The two NSW motorway projects were unable to consider the issue of access to a mix of transport options, which is a key factor in public health impacts.
Dylan Passmore/flickr
Transport infrastructure projects are conceived, planned and assessed in a way that makes it difficult to properly consider their major public health impacts.
Sydney’s WestConnex road project has a surprisingly low ‘worst case’ cost estimate.
David Moir/AAP
Our infrastructure systems should promise what is worth having, and then deliver what is promised.
Premier Mike Baird (right) has been out promoting the Sydney Metro project, but has yet to explain how the benefits of massive public investment will be shared.
Stefanie Menezes/AAP
Who’ll profit from the value uplift arising from the huge investment of taxpayers’ funds in creating better-serviced, higher-density suburbs? And what will the changes mean for existing residents?
A self-driving bus completes a demonstration drive in Tokyo in July.
Toru Hanai/Reuters
New technologies do not exist in a vacuum. To succeed, new transport technology needs to match the ways we want to move around cities and be accommodated by laws and regulations.
The Western Distributor project announced by the Andrews government will benefit Melbourne’s suburban residents in the west and north, but inner-city elites are mobilising against it.
AAP/Melissa Meehan
It’s a project that creates benefits for Melbourne’s western suburbs and the state as a whole. But the inner-city elite don’t like it and recent experience suggests their opinion holds sway.
Uber may open cities from taxi oligopolies, but ultimately it closes them off to the possibility of more meaningful alternatives.
Scott L/flickr
Using elements of game play, we can create incentives for people to change how and when they make various transport choices in ways that enable the whole system to work better.
Many things go into making a healthy community, so the earlier services and infrastructure become available, the better.
Cecily Maller
Early residents in new communities are known as ‘pioneers’ – they arrive before many services are in place. A five-year study points to the many benefits of putting in good services early on.
Residents protest against the felling of century-old trees to make way for light rail along Anzac Parade in Sydney.
AAP/Karen Sweeny
If planning decisions properly considered the value of trees in a city, we could have a modern transport system and tree-lined views to enhance the journey.
Malcolm Turnbull is known to favour public transport, but he also sees the need to twin the development of higher-density activity centres with rail infrastructure.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
The ‘30-minute city’ goal is about more than urban rail and other transit projects. It means transforming our cities into centres of activity where work, study and services are all close by.
The report criticises the state’s failure to adequately integrate the planning of land use development and transport priorities, but falls into the same trap itself.
AAP/Melanie Foster
Infrastructure Australia’s latest report is substantial but, critically, it fails to incorporate the transport thinking needed to develop more compact cities that work better for everyone.
According to all the data, urban car use has peaked, but official traffic modelling forecasts a remarkable reversal.
AAP/Julian Smith
On average, people won’t accept a commuting time of more than an hour. As cities grow ever bigger, new road projects can’t achieve this, yet policymakers still rely on modelling that defies evidence.
City residents are embracing the bike as the fastest, most convenient transport in areas like Brunswick, yet an apartment building has been blocked for not providing car parking.
flickr/Takver
It’s up to state governments to ensure urban planning rules properly reflect both the desires of residents in the 21st century and the principles of sustainability.
Cyclists have every right to be on the road - not that you’d know it from the abuse they get.
ymgerman/Shutterstock.com
Cycling has flatlined in Australia since 2011, with many people citing safety concerns as the main reason not to ride. Wider recognition of cyclists’ right to be on the roads would help to boost the numbers.