Uralla Council taken to task on Abington Creek Bridge access
The campaigning focus of trucking representative bodies continues with Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers Association (LBRCA) taking up the cudgel on lack of access to New South Wales routes upgraded with state government cash.
The association has raised infrastructure issues with the state government before but it is now doing so in a more concerted and systematic way.
In its initial sights is Uralla Council’s Abington Creek Bridge on Thunderbolts Way but others can be expected as it identifies recipients of public funding under round one and two of the NSW Fixing Country Roads program “that are yet to deliver what they promised, specifically improved heavy vehicle access, despite successful completion of road improvements” , the association points out.
Abington Creek Bridge is now a 450-metre long, dual-lane concrete bridge yet the local council refuses to allow this access, the association says.
“Accountability is paramount when it comes to the expenditure of public funding,” LBRCA president Lynley Miners says.
“The changing of the goal posts is unacceptable and is an obvious constraint to achieving productivity and access benefits across NSW.”
LBRCA says its members, NSW transport operators and the wider community will be denied access to the benefits that higher productivity can bring including time and cost savings, reduced congestion and noise, increased safety, improved access to intermodal facilities and the ability to complete the freight task more efficiently using high productivity vehicles.
It has written to the state MP for Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall, outlining our concerns and his receipt of it has been confirmed to ATN.
Other infrastructure of recent concern to the association include the Burley Griffin Way bridge upgrades and it has noted federal funding for theBridges Renewal Program gained $300 million and from 2015-16 to 2018-19 and in the 2016-17 Federal Budget this was extended by $60 million per year from 2019-20.
The council and NSW roads minister Duncan Gay’s office have been contacted for their responses.