M5 East Owner To Review Systems
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday September 24, 2008
AS SEVERAL accidents brought traffic to a standstill on the M5 East yesterday, the road's private operator broke its silence to apologise to the city's motorists for a computer failure that had closed the tunnel for three hours.
Bilfinger Berger Australia's chief executive, Ken Scott-Mackenzie, told the Herald the M5 East tunnel's systems would undergo an independent review after Monday's incident."We regret what has happened and the inconvenience that has been caused to the motorists caught up in it," he said. "We will be co-operating with the Roads and Traffic Authority to make sure that it does not happen again."Investigations were continuing yesterday into the failure of the control systems in the tunnel, but the RTA has signalled infrastructure upgrades in the tunnel are likely to be needed.If an overhaul of the tunnel management system is required, road experts put the cost at between $3 million and $5 million. This could take 18 months to install to ensure the tunnel is not closed to traffic during the day.Last night, the Roads Minister, Michael Daley, again refused to release an audit performed on the M5 East and all other Sydney motorways, which was commissioned after a five-hour closure of the troubled road in June.On Monday the RTA's chief executive, Les Wielinga, promised to release the study once it had been evaluated.The RTA also refused to release details of compensation payments to the road operator, which have been paid because the forecasts underestimated the number of vehicles that would use the tunnel. Editorial - Page 10
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald