AGENDA
*Welcome Rory

*Minutes of previous meeting confirmed as a true record and account of proceedings

*Treasurer’s Report. Stephanie

*Updates: committee members. Gordon,Max,Phil,Steph,Margaret,Rory

*Internet update Martin

*Other Groups’ Activities. All

*Review Strategy/Plans/Activities All (in respect of new route)

*Other Business. All

*Close/Next Meeting. Rory

Preferred route Mt Vic 10 May 2010

The preferred route and cost estimates for the upgrade of the Great Western Highway between Mount Victoria and Lithgow have now been finalised, with the first instalment of vital safety works expected to start by the end of the year.

Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said after two years of intensive planning and community consultations the Rudd and Keneally Labor governments will soon begin rolling out an initial $250 million investment in this road.

“From the outset we’ve said that the final scope of work to be undertaken in the first phase of the upgrade would be subject to the outcomes of further planning work,” said Mr Albanese.

“The RTA has now completed this necessary work and we’re in position to get on with the job. Every cent we’ve committed to the Great Western Highway will be spent making this road safer.

“To begin with we will spend $30 million delivering a number of long overdue safety improvements around Victoria Pass and the township of Mount Victoria, including the installation of median barriers and road widening.”

As well as delivering this safety package, the initial $250 million investment being delivered as part of the Nation Building Program (2008-09 to 2013-14) will fund:

• A bypass to the south of Little Hartley, including intersection improvements at Coxs River Road, Baaners Lane and Browns Gap Road; and
• The southern alignment option at River Lett Hill.

The corridor for the following sections will be preserved so work on them could proceed when additional funding becomes available

• A tunnel as part of a bypass of the township of Mount Victoria and Victoria Pass; and
• A new alignment at Forty Bends.

NSW Transport and Roads Minister David Campbell said the preferred route was approved after careful consideration of community issues, preliminary environmental and technical investigations as well as engineering and cost issues.

“The preferred route for the Mt Victoria Bypass is currently between 200 and 400 metres wide. This corridor will be reduced to around 60 metres,” said Mr Campbell.

“This will allow the route to be placed on the Local Environmental Plans of Lithgow and Blue Mountains City councils, providing long term certainty for local residents and property owners.

“The three priority projects have been identified for immediate action as they deliver the greatest immediate benefits within the funding available.”

The RTA will now prepare an implementation strategy for the upgrade and develop designs for the safety improvements of the existing highway.

For more information visit www.rta.nsw.gov.au and follow the links.

Sunday, 9 May 2010

By Sineva Toevai

“The government remains committed to working with industry and stakeholders to increase the share of containers moved by rail to 40%,” a spokeswoman for NSW ports minister Paul McLeay said.

“There are four other rail operators servicing Port Botany which have made rail an economically-viable option.”
Patrick announced last Friday that it would cease its Port Botany rail operations from June 30th because it could no longer justify investing into its Camellia terminal with rail’s share of Port Botany freight movements running at a “poor” capacity of 23%.

“The decision to exit this business is disappointing but without any indication that conditions will improve we have no choice but to cease our rail services,” Patrick container ports director Paul Garaty said.

“We will look to accommodate employees in other parts of the business to minimise the impact on them as a result of this decision.”
Services affected by the decision include the Dubbo to Port Botany rail service and the Camellia Intermodal and Container Park operations.

On the reasons for the move, Garaty said that the short-haul nature of rail to and from Port Botany to metropolitan and NSW rural areas would never be competitive to road “as road is the price setter and there is a road task at the beginning and end of each rail journey at Camellia”.

Patrick had subsidised rail in the past on the basis that it created greater throughput through its Port Botany terminal, however, the decision to build a third terminal has removed this requirement.

See railexpress.com.au

by Rail Express — last modified Apr 27, 2010 01:36 PM
— filed under: Weekly Top Stories, Rail

Patrick will cease all services to and from its port in a move that is expected to force an extra 45,000 trucks onto NSW roads, both in the bush and in Sydney.

The company cited “rail’s poor share of freight movements” as the reason behind the decision.

But Mr Blight sent a warning that the State’s roads can’t handle the current volume of traffic and added he believes the run from Dubbo to Sydney through the Blue Mountains is one of NSW’s most dangerous stretches of highway.

“This will work out at close enough to 1000 extra trucks on the roads every week,” Mr Blight said.

“Freight trucks these days need freeways and highways but we have a situation where more trucks are going to be on winding stretches near Wellington, Bathurst and into the mountains.

“We have a transport tsunami coming and it will hit roads that are already not capable of safely handling the volume of traffic.

“The M7 Motorway in Sydney is heavily utilised and if you drive on it or the M4 at the wrong time you face massive queues.”

One thing the decision could do, however, is put the issue of a

freeway through the Blue Mountains back on the Government’s agenda.

However Mr Blight believes the current Labor Government will continue to ignore the significance of such a development.

“It’s unfortunate but this Government is totally incapable of doing it,” he said.

“We raise it in every budget submission but the Government wants us to continue using the path that Lawson and Blaxland used all those years ago. It’s appalling.”

