Thursday, 6 May 2010

Priororities - and decisions made !

Surely statistics must play some part in decisions affecting road funding !

That doesn't seem to be the case when comparisons are made between money allocated to road improvements for Picton road - and the Barton Highway.

Picton road is a twenty seven kilometre stretch connecting Wollongong with the Hume Highway. In the past ten years it has suffered twenty-one fatal accidents.

The Barton Highway is a fifty-four kilometre link between Yass and Canberra. In the same period it has seen just fourteen fatal accidents.

Picton road has been allocated $ 12 million to provide a median barrier for just 5.7 kilometres of highway. $ 330 million has been allocated to provide thirty-three kilometres of the Barton Highway with a median barrier.

There is little indication of a surge in traffic on the Barton highway, but the expansion of Port Kembla as a replacement shipping terminal for Sydney is making Picton road the preferred freight route from the Illawarra to western Sydney.

Could it be that because the Illawarra is a safe Labor stronghold when it comes to electing government members - it is low on the priority list for government spending ?

No other form of statistical comparison seems to justify this glaring imbalance in the allocation of road money !

No comments:

Post a Comment