The ACT Government has no power over the airport, or what roads and railways are built to our borders and we have no ports.
So it is no surprise we have managed to muddle on without a freight strategy to this point.
But, just in case, Simon Corbell has let us know he’s working on a freight strategy:
“The first freight strategy for the ACT will allow for significant consideration to be given to issues of safety, road user balance and future government and industry investment in infrastructure like roads.
“Earlier this year the government released the final Transport for Canberra Policy that maps out how the ACT Labor Government will meet the challenges of a growing city and deliver major improvements in the way Canberrans get around our city in a sustainable way.”
The ACT Freight Strategy is expected to include:
— The description of a peripheral parkway network which may allow larger, heavier vehicles to be restricted in more urban areas. This formed part of the government’s Transport for Canberra Strategy;
— Reviewing road planning guidelines to better balance the interaction of freight vehicles with people in residential areas, schools and other road users;
— Which roads in the ACT should be available to very long and heavy B-double and future B-triple vehicles;
— Whether, and where, land should be reserved within the ACT and region for freight-related activities;
— The potential for rail to re-emerge as a volume freight mover for the ACT; and,
— The role of air transport as a freight mover for the ACT.