Is Dean Nalder A Mole?

Is Dean Nalder a mole in the WA Government?

He is obsessed with burrowing underground and, in the process, undermines his own government, as a spy might do, by floating whacky ideas.

It is true that destroying existing urban development to widen roads like Stirling Highway is of questionable value, but transport professionals know that building more roads, however you do it, is no solution to congestion - quite the opposite, as more roads simply generate more traffic. 

And if you did build, say, another Stirling Highway under the existing one, where and how would drivers get on and off - or must they all go all the way from Perth to Fremantle? Access/egress points would take large amounts of land - most likely at places where land is at a premium, because those are the places people want to get to.

Cheap though tunnelling might be in Perth sand, the cost would still be substantial. It is disingenuous of the Minister to claim that it would not be at the expense of public transport and cycling - unless he has somehow found the money tree that Premier Colin Barnett appears to believe exists somewhere, if only he could find it.

It's time, Minister, to commit to cost-effective strategies for walking, cycling and public transport to provide real options for the people of Perth, which would also improve road traffic conditions for those who still have to use cars, commercial and freight vehicles.

The West Australian, 23rd February, 2016

Multi-Storey Car Mausoleums Are Our 'Horse Graveyards'

Good piece in today's West Australian by Kate Emery, who does us all a great service by drawing attention to the myopia of planning ('They shoot horses, don't they', West Australian, 11th November 2015), using the example of the 'horse graveyards' planned as an 'inevitable' result of dependence on horse-drawn transport in the 19th century.

Our horse graveyards are already with us, in the form of multi-storey car parks. These single-purpose mausoleums are home to inanimate car bodies for most of the day and empty by night.

There is nothing new in planners wanting to reduce our dependence on the private car by creating more accessible places. Twenty years ago, the Perth Metropolitan Transport Strategy stated on its front cover:

"Perth will be a place of vitality and well-being. There will be a sharing of spaces for living, work and leisure activities, which can be reached easily and safely by all members of the community".

If we were actually to achieve this, many of these car mausoleums would be redundant. Indeed, we can already see the beginnings of this in reduced charges (because of lower demand) for car parking in the central city.

Now we need to take the next step and start to reduce the amount of car parking, including requirements in local government town planning schemes - which also increases the density and activity we can get in an area. To do so requires governments to get serious about creating more accessible places, not simply set arbitrary infill development targets, and to make alternatives to the car (public transport, walking and cycling) feasible options for as many of us, in as many places and for as much of the day as possible.

West Australian, 11th November, 2015

Written and Posted by Ian Ker, Convenor, STCWA