A congestion busting "open roads" policy could be introduced in Brisbane under a new proposal being considered by Queensland Premier
A congestion busting “open roads” policy could be introduced in Brisbane under a new proposal being considered by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.
The US style policy would see specialised “bulldozer-style” trucks clearing accidents from roads and freeing up traffic much sooner after incidents happen.
Bligh will fly to the United States to attend the World bio-conference in San Diego, and her trip will also include an overview of a number of important transport and traffic initiatives.
A visit to the Transcom Regional Incident Traffic Management Centre in New Jersey will give the chance to see first hand how an advanced traffic management centre rapidly detects and clears incidents.
Bligh says figures show about 25 percent of congestion on southeast Queensland roads is caused by traffic incidents.
“This proposal will have a major impact on clearing incidents, especially at notorious hot spots like the Gateway Motorway, Pacific Motorway and the Logan Motorway,” she says.
According to Bligh the policy was about looking at new ways to tackle congestion and better manage Queensland’s road network.
“During my trip to the United States I will experience this open roads policy in operation in New York,” said Premier Anna Bligh.
A fun part of the proposal was a plan to name the congestion-busting trucks after famous Queensland Rugby league players, Bligh says.
“I think most Queenslanders would like the idea of trucks named “Big Artie”, “The King” “The Axe” or “Gordie” using a bit of muscle to free up our roads,” she says.
“The legislation that I propose will see these trucks pushing cars or trucks off to the side of the road if they have too.
“We will also consider ways to recover costs from the owners of the vehicles that caused the incident.
“I am committed to do everything in my power to give people a reliable journey. So they can get to work on time or spend more time with their families.”
“Recently major incidents on the Gateway Bridge, Story Bridge, and a truck roll in Toowong on Thursday brought the city to a “stand still”.
“You don’t have to be Einstein to understand the positive effect that clearing incidents more quickly will have on our network.
“It sometimes takes hours to clear these accidents and we are looking at ways to speed up that process.”
Bligh says many US cities and states had adopted an “open road” policy which was focused around rapid clearance of incidents – especially heavy vehicles.
“We might have a bit of fun with naming the trucks but this will involve a lot of planning and a lot of co-ordination among our response agencies,” she says.
“I believe that reducing the impact and duration of incidents is an imperative in the fight against congestion.
“Research also shows that the likelihood of secondar y crashes caused by the first incident is high and of course that leads to further issues and further congestion.
“The loss of people’s time, the resulting increase in pollution and the economic consequences of congestion need to be addressed.”
Bligh says the “Open Roads” or “Quick Clearance” policy would focus on clearing roads as quickly as possible.
“The aim would be to clear all accidents within 90 minutes of the arrival of the first traffic response or police officer at the scene of a major traffic crash or minor incident that closes down lanes of traffic,” she said.
If successful the implementation of the policy would see a multi-agency traffic incident team in a Brisbane Metropolitan Traffic Management Centre; police motorcycle patrols dedicated to attending and clearing incidents; special recovery vehicles that can easily pick up and move large damaged vehicles and other objects and place them onto flat bed trailers to clear blocked roadways.