Last night Cool Pool Tas attended a motivating meeting in Kingston, attended by over 25 people, all supporting the need for more sustainable transport and development alternatives in our State.
The meeting focused on sharing together some of the issues and reasons why the Council of Kingborough should vote against the development of the Kingston Bypass this evening.  The reasons were prolific why this development should not continue.  Cool Pool Tas strongly believe that this proposal needs to be deferred until further alternatives and studies are explored and completed because of some of the following reasons discussed by experts and local community members at the meeting:
- Kingborough is currently conducting an integrated transport study which has not been completed- Going ahead with a major bypass costing tax payers millions of dollars before detailed studies and alternatives are explored is absurd.
- Youth have expressed the need in the area for development in the areas of safe biking routes and public transport (A Bypass does not address youth independence and mobility).
- Climate Change issues are peak at this point in time.  Proposing to resolve traffic flow and growth issues by building more roads and encouraging the use of the private automobile, without investigating and perhaps investing in alternatives, is senseless development.
- The Bypass proposal will dissect a new area of development including walking access to Kingston High School- creating great safety concerns.
- The Bypass will swallow up prime agricultural land for the region, whilst also threaten the biodiversity of endangered species and old growth areas.
- The Bypass will cost us around 50 million dollars (tax payers).  We need to consider how this money could more efficienty be put to use: i.e Public Transport, Safer Cycling Routes, Promoting alternatives (Cool Pool Tas pick up and drop off hubs!).
- A park and ride alernative for this area has not yet been well explored.
Let's hope that the Council of Kingborough can see all these reasons as strong enough to delay, and perhaps STOP this Kingston Bypass development plan from continuing.  We need to be creative, clever and community minded with our transport development today!
Although the meeting did not see the creation of a sustainable transport advocacy coalition, it brought people together, including an emerging organisation -future transport tasmania that could potentially act as a body for these interested sustainable transport organisations and experts, as well as local community members, all hoping to create clean, dynamic and affordable transport alternatives for Tasmania.