The recent bridge collapse in Canberra's north and the ensuing traffic chaos has highlighted Canberra's unsustainable dependence on cars, according to Gungahlin Community Council's president.
Alan Kerlin said the incident highlighted the need for a light-rail network in the capital.
The half-built Gungahlin Drive Extension bridge over the Barton Highway collapsed on August 14, injuring 15 workers.
Mr Kerlin said the ACT Government was missing the point by maintaining it can't afford to build a light rail.
His comments come after a story published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday about the success so far of a light rail from Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill, which is being carried out on time, and may even come in well under budget estimates.
The article hailed the progress as an unusually positive story for public transport, one that shed light on how much such projects really cost.
Mr Kerlin said yesterday that the ACT Government, on the other hand, had put in a bid for funding from the Federal Government that seemed destined to fail, because it was an all-or-nothing proposal.
''The ACT Government funded PriceWaterhouseCoopers to do the cost-benefit analysis on light rail it came out overwhelmingly in the positive, with a return on investment of 14.92 per cent,'' Mr Kerlin said.
''That's a positive return in anyone's maths. [But] there was a problem with the PWC cost-benefit analysis: it didn't include increased revenues from land sales and rate revenues. As in, if you've got permanent infrastructure in there for public transport, people will pay more for the land - that's a proven fact.''
For more of Mr Kerlin's comments, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.
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