Ballina bypass gets funding
Ballina’s long-awaited bypass is to become a reality following the joint Federal and State announcement that $271 million has been granted for the work. However, it will be up to seven years before the bypass is completed.
In an early Christmas present for the town, Federal Minister Jim Lloyd and his State counterpart Joe Tripodi made the announcement on December 23 as part of the signing of a memorandum of understanding under which both tiers of government would commit to find ways to fast-track the Pacific Highway upgrade all the way to the Queensland border. Member for Ballina Don Page welcomed the announcement, which he said was ‘a terrific Christmas present’ for the Ballina community.
Mr Lloyd described the Ballina bypass as ‘an engineering challenge, not a funding issue’. Mr Page said: “Mr Lloyd said building the Ballina bypass would be technically difficult and it would be a further six to seven years before a bypass could be completed across the soft soils of the Richmond River floodplain.
“However, he said that 20 of the 38 properties required for the bypass had been bought at market rates and the process of acquiring the remaining properties would be accelerated to allow construction to start as soon as possible.’”
Mr Page said he was not in a position to comment on how the bypass approval would affect the four options for the Tintenbar-Ewingsdale upgrade. Mr Lloyd’s press release said a route selection study was under way for that section.
Under the memorandum of understanding, private and public funds could be used for the $8 million upgrade, and toll roads could be introduced.
The Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils (NOROC) welcomed the memorandum of understanding to fast-track the highway upgrade, but said it was disappointed there was no new money in the announcement.
Pacific Highway Taskforce chairman Ernie Bennett said the signing was a big step forward but added: “The Federal Treasury is awash with cash - that would have been a good place to start looking for the funds to speed up construction of this vital piece of infrastructure that affects millions of Australians annually.
“There are also potential proceeds from the future sale of Telstra.’” Cr Bennett said local councils were yet to be convinced of the merits of tollways ‘and there will need to be a cast-iron guarantee that local people will not be adversely affected by them’.
The NRMA welcomed the announcement, and said it would consider a toll option as long as governments adhered to recommendations of the Richmond Report which included an alternative free route of at least current standard; the toll level is setat the lowest possible cost for motorists and provided value for money for the road user; the policy of procurement at no cost to government must be abandoned; and the toll road must have a mandatory toll-free period.
April 10th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
[...] Funding for the bypass was announced in December last year. [...]