On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 10:52:16 GMT, Euan wrote:
> Of course it's a troll.
It's an op-ed piece and she is paid to write articles that attack the usual
positions of the leftwing media, e.g. Elizabeth Farrelly writing in the
same paper (the Age in Melbourne doesn't even bother to consider non left
wing opinions on its op-ed page so it probably comes as shock to
Melbournians). It is just an opinion, she can hold one if she wants.
Her facts are correct and she will argue rationally. Though she very
selective about which facts she uses as it makes it easier to write columns
that attract attention.
Bikeplan 2010 was a political stunt. The Carr Government promised a $250m
intergrated cycling system to buy Green votes in Marrackville. All the
funding and work was pushed off 20 years into the future and what was built
was generally a complete debacle and waste of money.
For example the latest on the Rhodes to Macquarie Park cycle route that was
promised by 2004 (IIRC, though the RTA has buried the plan so you can't
download it anymore to check) is that the section along the railway from
Meadowbank to Eastwood was abandoned by the RTA last year under Costa since
the NSW Government is going broke. The section linking the Shrimpton Creek
section south to Quarry St isn't going that well either. One block's worth
has just about been finished, after over a year spent on construction. The
next block has been cancelled, after RTA funding was secured, by Ryde
Council because the local residents protested. They have managed to get the
easement it was going to run through fenced off to keep other people out
and protect their privacy.
And of course if Ryde Council would fix up all the chicanes, speed bumps
and other traffic pacifying devices then the roads would be fine to cycle
on anyway.
Cycle lanes through Lane Cove and along William St were used as an excuse
to shut down lanes and stop cars using public roads. The Williams St
closures managed to completely screw up access to the Eastern CBD from the
Eastern Suburbs (a business I work there whose customers come mostly from
the Eastern Suburbs lost 25% of its business and is going bust as a
result). The Government has now been forced to remove the cycle lanes,
which will cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in compensation to
the Cross City Tunnel operators.
The cycle lanes through Lane Cove seem particularly useless because it is
bad place to cycle through and the Government appears to have abandoned the
sections from Wicks Road to Lane Cove and Lane Cove to the Harbour Bridge.
It has also been revealed the Government had the Lane Cove tunnel include a
two lane section heading East (the operators wanted 3) to deliberately stop
people driving to the CBD.
They also are forcing motorists to pay for a cycleway on the M7, one that
goes up and down and winds back and forth, is shared with pedestrians who
have right of way. Instead everyone cycles on the shoulder, across all the
exit ramps, which will probably result in lots of cyclists being severely
injured costing the community lots.
It's all fairly typical of the infrastructure planning of the Carr-Iemma
government: pander to lots of competing special interest groups and then
blame the media when the spin spins out of control.
dewatf.
