Toll road is a disaster for Docklands

By Ellen Sandell, State MP for Melbourne

In Docklands, we’re lucky to have a beautiful local community so close to the city.

But if the state government has its way, Docklands could soon be totally overwhelmed by traffic.

Late last year, the Labor government signed off on the West Gate Tunnel, a toll road from the western suburbs into the city. The toll road will dump thousands more cars into Docklands and North and West Melbourne.

Wurundjeri Way will be widened from four to six lanes to accommodate an extra 9000 cars per day, but no noise barriers are planned.

This toll road will convert Docklands into a throughway between the West Gate Tunnel and industrial areas in Port Melbourne and South Melbourne. It will entrench the segregation of Docklands from the CBD.

A significant increase in traffic and noise along Harbour Esplanade will damage the amenity of the waterfront.

Off-ramps will also delay, and potentially rule out, the development of the E-Gate site just north of Footscray Road, where there were plans to create homes for 10,000 new residents and connect Docklands with West Melbourne in a sustainable, liveable community.

No other smart, modern city is building huge new toll roads and driving traffic into the inner city. So why is Melbourne?

Labor’s own modelling shows the toll road will improve the commute from the outer west to the city by only eight minutes. They have kept other critical traffic modelling secret.

The West Gate Tunnel was not a project proposed by the public, nor did it come from expert traffic analysis about what’s needed for our city’s transport. Transurban, a private company, submitted an unsolicited proposal for the West Gate toll road for one reason: profits. So while we stand to lose out, this big business will make billions.

And now Labor has started digging before the project can face the public scrutiny of an election and before Parliament has given its approval.

Have they forgotten the massive community uproar when the Liberals attempted the same thing with the East-West Link?

The Greens will support a disallowance motion to stop construction of the West Gate toll road, but Labor could still use heavy-handed Ministerial powers to overrule Parliament and push ahead with the toll road.

To join the campaign to stop the West Gate toll road, go to thetollroadwontwork.org.au or contact my office at [email protected] or 9328 4637.