Letter in response to Mercury article “Council backs tunnel probe”17/5/11 For the record, there is no way that I would support a tunnel proposed for the Davey St couplet. This folly is nothing more than an expensive, pie-in-the-sky option for our city.
What I did support at last night’s Council meeting was the investigation of computer models on traffic flow in conjunction with DIER, which Ald. Thomas had added a 7th-hour amendment to include an evaluation of the tunnel proposal. You don’t have to look too far to find that tunnels cost $100’s of millions of dollars to build – back in 1992 the 3.2km Sydney Harbour tunnel’s price tag was $550m. Dublin’s Port Tunnel cost €572m in 2006. Expensive private public partnerships often mean that governments are locked in to paying significant costs for the pleasure and locals pay tolls to use the infrastructure. I doubt that Tasmanians would want to increase the cost of coming into the city or traversing it. It seems to me that this is like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It’s not a logical approach to finding relatively inexpensive solutions to moving people from point A to point B. The Greens will continue to advocate for park n ride, an integrated public transport system including ferries, and enhancing cycling and pedestrian options. With the political will and for a fraction of the cost we can do this. These options are all reflected in Council’s transport strategy for 2009-14 but no mention of a tunnel. As we’ve heard before, a tunnel just isn’t viable for our city. Expensive, over-the-top engineering solutions are not the solution for our city. I look forward to the day when we can as a Council discount this impractical expensive option. I know that I would prefer ratepayer and taxpayer funds to be considered wisely, and a costly 1km tunnel is not the way to go. Helen Burnet Greens Alderman, Hobart City Council 0417 284 167 17 May 2011
|