Australia's infrastructure networks. However, lockdowns, social distancing and work-from-home measures have impacted project delivery, created new trends and reversed others.

The findings are part of a new report, Infrastructure beyond COVID-19: A national study on the impacts of the pandemic on Australia, developed by Infrastructure Australia in collaboration with L.E.K Consulting. Requested by the Australian Government in the 2020–21 Federal Budget to supplement work already underway on the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan, the report highlights sweeping changes in the way Australians use critical infrastructure – across the transport, telecommunications, digital, energy, water, waste, and social infrastructure sectors.

Infrastructure Australia Chief Executive Romilly Madew said: "This report establishes a baseline to help us understand how COVID-19 has changed the way we use infrastructure, and which of these changes could have lasting impacts on how we plan, fund and deliver the services we all rely on.

"COVID-19 has put a pause on the traditional driver of infrastructure, Net Overseas Migration, however the pace of change in the sector has generally increased, with new emerging trends.

"The pandemic put Australia's infrastructure to the test. However, this report found that compared to other OECD countries, our infrastructure networks are relatively resilient, our service providers are adaptable and our communities are responsive to change.

"Across sectors, we found that Australia's governments and infrastructure providers navigated dramatic changes to community behaviour and network requirements, and rapidly adjusted their service provision.

"The continuation of infrastructure construction across major projects was a key source of economic activity and employment during the pandemic, and ensured we took advantage of the three-year pause in population growth.

"Public transport providers moved quickly to support social distancing and hygiene measures, latent broadband capacity was released to cope with a surge in demand, and hospital infrastructure was repurposed to deliver 4600 new ICU beds. Importantly, customers, providers, employees and staff were also adaptable to change.

"COVID-19 has demonstrated that there is an opportunity to make better use of what we have. This is a trend that both governments and industry should harness as we consider the infrastructure investment and reform responses that will best support Australia's long-term economic recovery."

Infrastructure beyond COVID-19 identifies new challenges and opportunities to build on the evidence base of the 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit and will inform the recommendations in the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan – a major reform document that will provide a roadmap for the infrastructure sector to support recovery from the impacts of the pandemic.

"Due for release next year, the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan will outline a detailed reform and implementation pathway to help government and industry deliver flexible and resilient infrastructure services that better respond to our changing and diverse community needs," Ms Madew said.

In response to the impacts of COVID-19, Infrastructure Australia and the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) have coordinated the COVID-19 Transport Demand Modelling Cross-jurisdiction Roundtable to facilitate the exchange of ideas, techniques and tools for considering COVID-19 impacts in travel demand models.

The Roundtable will consider the structural impacts on travel demand within Australia, affecting population and demographic trends, travel demand and travel behaviour across all jurisdictions.

Key trends in Infrastructure beyond COVID-19

The report notes that health concerns continue to impact people's willingness to use public transport and attend other crowded spaces. This change is likely to endure at least for as long as social distancing is required and in advance of a vaccine being widely available in Australia.

"We estimate that around 4 million employees have been working from home since March 2020, representing 30% of the total workforce, with a third of those workers wishing to remain remote. This accelerated trend has led to widespread office vacancies, greater strain on the broadband network, greater energy and water consumption in residential areas and increased local activity, including local traffic congestion and demand for greenspace," Ms Madew said.

"In a reversal to the earlier trend of increasing public transport use, patronage in most cities fell to 10–30% of normal levels in the initial lockdown and settled at a 'new norm' of 60–70% of pre-COVID-19 levels. Traffic levels rebounded quickly, along with an uplift in second-hand car purchases, potentially indicating that higher car mode share may persist for some time.

"Australians accelerated their move to online retail channels and digital services, resulting in a substantial uplift in online sales and increased broadband network congestion. The pandemic drove a 100% growth in monthly online retail, five times the annual growth recorded in 2019 – resulting in similar growth in parcel delivery and micro-freight.

"COVID-19 accelerated the longstanding decentralisation trend in electricity, with more energy produced and consumed in households. However, uncertainty caused by the pandemic has seen a slowing in investment in large-scale renewable generation and some delayed maintenance works.

"A major reversal in the long-term trend of lower per-capita waste generation also occurred, with a 20% increase in municipal waste, caused by more people working and staying at home. High levels of food delivery and online shopping have generated sizeable increases in paper and plastic packaging waste and single-use waste, placing additional pressure on a sector already adapting to China's recent waste import bans," said Ms Madew.

Some regional communities are seeing a boom in tourism and population growth, as people remain within their state, the report found.

"An acceleration of regionalisation has also occurred, with Australian households seizing the opportunity to move away from dense, metro areas. This has resulted in a 200% increase in net migration from capital cities to regional areas. This caused an immediate increase in capital city rental vacancies, while demand increased in regional and coastal towns.

"The longevity of these changes is uncertain, however the impacts are likely to persist for some time as Australians continue to seek more affordable housing outside of the inner metro areas. If this trend continues, we could see reduced demand for urban transport and increased pressure on broadband networks in regional centres," Ms Madew said.

Download the full report: https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/publications/Infrastructure-beyond-COVID

[verbatim9]

We still need better cross city Public Transport connections in Brisbane rather than going through the CBD unnecessarily. Unfortunately it's difficult getting from East to West  There should be an extension of the Mass transit corridor from UQ lakes to Indooroopilly. A new mass transit corridor should go from West End St Lucia to Indooroopilly.

There also need to be a Skygate solution as well via Hamilton North Shore. A HF bus service?

