TRAFFIC CONGESTION Outlet plans are removed from reality
THEY still don’t get it!
A Budget Estimates hearing was told that the T3 lane from Olinda Grove to Macquarie Street was inspired by a 2015 traffic jam which “gridlocked the city”. Authorities who believe such nonsense operate under the illusion that public transport can somehow substitute for personal automobility.
They look out of their high office windows, see a line of 100 cars below, and falsely assume that those cars can be replaced by two or three buses.
They overlook that those 100 cars are coming from 100 different origins, are heading to 100 different destinations and the 100 drivers each have different daily activities to perform.
In today’s modern post-industrial societies where women have equal workforce participation to men and where family, home and social responsibilities are complex, most people find that the car is the only practical means of satisfying their travel commitments.
It’s time that the authorities accepted that cars are here to stay and are used for very good reasons.
There is no evidence from anywhere in the world to show that a T3 transit lane on the Southern Outlet will do anything to reduce road congestion in the city.
The whole project is driven by an anti-car, pro-public transport ideology based solely on assumptions rather than reality.
JUST ONE OPTION
Bob Cotgrove Mount Nelson
WHY has this government chosen the destructive and costly option of extending the Southern Outlet bus lane southward? The question is magnified in importance at this critical time for Dynnyrne residents.
Minister Michael Ferguson has released only one costly option for purvehicle
ported public consultation, despite constant requests that he disclose all options which have been considered and discarded, and why. His option gives minimal traffic flow improvement from Kingston to the city.
The government’s own traffic modelling on their preferred project shows that, at best, over the hour from 7.30am to 8.30am, northbound car traffic on the Southern Outlet will be no more than two minutes quicker than now, barely a minute average improvement over the whole hour. Over the same period northbound bus travelling times will at best achieve a three minute travel time improvement averaging about 1.5 minutes over the hour.
The major bottleneck on the Southern Outlet has always been at the Southern Outlet/Davey and Macquarie streets intersection!
There is already a bus lane on the outlet which, as it currently exists, is totally non-functional and increases congestion just before that intersection in the morning peak.
One would have thought that the very first option investigated would have been to take the present bus lane through the intersection and down to Ispahan or Warneford St, rather than demolish family homes to extend it southward.
I am sure that if this option was analysed it would have almost the same time saving for buses and cars as the present expensive and destructive preferred option.
If this option has been fully investigated, costed and modelled, why has it not been made public along with the reasons for it’s rejection?
If it hasn’t been fully investigated and costed, what is the reason for that?
Tony Dell Dynnyrne
THINK LONGER TERM
AS a 20-year Southern Outlet user, we should save homes and drop the stupid idea that an extra lane will solve Hobart’s southern traffic flows. As a temporary measure why not build a light overpass? Common all over the world they are built to straddle the existing road and would be very easy to make it reversible at peak hours. A western ring road is the solution across the old Hobart tip and following the path of the high voltage towers. However, the real solution is passing all western suburbs by tunnels and deep gully bridges coming out opposite the Bridgewater Bridge. A link from Huonville to New Norfolk/Brighton could also be built in 10 or 20 years. Think 50 years not short-term politics.
Mike Grey West Tamar
WHAT CONSULTATION?
On August 31, after much delay the website for the Southern Outlet Transit Lane – Project “Community Consultation” was launched and seeking public response via an online survey.
Much of the survey asks for a “yes” or “no” response with little room for comment. How then will this provide State Growth with a detailed response from the public?
In relation to the T3 bus lane extension on the Outlet, it is stated that “The Department has been in contact with all property owners that may be impacted and will continue to engage directly with these property owners throughout consultation and beyond.” Yet there is no option for the impacted residents to comment in this survey, effectively silencing those who will have the most significant impact upon their lives.
There is no indication of how many homes will be acquired and demolished, also no indication of how much private land will be acquired!
The question remains; before spending a suggested $72m what other solutions to the issue of traffic congestion in the city of Hobart have been tested? Michael Hanlon
Dynnyrne