Source: http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/news/local/news/general/transport-tsunami-heading-this-way-with-force/1813063.aspx

PRIZE DONATIONS

PIPPA & BILL BARTON
BAY TREE INN, MT. VICTORIA

RON & DIANE BAYLEY
MT. VIC FLICKS, MT. VICTORIA

RICK & JULIE HOBBA
BLACKHEATH FRUIT & VEGES

BOB SEAMAN
NEW IVANHOE HOTEL, BLACKHEATH

BLOOMS CHEMIST
COLES ARCADE, LITHGOW

STEVE URCH
IMPERIAL HOTEL, MT. VICTORIA

BILL RATTON
HARTLEY VALLEY NURSERY, HARTLEY

BLUE MOUNTAINS UNIONS COUNCIL per DEBRA SMITH
MT. VICTORIA

KIETH MENTIPLAY
TRAINS PLANES & AUTOMOBILES, MT. VICTORIA
MICHAEL & NERIZA MOORE
VICTORIA & ALBERT GUEST HOUSE, MT.VICTORIA

KRISTY MERREDITH
KRISTY’S HOME VIDEO, BLACKHEATH

AMANDA CALLAGHAN & DAVID BERKES
MD DIGITAL, MEDLOW BATH.

SAM MILLER
MT. VICTORIA SERVICE CENTRE, MT. VICTORIA

GUY WELLER
MR. PICKWICK’S ANTIQUARIAN & GENERAL BOOK STORE,
KATOOMBA

JASON HINES
HARVEY NORMAN, LITHGOW

DR.STUART ROLLS [Author, Psychologist/Parapsychologist]
MT. VICTORIA

LYN HENLEY MT. VICTORIA.

CASH DONATIONS:
PROF. JOHN NILAND & CARMEL NILAND
ELIZABETH CHANDLER
JOSEPHINE WOLANSKI
GUY & MELODY WELLER
SUSAN BROCK & KATRINA SCHLUNKE
WALTER & DOROTHY SMITH
ROB & ANNETTE PETERS

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
MARGARET BROOME & PETER BROOME
CAROLE & GORDON CLARK
JACK & ELAINE THOMPSON
RORY & SUE MACK
JUDY KELLER
JOHN WELCH
PHIL MAS
STEPHANIE BULL.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
JUDY KELLER for donatingTrivia Packages.
ANDREW CLARK for Organising and MC’ing
CAROLE CLARK for Food.
MARGARET BROOME & PETER & MARY BROOME for CLOSEBURN HOUSE

It is unacceptable that scores of large coal trucks use this narrow village road to haul coal to Sydney. Centennial Coal today utilises rail to transport coal.

Their plans to transport an additional 300,000 tonnes per annum should utilise rail, NOT a narrow residential road in the small village of Mount Victoria. Unfortunately, two weeks ago a fatal accident involving a car and a truck occurred near the intersection of Harley Avenue and the Great Western Highway. If an additional movement of dozens & dozens of trucks per day through Harley Avenue was permitted, we are very concerned that this occurrence will be repeated.

Please take immediate action to stop this proposal and place the 4.5t tare limit on Harley Avenue.

Regards,

Rory

The aim was to raise funds to enable us to continue our activities to have the proposed RTA highway upgrade abandoned. Our alternate solution is to immediately carry out safety upgrades to Victoria Pass; begin work on an alternate freight route and to encourage more freight onto rail.

The event at the historic Closeburn House was an outstanding success. The “full house” had a wonderful evening. Our enthusiastic MC ensured we had a memorable night of merriment & laughter. People won great prizes. We had an excellent supper and importantly, we exceeded our revenue expectations.

This marvellous result was due to the outstanding work of our committee, the generous donations from individuals & organisations and the willingness of all attendees to have a “great night”.

That we did! Thank you to all.

Rory

RTA decsion:

At this point in time we are anxiously awaiting the RTA’s announcement of which of the three routes they have decided to persue through Mount Victoria.

We have been told that this would be announced by Easter however the latest news is that the announcement will not be made until May.

This and other matters will be discussed at the next meeting on April 11.

STATE LABOR’S GREAT WESTERN HIGHWAY BLOWOUT TO COST $1.5 BILLION

Leader of the Nationals and Shadow Minister for Roads Andrew Stoner today slammed the Keneally Labor Government for waste and incompetence, following revelations the cost of the upgrade of the Great Western Highway had blown out by as much as $1.5 billion.

Documents obtained by the Liberals & Nationals under Freedom of Information show the State Labor Government has estimated the project could cost between $1.7 and $1.9 billion, depending on which option is chosen.

When the project was first announced in 2007, the State Labor Government estimated the total cost of the project would be $450 million.

Mr Stoner said State Labor’s waste and mismanagement had seen the project blowout in cost by as much as $1.5 billion.

“Taxpayers will be the ones footing the $1.5 billion bill for Kristina Keneally and State Labor’s incompetence,” Mr Stoner said.

“Whether it’s the BER, the failed CBD Metro or the Mt Victoria Bypass, Kristina Keneally and State Labor have shown they can’t manage major infrastructure projects.

“Local residents in the Blue Mountains will be scratching their heads over how this project could blowout to four-times the original cost in the space of three years.

“This just shows that nothing has changed under Kristina Keneally – it’s just the same old State Labor incompetence.

“Unlike Labor, the NSW Liberals & Nationals have positive plans to deliver the change NSW needs.

“We will create Infrastructure NSW, an independent body that will take the politics out of infrastructure decisions and ensure projects are delivered on-time and on-cost.

“Infrastructure NSW will improve co-ordination, accountability and transparency in infrastructure delivery and guarantee the community will get the improvements they deserve.”

MEDIA: Andrew Stoner 0427 164 092 / Ben Shine 0431 096 596