Ms MARTIN - 1999-08-19
Three days ago the Chief Minister opened the Palmerston bypass ahead of its scheduled completion. He told the media: ‘We decided the road was usable, so we might as well use it. There are really only cosmetics to attend to’. Many motorists are now furious because loose stones left on the road have smashed or badly chipped windscreens and caused paint damage to cars. Why did the Chief Minister open the road early when he must have known these stones could pose a risk?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, in opening the road I took the advice of Transport and Works engineers. I also took the opportunity to congratulate all who had been involved in the construction of a very important addition to deal with the traffic flow from the rural area in particular, so that it doesn’t flow through Palmerston directly. That bypass road also provides good access for through traffic to Palmerston by improvements and lights at a few major intersections.
I was disturbed to read about some stone damage on that road. As I said, it was opened after the advice from engineers. My understanding is that some reticulation work and minor landscaping to improve visual aspects of the surrounds were all that were outstanding. I refer the question to the Minister for Transport to explain the detail of the stone damage.
Mr PALMER: Mr Speaker, I also attended the opening of that road. I asked the engineers about the loose gravel on the road. I was advised that, using our chip-seal technology, you cannot sweep the road using a heavy rotary sweeper until such time as it has had traffic over it and has been able to settle.
We had a number of signs warning motorists that there were loose stones on that road, and advising them to drive slowly. Unfortunately, some motorists chose to ignore that advice, causing stone damage to other motorists who were observing the warning signs.
The Department of Transport and Works has recognised the problem it caused and has undertaken to repair the damage that has been done. However, the road was ready for opening. It was prepared to the best standard possible. As I said, unfortunately you cannot put a heavy rotary sweeper over those roads until there has been sufficient traffic over it to give it some further compaction. To do so would cause irreparable damage to the road. It would rip out the chip and lower the standard of the pavement. But the road was ready to open.
This question demonstrates that the Leader of the Opposition is absolutely devoid of ideas, devoid of questions, as shown yesterday. She wasn’t prepared to properly debate the Chief Minister’s and the Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment’s initiative for Darwin until she had seen what the NT News had to say on it and until she was able to watch television. This question is directly from the NT News. She uses the NT News as a research document to provide her questions for Question Time.
Getting back to the issue at hand, the road was ready to be opened. There was absolutely no impropriety on the part of the Chief Minister in opening the road in terms of it not being ready. It was finished properly. Given the traffic levels over that road, we were quickly able to put the heavy rotary sweeper onto it and the problem has been resolved.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, in opening the road I took the advice of Transport and Works engineers. I also took the opportunity to congratulate all who had been involved in the construction of a very important addition to deal with the traffic flow from the rural area in particular, so that it doesn’t flow through Palmerston directly. That bypass road also provides good access for through traffic to Palmerston by improvements and lights at a few major intersections.
I was disturbed to read about some stone damage on that road. As I said, it was opened after the advice from engineers. My understanding is that some reticulation work and minor landscaping to improve visual aspects of the surrounds were all that were outstanding. I refer the question to the Minister for Transport to explain the detail of the stone damage.
Mr PALMER: Mr Speaker, I also attended the opening of that road. I asked the engineers about the loose gravel on the road. I was advised that, using our chip-seal technology, you cannot sweep the road using a heavy rotary sweeper until such time as it has had traffic over it and has been able to settle.
We had a number of signs warning motorists that there were loose stones on that road, and advising them to drive slowly. Unfortunately, some motorists chose to ignore that advice, causing stone damage to other motorists who were observing the warning signs.
The Department of Transport and Works has recognised the problem it caused and has undertaken to repair the damage that has been done. However, the road was ready for opening. It was prepared to the best standard possible. As I said, unfortunately you cannot put a heavy rotary sweeper over those roads until there has been sufficient traffic over it to give it some further compaction. To do so would cause irreparable damage to the road. It would rip out the chip and lower the standard of the pavement. But the road was ready to open.
This question demonstrates that the Leader of the Opposition is absolutely devoid of ideas, devoid of questions, as shown yesterday. She wasn’t prepared to properly debate the Chief Minister’s and the Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment’s initiative for Darwin until she had seen what the NT News had to say on it and until she was able to watch television. This question is directly from the NT News. She uses the NT News as a research document to provide her questions for Question Time.
Getting back to the issue at hand, the road was ready to be opened. There was absolutely no impropriety on the part of the Chief Minister in opening the road in terms of it not being ready. It was finished properly. Given the traffic levels over that road, we were quickly able to put the heavy rotary sweeper onto it and the problem has been resolved.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016