Theme: Australia General Information Plan: 1 Australia General Information

Australia Transportation
Australia's transport and communications infrastructure has developed rapidly in close conjunction with the expansion of the country's main industries. The development of transport infrastructure in Australia has been almost entirely related to moving commodities for sale in cities or to gaining access to seaports.
Roads
Road infrastructure in Australia is generally very good. Both urban and inter-city roads are well developed across the country. However, congestion, especially that caused by competition between freight and passenger road users, is becoming a problem in the large cities. The main cities affected are Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane; Sydney has the worst congestion problems, followed by Melbourne, then Brisbane. Intra-urban movement constitutes about half the total tonnage of road freight in Australia.
Rail
Rail infrastructure in Australia has never received much government support, despite the country's relatively flat topography and large distances. The consequence has been the development of a few high demand corridors being serviced by relatively poor infrastructure. While current rail infrastructure has sufficient capacity to deal with demand, major investments, totaling at least US$2 billion, have been identified as necessary to deal with the expected increase
Air
Australia currently has 408 airports, 15 of which serve as major intersections and destinations. The national air carrier is Qantas Airways. The country's second largest air carrier, Ansett Airlines, also has an extensive domestic network. The primary commercial airports are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. There are an additional 254 regional airports with paved runways across the country. Almost all of Australia's air movements constitute passenger travel. While Australia's air infrastructure is well developed, it has become increasingly overused and overworked and faces increasing maintenance and development costs.
Sea
Australia has 14 major seaports, including Fremantle (Perth), Darwin, Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Port Kembla, Adelaide, Melbourne, Davenport, and Hobart. In addition, export-dedicated seaports are located at Gladstone, Weipa, Hay Point, Dampier, and Port Hedland. Australian seaports are currently under-utilized, and most ports have the infrastructure to meet demand for the next 2 decades.