The Barton Highway is the second worst road in the state on an accidents per kilometre basis, and crashes were more likely to involve injury, according to new data.
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It is second only to the Pacific Highway for fatal accidents per kilometre, and the percentage of accidents that involve injury is significantly higher than all other national highways except for the New England.
Motorists have 40 chances in 1000 of being killed on the Barton Highway, compared with 44 in 1000 on the Pacific, and 30 in 1000 on the Hume.
The data, issued by Burrinjuck MP Katrina Hodgkinson’s Yass office, calculated the average number of accidents per kilometre over a 10-year period to 2011. It compared accidents on the Barton, Pacific, Hume, New England, Newell and Federal highways.
It also found crashes were usually more serious on the Barton. If motorists had an accident on the Barton, there was a 5.5 per cent chance of a fatality and a 71 per cent chance of a fatality or injury. This compared with 1.9 per cent and 55 per cent on the Pacific, and 1.4 per cent and 56 per cent on the Hume.
The data has been sent to NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay to support a request for road signs that show accident figures, and federal Infrastructure Minister Warren Truss to argue for immediate duplication.
It also found that while there had been a reduction in the number of accidents and fatalities on the better-funded Hume and Pacific highways during the past 10 years, the same could not be said for the Barton.
Based on two five-year averages, the total number of accidents on the Pacific has fallen by eight per cent and the number of fatalities by 23 per cent.
Likewise, the Hume has seen a reduction in total accidents of 16 per cent, and a reduction in fatalities of 21 per cent.
But accidents on the Barton have fallen by only four per cent, and the number of fatalities has increased 28 per cent.
Police perspective
But police said the Barton was much like any other highway when it came to driver distraction and fatigue.
Between January 1, 2010, and August 31 this year police recorded 50 crashes involving injury or fatality on the Barton. They have been called to 68 non-injury crashes.
There have been seven fatal crashes between January 1, 2010, and August 31, 2013, involving the deaths of seven people. Three of those were head-on collisions.
A majority of accidents appear to occur in the Murrumbateman area (26 accidents from 2010 to August 2013), followed by Yass (eight), Jeir (seven), Wallaroo (six) and Spring Range (three).
Assistant Commissioner John Hartley, commander of Traffic and Highway Patrol, said the Barton Highway was susceptible to distracted, speeding and fatigued drivers, just as other highways were.
"Probably the greatest risks in southern NSW are drivers who engage in speeding, compounded by fatigue," he said.
"All of these factors are avoidable courtesy of proper driver behaviour, nevertheless such activities contribute to fatalities across NSW."
Council statistics add to the story
In its latest submission for duplication, Yass Valley Council said traffic flows ranged from 12,000 vehicles per day at the Canberra end of the Barton Highway to 9000 near Yass.
Ten per cent comprised heavy vehicles and traffic volume peaked at 1200 vehicles per hour during the peak 4pm week-day period.
Traffic flow has grown by around four per cent each year for 20 years.
The typical upgrade threshold for the Barton's traffic mix was 6000 vehicles for overtaking lanes every five kilometres and 11,000 for full duplication.
"The Canberra end of the Barton can justify full duplication at current traffic flows, the Yass end will reach this threshold in around five years at current growth rates," the report said.
As recently reported in the Tribune, the state government has projected that Yass Valley's population will increase by almost 50 per cent by 2031.
The road currently has four northbound overtaking lanes, approximately every seven kilometres, and three southbound overtaking lanes, approximately every 10 kilometres.
"For much of the 2000s, further work was delayed by a dispute over the bypass route around Murrumbateman. This was resolved, and in 2007 the Howard Government committed to initial funding of $264 million to commence the upgrade but subsequently lost the election," the report said.
Only minor improvements have been undertaken since, including realignment of the Gounyan curves and the current curve straightening near the Murrumbateman Road intersection.
Average travel times were 90km/h at peak times in 2013, which was projected to fall to 80km/h by 2020 in the absence of further investment.
Travel times would be reduced by four minutes each way with the duplication.
Preliminary cost-benefit analysis showed good returns on investment, the report stated.