Hunter traffic jams deterrent for business

BY DONNA PAGE

26 Mar, 2010 04:00 AM

Source: Newcastle Herald (www.theherald.com.au)

THE cost of doing nothing to relieve traffic congestion in the Hunter could mean the region will lose one of its biggest selling points to business.

Hunter Business Chamber chief executive officer Peter Shinnick said many business operators viewed the region as an ideal place to set up because it was close to Sydney without the traffic congestion.

“The ease of access and lack of congestion is what attracts people to the region,” Mr Shinnick said.

“We don’t have the issues that Sydney does, but there is no doubt traffic congestion is getting worse.”

A Commonwealth Government Treasury report issued last month estimated the cost of traffic congestion in Australia’s capital cities would almost double to $20 billion a year by 2020.

Executive director of the Treasury’s markets group Jim Murphy said congestion costs were “real and substantial”, rising from an estimated cost of about $12.9 billion in 2010.

Mr Shinnick said the Hunter was relatively sheltered from non-peak congestion but there were growing peak congestion problems in many areas including inner-city Newcastle, Maitland and around Cardiff industrial estate.

He said congestion caused transport cost blow-outs for business and resulted in lost worker time and decreased productivity.

A 2008 survey of Hunter businesses found that 20 per cent of businesses blamed insufficient or unreliable public transport for increased traffic congestion in the region.

There was also concern raised about the growing number of vehicles on the region’s roads resulting in increased peak-hour accidents and delays.

Industries hit hardest by traffic congestion were education and training services, construction, manufacturing and real estate services.

Editorial Comment by Tiron Manning – Shedden Real Estate

It is my opinion that if the council streamlined the D.A approval system, implemented more “park and ride” stations and had the intestinal fortitude to make a decision for the future of Newcastle’s expansion by removing and replacing the antiquated and failing heavy rail system into the CBD.

The improved D.A process could allow developers to remove dangerous and ugly structures and free up valuable land that could be used for parking until construction is ready to proceed.

Park and ride stations would encourage workers to save some parking money and petrol to commute into the key commercial precincts.

The removal of heavy rail will remove the divide between the harbour and the city. So long as sufficient investment in an alternative or better use of what we already have. Currently underutilised buses could be used to ferry commuters into the city. Expansion of the fare-free zones could assist in the greater patronage of the people travelling short distances to the CBD.

The Lookout Road bypass (which has been discussed and forgotten for years) needs to go ahead. A link from the Charlestown Inner City Bypass to the Pacific and New England Highways would relieve some of this congestion.

Make Newcastle a marginal seat, get our fair share for the Hunter!