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 !
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