Billboards spruiking future trams a “waste”
Five huge billboards announcing the State Government’s proposed new tram networks – not due to be completed before 2043 – are a waste of taxpayers’ money, the Opposition says.
The billboards have been erected on The Parade, Henley Beach Road, Anzac Highway, and two in the city.
They declare that “The future is…” and then the name of the particular tram network.
The billboards are part of a communications strategy to encourage feedback on the Government’s 30-year transport plan, according to the Transport Department. The department declined to release costs for the campaign.
“This is just a list of projects, that haven’t been designed, that haven’t been costed, in fact the people who are likely to use them haven’t been born yet,” Shadow Minister for Transport Vickie Chapman told InDaily this morning.
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“The reality is, huge billboards, massive advertising campaign, documentation going out to invite people to have a say about future transport, is all a promotion of the Government to make it look like they’re doing something when clearly they aren’t.”
Chapman called for the Auditor-General to review the campaign to test whether it was a fair use of taxpayer money.
She said the Liberal Opposition had already made commitments to not run political advertising campaigns using taxpayer funds if they won government.
The Government quickly hit back at Chapman’s claims, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis saying the campaign represented a commitment to transparency.
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“The Government is advertising to encourage feedback from the community because we care what the people of South Australia have to say,” he said.
“What we won’t do is keep our plans secret because we are afraid of how South Australians will respond. The Liberals’ criticism rings hollow when they are refusing to tell the public how they are going to run government services after they sack one in four public servants.”
The billboards, which may not be representative of the final solution, highlight an issue that has already been raised by light rail experts– the difficulty inherent in retrofitting tram lines on busy roads.
The ProspectLINK advert, for example, shows cars on Prospect Road driving half-in the tram tracks, with no obvious room to overtake. Stops for the tram line are likely to be wider again.
A spokesperson for the Transport Department said “preliminary investigations” had indicated the road was wide enough for two tram lines.
“The extent to which the tram will share the road with a cars and other traffic will be subject to further investigations,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“The implications for the speed of traffic along Prospect Road has not been assessed, and will form part of further investigations. The draft Integrated Transport and Land Use Plan nevertheless proposes road improvements for both Churchill Road and Main North Road to cater for any increase in traffic in the area.”
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