BLIGH GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE REPLICATED IN MAIN ROADS MANAGEMENT

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The Bligh Government’s well documented financial and management incompetence is replicated in the way the State Government Main Roads department manages maintenance and construction of main roads in North Queensland.

North Queensland-based Senator Ian Macdonald said that in this week alone there were more than four traffic stoppages per day on the 80 km of road between Ayr and Townsville.

“I appreciate the maintenance work has to be done, but having six stoppages on the short distance between Ayr and Townsville, as it was today, is just plain bad management at the top level of the department,” Senator Macdonald said.

“The normal one hour trip from Ayr to Townsville today became an almost two hour trip because there were six different sets of road works under way which banked up traffic at times for up to 5 km.”

“I intend to raise with the transport department in Canberra the possibility of having some organisation other than Queensland State Government managing federally funded work.

“The people on the ground doing the work do a fabulous job, and they are not to blame for the anger and frustration of motorists and long-distance road transport operators, caused by the repeated stoppages on such a short section of road.”

“Clearly there is a lack of management in the State Government department or alternatively departmental officials are simply insensitive to the concerns and costs to the travelling public from the inordinate number of delays in such a short section of roadway.”

“Work on the section of road has now been going on for more than nine months and because it was started just before the wet season, the same section of road had to be redone a couple of times.”

“After years of inaction on the section of the roadway it is ridiculous to have so many individual sections under construction at the same time.”

“I understand that there have been disruptions within the Department itself and this has been exacerbating the lack of any management skills or expertise in the planning of main road works and maintenance in the North. Perhaps it is time for the Federal Government to take over.”

“As a regular traveller of this section of road between Ayr and Townsville, I feel that I can speak for the many motorists who are absolutely frustrated at the number of interruptions to their journey over a short 80 km trip,” Senator Macdonald said.

END

1 September 2010

Media contact Gordon Terry      (07) 4771 3066   or   0427 960 255                                           

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