Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

RTA misleads on M4-East motorway

posted Sunday 1 February 2004

In its January 2004 brochure announcing an options study for the proposed M4 East motorway between Haberfield and Concord in Sydney's inner western suburbs, the Roads & Traffic Authority says that the long tunnel option "could ...encourage more private vehicles commuting into the CBD and nearby areas".

This statement is misleading.

The RTA knows that motorways make driving more attractive and that any new tunnel will encourage more trips. When you expand road capacity, you generate more trips. It's called induced traffic. All Sydney's road tunnels have created induced traffic. For example, the opening of the Harbour Tunnel caused car journeys from the northern suburbs to the CBD to grow from 66 million in 1991 to 75 million in 1993 (SMH 10.9.99).

APT says that if the RTA can't be honest about such a simple phenomenon, how can the public trust its estimates and pronouncements on more complex traffic issues?

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