An inland water system please
October 6th 2006 18:19
Can we have an inland waterway transport system?
Without “stirring the possum” too much I would like to get people’s ideas on a viable inland waterway for NSW. I know there have been some discussed and proposed in the past and for differing reasons they have been shelved.
What I propose is and inland waterway system between Botany Bay and Trial Bay. Huge harbours, salt-water rivers, lakes and swamps already exist in the path of such a waterway. The cost of joining these with suitable commercial width canals I think would be viable when we look at the alternative, which is the increase in the size of roads and frequency of trains.
* Reasonably efficient, fast transport system.
*Low maintenance after initial building. (You don’t need to re tar a canal or lake)
*Economical freight haulage and handling.
*Ecco friendly low air and noise pollution. Barges just aren’t noisy.
*High demand for freight movement from Hunter coal mines, wineries and other produce.
*Opportunity to kick start a canal friendly shipping industry and jobs creation.
*Major survey work already carried out and drawings in place. (Of course we would need to chuck lots of millions of dollars of public money on doing analysis and so on just to please the pollies.)
* Huge tourism potential.
*Quiet dormant lake and river systems to be awakened.
I am also aware that by digging canals through some of the swamps or if you prefer, environmentally delicate wetlands we can have problems. However some creeks could be bought into the system to overcome this. Fish habitat would change, tide influences would change and a system of keeping the canals from clogging would have to be devised. Tide flow properly used can do it as in many of the river projects in china.
Funding. This could be given to a company that takes a toll for the use of the waterway. Alternatively funds being spent or that should be being spent on road and rail transport could be diverted. For example fourteen years ago it was estimated that over three hundred and fifty million dollars needed to be spent to bring road noise pollution in Sydney down to a level accepted by OECD countries. I’ll bet that was not spent and what would the cost be today? Noise pollution along the Newcastle to Sydney rail link is way over the recommended limits due to coal trains and passenger trains. Money that should be fixing these problems and similar problems can be used.
A road is built to last around forty years. In actual fact the best-built roads need major repairs in almost half that time and those repairs are almost equal to the original cost of the road!
Bag me out as much as you want to, but if you feel sympathetic let us see if it can become a reality. A lot of discussion, a lot of arm-twisting and a lot of for-sight would be required. What a challenge!
Without “stirring the possum” too much I would like to get people’s ideas on a viable inland waterway for NSW. I know there have been some discussed and proposed in the past and for differing reasons they have been shelved.
What I propose is and inland waterway system between Botany Bay and Trial Bay. Huge harbours, salt-water rivers, lakes and swamps already exist in the path of such a waterway. The cost of joining these with suitable commercial width canals I think would be viable when we look at the alternative, which is the increase in the size of roads and frequency of trains.
* Reasonably efficient, fast transport system.
*Low maintenance after initial building. (You don’t need to re tar a canal or lake)
*Economical freight haulage and handling.
*Ecco friendly low air and noise pollution. Barges just aren’t noisy.
*High demand for freight movement from Hunter coal mines, wineries and other produce.
*Opportunity to kick start a canal friendly shipping industry and jobs creation.
*Major survey work already carried out and drawings in place. (Of course we would need to chuck lots of millions of dollars of public money on doing analysis and so on just to please the pollies.)
* Huge tourism potential.
*Quiet dormant lake and river systems to be awakened.
I am also aware that by digging canals through some of the swamps or if you prefer, environmentally delicate wetlands we can have problems. However some creeks could be bought into the system to overcome this. Fish habitat would change, tide influences would change and a system of keeping the canals from clogging would have to be devised. Tide flow properly used can do it as in many of the river projects in china.
Funding. This could be given to a company that takes a toll for the use of the waterway. Alternatively funds being spent or that should be being spent on road and rail transport could be diverted. For example fourteen years ago it was estimated that over three hundred and fifty million dollars needed to be spent to bring road noise pollution in Sydney down to a level accepted by OECD countries. I’ll bet that was not spent and what would the cost be today? Noise pollution along the Newcastle to Sydney rail link is way over the recommended limits due to coal trains and passenger trains. Money that should be fixing these problems and similar problems can be used.
A road is built to last around forty years. In actual fact the best-built roads need major repairs in almost half that time and those repairs are almost equal to the original cost of the road!
Bag me out as much as you want to, but if you feel sympathetic let us see if it can become a reality. A lot of discussion, a lot of arm-twisting and a lot of for-sight would be required. What a challenge!
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