Duplication of the Barton Highway from the ACT Border Towards
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Barton Highway Upgrade: Duplication of the Barton Highway from the ACT border towards Murrumbateman Review of Environmental Factors Roads and Maritime | November 2019 BLANK PAGE Barton Highway Upgrade: Duplication of the Barton Highway from the ACT border towards Murrumbateman Review of Environmental Factors Roads and Maritime Services | November 2019 Prepared by AECOM Australia Pty Ltd and Roads and Maritime 20.079 ISBN:978-1-922338-40-2 Copyright: The concepts and information contained in this document are the property of Roads and Maritime. Use or copying of this document in whole or in part without the written permission of Roads and Maritime constitutes an infringement of copyright. © AECOM Australia Pty Ltd (AECOM). All rights reserved. AECOM has prepared this document for the sole use of the Client and for a specific purpose, each as expressly stated in the document. No other party should rely on this document without the prior written consent of AECOM. AECOM undertakes no duty, nor accepts any responsibility, to any third party who may rely upon or use this document. This document has been prepared based on the Client’s description of its requirements and AECOM’s experience, having regard to assumptions that AECOM can reasonably be expected to make in accordance with sound professional principles. AECOM may also have relied upon information provided by the client and other third parties to prepare this document, some of which may not have been verified. Subject to the above conditions, this document may be transmitted, reproduced or disseminated only in its entirety. Executive summary The Barton Highway is a rural highway linking the southern and western areas of New South Wales (NSW) to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It connects the Hume Highway to the Federal Highway providing a key road link between Canberra, southern and western areas of NSW and Melbourne, Victoria. The proposal Roads and Maritime Services proposes to duplicate around eight kilometres of the Barton Highway from about 700 metres south of the NSW/ACT border towards Murrumbateman. The upgrade would be from a two lane two way carriageway (one lane in each direction) to a four lane dual carriageway (two lanes in each direction) with a central median. The proposal is subject to assessment under two planning pathways, a review of environmental factors (REF) under Division 5.1 of Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) and a Works Approval under Part 12 of the Australian Capital Territory (Planning and Land Management) Act 1988 (P&LM Act). The majority of the proposal is subject to this REF. However, from the NSW/ACT border south to the existing dual carriageway in Hall, ACT, it is located within Designated Land. As such, that part of the proposal (known as the ACT proposal) is subject to the requirements of the National Capital Plan. Key features of the proposal include: • Providing a new two lane northbound carriageway from south of the NSW/ACT border towards Murrumbateman on the western side of the existing Barton Highway • Modifying the existing Barton Highway to provide a two lane southbound carriageway from south of the NSW/ACT border towards Murrumbateman • Providing a central median separating the two carriageways • Modifying impacted intersections and property access roads to provide safe access to the highway • Providing dedicated U-turn facilities at about one kilometre intervals to manage right turn movements • Improving existing bus stops with accessible shelters and safe parking areas at Spring Range Road and Nanima Road • Demolishing a residential property and all farm infrastructure in the construction boundary • Modify the heavy vehicle enforcement bay south of Nanima Road by providing new deceleration and acceleration lanes • Removing the rest area at the NSW/ACT border • Providing safety barriers where required • Providing drainage line crossings including creek crossings at Gooromon Ponds and Little Bedulluck Creek • Relocating and protecting utilities within the construction boundary • Establishing temporary compound areas and stockpile sites throughout construction • Additional work including earthworks, improving street lighting, new street furniture, replacing signage, resealing, line marking, and upgrades to kerbs. The proposal forms a significant part of the Barton Highway Improvement Strategy 2017, which was prepared in partnership with the Australian and NSW governments and aims to provide an efficient and safe highway to cater for the increasing traffic volume between Yass, Murrumbateman and Canberra. Barton Highway Upgrade: Duplication of the Barton Highway from i the ACT border towards Murrumbateman Review of Environmental Factors Benefits to all road users include: • Safer travel for all modes of transport • Reduced travel times • Transport efficiency • More consistent and reliable travel • Safer conditions for local communities. The proposal forms part of a series of proposed upgrades of the Barton Highway between the NSW/ACT border and the existing dual carriageway south of Yass. The proposal is jointly funded by the Australian and NSW governments and is to be developed in stages. Subject to planning approval, construction is expected to start late 2020 and be completed in 2023. Need for the proposal The Barton Highway is part of the National Land Transport Network as well as the national Key Freight Route Network and is important for freight movements between Canberra, Melbourne, and southern and western NSW. The Barton Highway is also an essential commuter link between Canberra, Murrumbateman, Yass and the broader Yass Valley/Riverina area. More than 13,000 vehicles per day currently use the Barton Highway, and traffic numbers are forecast to rise with the expected population growth of the Yass Valley local government area (LGA). The posted speed limit within the construction boundary is 100 km/h. The average travel speed within the construction boundary is between 89 km/h and 93 km/h, except during the morning southbound peak when the travel speed can fall to 86 km/h. The level of service of roads is classified from levels A to F, with level of service ‘A’ representing the best operating conditions and ‘F’ the worst. The level of service along the Barton Highway currently varies from C to E during the day, depending on the location and the number of vehicles using the highway. Barton Highway is a 4R road and should operate at level of service C. There are no viable alternative routes for planned or unplanned closures of the highway. This limits the opportunities for road maintenance and leads to significant disruption in the event of incidents. The Barton Highway Improvement Strategy highlights a number of design deficiencies which impact highway safety. Between 2013 and 2017 within the construction boundary, the highway had a casualty crash rate of about 0.3 crashes per kilometre per year, which is higher than the national crash rate of 0.2 crashes per kilometre per year for comparable roads in NSW. During this period there were 17 crashes along the eight kilometre stretch. The proposal will: • Increase capacity of this key transport route to cater for current and future freight movements • Improve road efficiency to support commuter growth from Murrumbateman, Yass Valley and Canberra • Improve road safety by upgrading intersections, reducing traffic conflicts, relocating bus stops to safer locations, providing safer U-turn facilities and allowing for future upgrades • Allow continued service during planned or unplanned closures. 1 Two-lane two-way undivided road with overtaking lanes which caters for an average annual daily traffic of 10,000 vehicles and average daily heavy vehicles of 1000 vehicles as set out in the Roads and Maritime Network and Corridor Practice Notes, 2008. Barton Highway Upgrade: Duplication of the Barton Highway from ii the ACT border towards Murrumbateman Review of Environmental Factors Proposal objectives The proposal’s key objectives are to: • Reduce travel times and improve travel time reliability for all road users and freight movement between Yass, the ACT, and southern and western NSW • Reduce crash rates along the highway to provide a safer and more reliable journey for road users. These proposal objectives support the following secondary objectives: • Reduce impact to travel times and freight efficiency from detours resulting from traffic incidents on the Barton Highway • Improve workplace health and safety for road maintenance activities by reducing conflicts between high speed traffic and road maintenance teams. Options considered The Preferred Road Corridor Boundaries Report (Roads and Maritime, 2011a) set out the proposed road corridor boundaries for future duplication of the highway and determined which side of the existing highway the proposal should be built. The road corridor is included in the Yass Valley Local Environmental Plan 2013. The proposal’s design concentrated on the development of specific options within the published road corridor. The design involved repeated investigation, identification, evaluation and refinement of individual road network improvements. Providing a new Barton Highway alignment outside of the existing road corridor was not adopted, as this would not be consistent with relevant strategic plans and would introduce several new impacts to areas not currently affected by a road corridor. Eight road design options and a ‘do nothing’ option were considered at the feasibility stage. The preferred option for the overall