West End Community Association
|
Traffic
gridlock inevitable?
- What you can do to prevent it
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Issue
The predicted doubling of West End's population within a decade
will place immense pressures on already inadequate local infrastructure.
Unless enough is done to prevent it, one of the worst impacts
will be traffic congestion and associated health and safety problems.
To prevent these problems destroying the livability of the suburb,
public transport needs to be greatly expanded, hand in hand with
measures to reduce reliance on private motor vehicles - including
actions to encourage pedestrianism and cycling. This will reduce
both the number of private motor vehicles and the number of motor
vehicle trips within the peninsula as well as reducing the numbers
of car parking spaces allowed in new residential developments.
The most recent development approvals allow between 1.5 and 2
car spaces per dwelling - in locations within easy walking distance
of the CBD! Instead Council should consider inner city Sydney
best practice, which is to allow 4 car spaces for every 10 apartments.
Certainly no more than 1 car space per residential unit should
be approved. These initiatives would show that Council is serious
about addressing traffic congestion problems in a real and environmentally
responsible way.
WECA also opposes the Hale Street bridge and the TransApex tunnels
because they will have serious adverse impacts on local residents
and communities without solving traffic congestion problems. The
proposed road bridge and tunnels would be bad for Brisbane because
they are expected to:
- merely shift traffic congestion elsewhere (in this case West End,
Highgate Hill and Woolloongabba)
- worsen congestion by encouraging people to drive
- cause serious respiratory, cancer and other air pollution related
health problems in local residents
- fragment communities
- worsen greenhouse gas emission levels and contribute to global
warming and other environmental hazards.
Perhaps Council and State dollars should be used to provide Brisbane
with a world class 21st century integrated public transport system
rather than billlions spent on road infrastucture in the inner
city.
What YOU can do:
- Write to Council/local councillor
and State Government/local
MP :· and ask for answers about all the traffic,
parking and mobility issues in West End- including provision
of sufficient additional public transport, and cycling and pedestrian
facilities· supporting a maximum of between half and
one car space for each residential unit.
- Write letters to newspapers
- Telephone talkback radio
- Join and/or donate to WECA and participate in the activities
of its Traffic Group
- Get others involved: numbers=power!
|
|
|
|
|
|
