Article: Brumby maps new transport routes

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Brumby maps new transport routes

Brumby maps new transport routes
CLAY LUCAS
July 13, 2010

PREMIER John Brumby has detailed the routes of four proposed road and rail projects ahead of November's state election, despite having money to build only one of them.

After months of delay, Mr Brumby also disclosed precisely where the $4.3 billion Regional Rail Link - the only project with funding from Canberra - will run.

The location of new stations in a proposed suburban rail tunnel from Footscray to Caulfield were detailed, although it is unlikely to be funded any time soon by the federal government.

The first stage of the suburban rail line would run from Footscray to the Domain, with stops at Parkville, North Melbourne, Melbourne Central and Flinders Street.

Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula said the tunnel ''holds the potential to spur major redevelopment in inner-city North Melbourne estimated to be worth approximately $2 billion''.

A plan to widen Yarraville's Shepherd Bridge for trucks and build new cycling and pedestrian paths was also confirmed and will be paid for by the state government. However, the much larger ramps proposed to get trucks on and off the West Gate Bridge are completely dependent on non-existent federal government funding.

And three possible routes for the $5 billion WestLink freeway under Footscray and through West Sunshine were also released. This project - which Roads Minister Tim Pallas said would be used by about 60,000 vehicles a day - also lacks the necessary funding from Canberra.

''These projects are vital to the future of Melbourne's west,'' Mr Brumby said yesterday, ''as people continue to move into the area and Victoria's freight task grows.''

But Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said the announcements were a fantasy.

''John Brumby's announcements are just spin and a desperate attempt to cover up at least five failed Labor transport plans over the last 11 years,'' he said. ''These projects could have been built years ago if Labor hadn't lost billions of taxpayer dollars through incompetence.''

Mr Baillieu yesterday highlighted the fifth anniversary of the myki smartcard contract being signed. He said the opposition would consider scrapping myki if it won government. ''We will look at all the legal options in the contract.''

However, the government ridiculed this suggestion, with Mr Pakula saying scrapping myki would involve the costly removal of thousands of devices, the cancellation of long-term contracts, and a new ticketing system, at a cost in line with myki.

The Greens yesterday vowed to fight the WestLink freeway. Upper House MP Colleen Hartland said North Melbourne, West Melbourne, Kensington and Docklands residents would have a road tunnel exit nearby if federal funding was ever secured.

The road tunnel would generate extra traffic, she said. ''Road tunnels don't suck traffic underground and bury it,'' she said.

And if the road was tolled, trucks would not use it, she said.