DUBBO BRIDGE BATTLE GAINS IMPETUS

City bypass needed to reduce Newell heavy vehicle and motorist through traffic, says community group

Another day, another traffic jam of trucks and motorists along Whylandra St, Dubbo

CONCERNED Dubbo residents, Dubbo mayor Ben Shields, association members and key industry personnel, including road safety advocate Rod Hannifey, have reinforced their position against the New South Wales government’s plan for a River St bridge across the Macquarie River.

The Stop The River Street Bridge community group claims to have more than 10,000 signatures on its petition to have an alternate bridge build at Troy Bridge Road, which would then create a Dubbo bypass.

The NSW state government has been accused of refusing to reconsider or discuss Troy Bridge Road option.

In November, Mick Veitch, state shadow minister for industry and trade, rural roads and rural affairs, and western NSW, succeeded in having a motion passed in the upper house to have all documents relating to information on the new Dubbo bridge handed over to the community. The shadow minister says the community has been previously “thwarted” in attempts to obtain the information. In addition, Veitch stated that trucking industry representatives had informed him they had not been consulted about the project.

“They will be one of the main users of whatever project goes ahead so I would have figured that a public servant out there would have spoken to the trucking industry about the project.

“I undertook to the Dubbo community and to those individuals that I would move a motion for a call for papers under Standing Order 52 to assist them in collecting the information they require,” Veitch says.

At the petition handover ceremony on October 29, Mayor Shields spoke about why Dubbo Regional Council opposed a bridge at the River Street site and why they support a Troy Bridge bypass.

The New South Wales Roads & Maritime Services has previously said that an upgrade of Troy Bridge would not benefit the Dubbo community and would cater for only 10 per cent of traffic.

However, petition organiser Karina McLachlain says the opinions of the road transport industry, which would benefit from the bypass, has not been considered.

“As a national highway, the A39 extends from Queensland to Victoria. The Newell is important to the economies of Brisbane, Melbourne and many towns and cities in between,” McLachlain told the gathering.

“The road transport industry that uses the Newell is directly affected by what happens in Dubbo and yet they have been excluded from consideration.

“When I went to the Bathurst Truck show last year to speak to drivers, they only needed to hear the words ‘bypass for Dubbo’ before they were almost snatching the petition out of my hand in their race to sign it. I collected 380 signatures that day!”

John Morris, who runs a transport consultancy business, is also a member of the Newell Highway Task Force (NHTF). He says the NHTF has an official policy position to support the heavy vehicle freight bypass for Dubbo and take heavy trucks out of the Dubbo CBD.

“I have been a keen advocate of a heavy transport freight bypass around Dubbo for over 22 years,” Morris says.

“Whylandra St and Erskine St are now handling a huge number of heavy vehicles, which are increasing every day.

“We now have 36.5m type 1 roadtrains, B-triples and AB-triples running on the Newell Highway from Melbourne to Brisbane and return.

“It is essential, in the interests of road safety, productivity and truck driver wellbeing, as well as the safety of our Dubbo motorists, that we design, fund and build the first of three heavy transport bypasses around Dubbo sooner rather than later. The north-west bypass first.”

Group researcher and statistician Paul Oboohov then presented two of 13 charts he had compiled.

“The ‘take-away’ from Paul’s research is that the 12 bypasses that were studied in NSW from 1997 to 2018, over 20 years, showed that the crashes in each town were dramatically reduced by 74.04 per cent to a level of 25.96 per cent of the original level of crashes before the bypasses went in,” Morris continues.

“The ‘casualties’, that’s people killed or injured, fell from 518 to 213, a drop of 58.88 per cent. That is 41.12 percent of the original level of people killed or injured. That’s a lot of lives saved.”

One noticeable absentee from the meeting was National Party MP Dugald Saunders, the member for Dubbo. And McLachlain didn’t hold back when referring to Saunders’ opposition to the bypass and Troy Bridge.

“Since the NSW government announced its preferred option of River St, without even allowing us the opportunity to vote for Troy Bridge Road, there has been no end to the extent of misinformation that the RMS and Dugald Saunders have disseminated for public consumption,” she says.

“Dugald’s background in the media gives him an air of superficial credibility. However, the attractive picture that Dugald paints is revealed as a horror story in waiting by even rudimentary fact-checking.

“There is no disguising that the River Street proposal is a disaster waiting to happen,” McLachlain says.

“The reason that we started the petition was because many members of the public were angry and needed an avenue in which to redirect their anger into positive action.

“Also, many members of the public were still unaware of how unsuitable the location chosen for the new Newell Highway bridge was and how it would cause far more problems than it would solve,” McLachlain adds.

“We did not want people to wake the day after the new bridge opened, faced with worse traffic or to find the bridge inaccessible in a flood due its submerged approach roads and think ‘I wish I had taken more notice of this project when we still had a chance to stop it’.”

The petition handover was live screened on the Stop The River Street Bridge Facebook page, which remains available for viewing.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS ON SHOW AT NATIONAL DIESEL DIRT & TURF

The Expo runs from April 9 to 11, 2021 at Sydney Dragway, Eastern Creek

There is something special about a field day. Whether it’s the variety of exhibits or the fun atmosphere, field days always draw a crowd. The National Diesel Dirt & Turf Expo is no different, with visitors enjoying the relaxed, familyfriendly experience.

In April 2021, this annual Expo continues at the recently refurbished Sydney Dragway at Eastern Creek. This new home for the Expo provides all the facilities and security for a great all-weather exhibition area. Not only is the new site excellent for exhibitors; the new Expo layout makes it easy to access all sites.

