Australia Facing a Looming Traffic Crisis

Although Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra are among the most modern metropolises in the world, they are facing a growing traffic congestion problem. Though not yet at the worst congestion levels alongside other cities in Asia-Pacific including Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila and Beijing, little has been done yet to address this problem. News reports are right to say Australian cities are facing a traffic crisis. How is this affecting the continent?

According to an IBM Commuter Pain Study of 2011, majority of Aussies are feeling the stress of their daily commute and it’s taking a toll on their health, lifestyle and productivity. It is no surprise that commuters would feel lethargic coming to work or school after experiencing longer time on the road (no thanks to traffic jams) and that people are becoming tardy because they cannot avoid highly trafficked routes. But this is a great pain on the national economy due to the loss of productivity to long traffic jams. Traffic jams cost the country’s economy $9.4 billion and in a few years, the loss of productivity would reach a staggering $20 billion.

The economic losses over traffic congestion will continue to surge as people are being stuck in their vehicles. There is no escaping the problems caused by growing traffic in Australian cities unless government and the public and private sectors present a win-win solution.

Traffic growth in key Australian cities will pose problems in the coming years as our national economy continues to grow and there is no preventing it on the roads. As income per individual increases, so is the personal car travel though at a slowing rate over time. A person’s growing income might spur one’s desire to travel by road as if it entices plane travel too. Factors that will also contribute to the demand for car travel include growing population (both natural increase and immigration) and car sales.

The population growth in the key cities will likely elicit the increase in level of car traffic. And we are only talking about car traffic in here, not truck traffic which increases is due to the growing demand for freight transport and the increase in truck loads too. This is the same thing with the economic factor on road activity too: As the economy grows, truck traffic grows even quicker.

Economic growth always has its benefits and negative outcomes. Though it makes our cities liveable and its economy bustling, it also adds to high pollution levels and greenhouse gas emission rates. Though our cities are becoming liveable due to traffic, they may not be healthy and safe cities at all due to noise and road accidents.

More than just widening our road networks, constructing new routes, penalising smoke-belching vehicles, reforming our vehicle standards and encouraging people to walk or take up bicycles, much has to be done with our traffic management Sydney procedures as they no longer respond to the changing traffic patterns. As what the IBM Commuter Pain Study would like to say, our cities are no longer keeping themselves up with the fast-growing commuter needs.

YunzContracting offers professional and up-to-date traffic management, planning and control solutions. Please contact us today and let’s discuss how our contractors can provide reliable and efficient traffic services. Please visit our website too.