ROAD COSTS AND CITY FORM A CASE STUDY OF SYDNEY

Abstract

Sydney, in common with most other major Australian cities, is growing rapidly, with consequent infrastructure pressures. The proposition herein is that requirements for infrastructure will vary with the location and nature of particular residential developments. This research is concerned with road (i) provision and (ii) use. With regard to road provision, it was contended that the very high costs of inner suburban road provision would generate high attributable costs of roads and that the greater distances involved in fringe development would also generate high road provision costs, despite the relatively low per unit costs involved leaving the middle distance suburbs the cheapest in which to provide road infrastructure. It was initially contended that road use costs per household would grow with increasing distance from Sydney’s Central Business District. To test the above, a variety of case studies of recent and current residential developments within Sydney were examined. The broad costs associated with the selected developments were applied to three future scenarios for Sydney’s development over the forthcoming twenty years. Those scenarios were (i) a continuation of current growth patterns, (ii) more intense development of inner and middle suburbs, and (iii) greater emphasis on fringe growth. Four broad conclusions are drawn: 1. The costs of road use (typically borne mostly by households) are significantly greater than the costs of road provision (typically borne by governments and the private sector) for the urban area as a whole. 2. An emphasis on fringe development will incur substantially greater costs for the community as a whole with regard to use. 3. The costs of road provision will be minimised with a development pattern that emphasises inner and middle suburban development. 4. In sum overall road costs will be minimised with an emphasis on more intense development in inner and middle suburban locations.