Another reason why it’s always interesting to visit Australia. From The Australian:
Motorway madness to waste billions’ as rail and bus use grows
PUBLIC transport advocates have slammed NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s decision to set aside $1.8 billion in funding for a new motorway from Parramatta to Sydney airport, claiming Sydneysiders’ per capita road use is falling amid high petrol prices and increased use of rail and buses.
Gavin Gatenby, the convenor of lobby group Ecotransit, said the NSW government’s support of the WestConnex motorway was “about supporting private vested interests that have sunk billions into building motorways”.
“Per capita road use has been falling for the past years in all Australian capital cities, as public transport use has surged. Yet NSW decides to invest billions of dollars in motorways before major public transport projects. It’s sheer madness,” Mr. Gatenby said …
The First Things First plan … has called for a network of new motorways to be built before a second rail crossing under Sydney Harbour. …
Recent motorway projects in NSW – including the Lane Cove Tunnel, the Cross City Tunnel and the Eastern Distributor – had all falied to reach their forecast traffic numbers.
Sydney’s traffic peaked in 2005 and had since been falling steadily ever since. The number of vehicle kilometres travelled per person has been falling since and is now back to 1992 levels (Michelle Zeibots of the Sydney University of Technology) said.
