Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Help save Mt Victoria & Mt York from superhighway 12-Nov-2009 At 3:38:01 PM onsight

Message

We have a serious situation here in Mt Victoria (Blue Mtns). We urgently need some help if the Roads and Traffic Authority is to be stopped from putting a four lane super-highway through Mount Victoria and Hartley Vale. I think this is something that many climbers will be concerned about; the experience of visiting and climbing in the area will be significantly spoilt if this monstrous $600 million project proceeds.

The Minister for Roads said that he would have another look at the proposal if the RTA received 2000 letters by the submission deadline of 20 November 2009. So far the Mt Victoria Action Group has gathered 1400 letters. If we don’t get 2000 letters by the date then there is a far greater chance that construction contracts will be signed and this construction will then proceed one way or another.

Some brief background:
Currently the RTA has three route options for the Mt Victoria “bypass”. All three route options rip through beautiful unspoilt bushland to the north of Mt Victoria, cutting through or tunnelling under Mt York Road, and blasting down through Berghofers Pass.

This image, though a bit small, shows the three Mt Victoria route options.

The route options can be seen in higher resolution on the RTA web site here. There is also 100's of pages of documentation about the project there - if you're bothered.

But check out this artists impression of one of the route options:

This option involves the construction of a 1.9km viaduct up to 110m high! Long gone will be the pleasant view from Bardens Lookout, Zap Crag and parts of Mt York climbing areas!

Some objections to the project:
- All three route options would have a devastating and permanent impact on the Mt Victoria and Mt York area – environmentally, socially and aesthetically.
- The $600 million allocated for the project is a waste of tax payers money. It does nothing to address the long term transports needs of the Central West region (according to the governments own studies). The money would be better spent on an integrated rail and road freight network.
- Safety improvements to Victoria Pass could easily be done, and done now, at a fraction of the cost.
- Money would be better spent on improving safety to the Bells Line of Road.
- This superhighway would allow the 26 metre 9-axle “B doubles” trucks to use the Great Western Highway as a freight transport route. The government has failed to guarantee that these trucks would be banned. These trucks (road trains?) are completely inappropriate on a road that passes 20 sets of traffic lights, 10 school zones and 16 towns and villages and has nearly 39 speed zones.
- Both Federal and State Labor Governments have promised that the upgrade would BYPASS Mt Victoria village. The proposed routes in fact DISECTS the village, leaving many residents on the far side of the super-highway, and others left sandwiched between the old and new highways.

There is a lot more information on the Save Mt Vic website .

How you can help! If you care at all about this issue then PLEASE, just go to the Save Mt Vic website, download one of the four form letters that you'll find on the homepage (top right), just fill in your name and contact details on the top right of the letter, sign it, send it to the RTA, and please also send a copy to Phil Koperberg. The RTA addresses in on the form letters, Koperberg's address is here.

That’s it! That’s all you need to do to really help with this. If you send off a letter it really could make a difference.

Please help save Mt Victoria and Mt York from this destructive and absurdly excessive project.

Many thanks indeed.

Simon Carter