Then there is the NW corridor and Fast rail North, South and West to Toowoomba.

[Gazza]

Forgive me for asking but why isn't the DG from Acaia Ridge to the Port via Morningside considered sufficient?

[ozbob]

Some background here

> https://www.portbris.com.au/Major-Projects/Dedicated-Rail-Connectivity/

[ozbob]

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26TH – 11 AM to 12 PM AEDT

Free online event

Join the launch of Infrastructure Australia's 2021 Infrastructure Priority List – a comprehensive investment roadmap to support Australia's recovery from the COVID-19 pandem

February 2021

https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/listing/news

[ozbob]

^  I have registered for this.  It is a Zoom meeting.  Starts 10am Queensland time.

[verbatim9]

Apparently level.croasing removals.for Se Qld have made the High Priority list.   P 110 and P111 is about the dedicated freight line from Acacia Ridge to Port of Brisbane.

[ozbob]

Infrastructure Priority List 2021

> https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/publications/Infrastructure_Priority_List_2021

[ozbob]

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26TH – 11 AM to 12 PM AEDT

Free online event

Join the launch of Infrastructure Australia's 2021 Infrastructure Priority List – a comprehensive investment roadmap to support Australia's recovery from the COVID-19 pandem

February 2021

https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/listing/news

Attended. Worthwhile.  First time they have done the launch of the priority list online, makes the presentation a lot more accessible to all.

One of the spinoffs of the pandemic. 

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/InQldMedia/status/1365120665766883330

[Matt]

Some background here

> https://www.portbris.com.au/Major-Projects/Dedicated-Rail-Connectivity/

The report says the POB freight line shares the passenger rail network, is this correct, as far as I can see, from Park Road, the freight line shares the alignment but is a dedicated track, ie, it doesn't run on or interfere with the passenger network.

[brissypete]

Some background here

> https://www.portbris.com.au/Major-Projects/Dedicated-Rail-Connectivity/

The report says the POB freight line shares the passenger rail network, is this correct, as far as I can see, from Park Road, the freight line shares the alignment but is a dedicated track, ie, it doesn't run on or interfere with the passenger network.

Correct, from Park Rd to Port is separate and non electrified with no platforms either.

Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

[Gazza]

Theoretically you could upgrade the existing 3rd line to be able to handle double stack, but there are 7 bridges along the way:

Pacific Motorway
Digger St
Agnew St
Jack Flynn Memoria Dr
Creek Rd
Gateway
Hemmant Tingalpa Rd

You would also need to modify portal structures if they werent tall enough for double stack.

In the interim, could they Marshall freight so that stuff bound for POB is on the bottom and stuff for Brisbane itself is on top and removed at Acacia Ridge?

[SurfRail]

There is also some interaction with the passenger tracks - the Cleveland up track gets used as a passing loop from time to time I believe, albeit only by narrow gauge services.  That would be fixable though as there is room in the corridor (for the most part) for a dedicated passing loop.

Keeping in mind the plan is ideally to increase the mode share of standard gauge freight from virtually nil to something more than nil, a dual gauge loop would probably be needed as it is.

[achiruel]

Some background here

> https://www.portbris.com.au/Major-Projects/Dedicated-Rail-Connectivity/

The report says the POB freight line shares the passenger rail network, is this correct, as far as I can see, from Park Road, the freight line shares the alignment but is a dedicated track, ie, it doesn't run on or interfere with the passenger network.

The section between Salisbury and the junction before Park Rd is definitely shared, though.

[Fares_Fair]

https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1370201041623416832

[Fares_Fair]

https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1370184553701154818

[Gazza]

If there was a fast rail service to Nambour, would it run express Landsborough to Nambour?

[Fares_Fair]

Probably. A hypothetical question in light of the latest news.

[OzGamer]

https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1370184553701154818

Can anyone just note the salient points for those of us who can't see behind the paywall?

[verbatim9]

The Mandarin---> Infrastructure Australia unveils simplified priority list

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1429671400478896140

^

...
The COVID-19 pandemic will mean 10 per cent fewer people will work in Australia's city centres, while CBD office spaces will get smaller, Australia's chief infrastructure body believes.

The changes will mean more professional workers will shift to regional centres close to capital cities, including the Gold and Sunshine coasts, Ipswich and Logan.

Over the next five years, CBDs such as Brisbane's will have smaller office spaces and fewer employees as the new home/office way of working evolves, says Infrastructure Australia.

Larger companies and departments will reduce the size of their city offices and move into regional hubs closer to residential suburbs with good public transport, Infrastructure Australia will report next month.

The independent adviser will present its reactions to the impact of COVID-19 on September 3, after already publishing data from all states in its Infrastructure Beyond COVID-19 report in December 2020. ...

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> New infrastructure plan needed as work from home goes regional $

The largest exodus of people to regional areas from Australia's major cities since the 19th-century gold rushes and a surge in working from home will force a rethink of how infrastructure is put in place around the nation.

In a major report into the nation's infrastructure needs over the coming decade, Infrastructure Australia will say on Friday that nothing less than an ambitious agenda involving all levels of government, communities and private businesses is needed to remake the country. ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/InfraAust/status/1433563172389093376

[ozbob]

2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan

> https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/publications/2021-australian-infrastructure-plan

The 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan is a practical and actionable roadmap for infrastructure reform.

The Plan is focused on reforms and policy recommendations that will deliver better infrastructure outcomes for Australian communities.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/CatherineKingMP/status/1463759663808188418