The variety of products and solutions at Diesel Dirt & Turf is far ranging; from site preparation, earthmoving equipment and attachments, GPS tracking and environmental solutions to public space management, farm implements and much more.

Agricultural equipment suppliers have always been a part of the Expo. The 2021 event will be no exception with exhibitors such as Saliba Agricultural Equipment. Based in the Hawkesbury region, Saliba ag has expanded its range to include imported equipment brands to cater for the needs of all ag enterprises, be they are a turf farmer, strawberry grower, construction contractor, concreter or chicken farmer.

Their range includes bagging machines, custom trailers, Faza fertiliser spreaders, Fontana geoblades, forklifts, Gilibert muck spreaders, land levellers, laser levelling tractors and Lipa mulchers.

Another long-time exhibitor at Diesel Dirt & Turf is FAE Australia Pacific Pty Ltd, which supplies tree mulchers and forestry tillers for management of agricultural land and wooded areas, river zones, green areas and plantations, golf courses, green urban areas and forest paths.

Visitors can check out the range of FAE tree mulchers and forestry tillers, stone crushers, stump cutters and multifunction heads that allow industry professionals to perform any reclamation work and land preparation. The range includes PTO-driven heads, which are easily applied to different power tractors, as well as hydraulic driven heads for skid steers, excavators and special vehicles.

The success of agricultural suppliers at previous Diesel Dirt & Turf expos has encouraged others such as Seed Force, an Australian seed wholesaler that supplies premium cultivars across Australasia.

With the backing of the international seed powerhouse RAGT, Seed Force draws on the latest research and development to help farmers get the best results from their broadacre crops, forage crops and pasture. Focusing on yield, quality, disease resistance and persistence, Seed Force said it has changed the game and led the way – taking farmers on the journey.

On the back of successfully launching the world’s first global barley variety RGT Planet into Australia, Seed Force and its parent company RAGT plans to substantially increase its footprint in broadacre crops.

The company says it is constantly growing, testing, fine-tuning and expanding its range, adding new cultivars to a proven system that gives farmers the power to grow.

If you are looking for a convenient location to check out some of the latest agricultural equipment, you need to put the Diesel Dirt & Turf Expo in your diary for Friday 9, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 April, 2021.

BRISBANE’S WEEK OF WEEKS

The 2021 Brisbane Truck Show is not just a truck show – it’s a heavy vehicle industry festival

The latest announcement about the 2021 Brisbane Truck Show was not about the truck show at all. Yet it was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm by stalwarts from across the industry.

The last show to feature heavy equipment and machinery was also the last show at the RNA – Brisbane Showgrounds – back in 2009. The show’s hand was forced by the redevelopment of the Showgrounds, however the move to Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre has been well rewarded.

Exhibitors have been able to really step it up with the quality of their displays in one of the world’s greatest venues. The Brisbane Truck Show is the only event that takes over the whole centre, with fantastic displays filling all three floors.

The proximity to South Bank and the CBD has opened up new opportunities for truck displays, networking, dining and entertainment.

If there was one, the only downside was that there was nowhere for the big yellow construction gear.

Well, in Australia, we never say never. The exciting news that the 2021 Civil Construction Field Days will be hosted by the Civil Construction Federation of Queensland (CCFQ) in tandem with the Brisbane Truck Show was confirmed last month. CCFQ has delivered the concept on a smaller scale before, but the 2021 event is not short of ambition.

The new venue is down river from the Story Bridge alongside the fabulous Northshore Hamilton development at Portside Wharf.

It is large enough for a huge array of heavy equipment and machinery and plenty of parking too. Not that you’ll need it if you take the free shuttle from the truck show, or jump on a CityCat ferry from South Bank.

The reciprocal ticket means that your entry into one show will also get you into the other. That’s a lot of bang for your buck.

Australian Heavy Vehicle Industry Week

Last year’s Brisbane Truck Show brought with it a new umbrella event that takes in all the displays, product launches, dinners, conferences, meetings and other activations alongside the show.

Australian Heavy Vehicle Industry Week gave a name to an extraordinary collection of activities that make Brisbane an irresistible destination for the industry every two years.

The 2021 event will see major anniversaries celebrated by a couple of the industry’s biggest names. Plans are well under way for how that will look on the ground but enough to say that you, the visitor will be the beneficiary.

There will be more trucks and trailers on display at South Bank Parklands and more again in the CBD.

Virtually every bar and restaurant in the precinct will be offering deals for truck show attendees; the National Apprentice Challenge will be staged in the South Bank Piazza and live entertainment every day – and every night – will bring the festival to life.

Past and future

Meanwhile the Brisbane Truck Show will benefit from new features including a dedicated Future Fuels hub and an expanded Technology and Innovation hub.

The Queensland Heritage Truck Show over at Rocklea has been taking place on the weekend of the show for years. If you haven’t made your way over there before, 2021 is definitely the year.

Speaking of heritage trucks, the 1928 Thornycroft A2 that was the stage for the very first Brisbane truck show in 1968 is currently being restored. That project is no small challenge however everything is on track to unveil her on opening day of the show.

It sounds like everything that’s old is new again, doesn’t it? All that and a whole lot more.

With the borders opening up, hotel rooms are booking fast. Make sure you’ve locked in yours by visiting the website www. brisbanetruckshow.com.au.

“THE RECIPROCAL TICKET MEANS THAT YOUR ENTRY INTO ONE SHOW WILL ALSO GET YOU INTO THE OTHER. THAT’S A LOT OF BANG FOR YOUR BUCK.”

Top: Best of both worlds: CCFQ CEO Damian Long and HVIA chief executive Todd Hacking

Above: Classic trucks at Rocklea: Queensland Heritage Truck Show is regularly held concurrently with the Brisbane Truck Show