TRAINS NOT TOLL ROADS!

To save the Park we have to stop the East West Link.

 

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Kelvin Thomson MP – Federal Member for Wills .

There are many great things about Australia, but to my mind the greatest is the proximity we have to the natural world, to our physical surroundings. And for many people living in inner northern Melbourne, Royal Park remains a place where we still have that. It’s always held fond memories for me. I don’t have many fond memories of a fortnight spent in the Royal Childrens Hospital as a kid after I had my appendix removed, but the one consolation was looking down from my hospital window onto Royal Park and watching the bright orange Flame Robins which came in there in winter. Later on my brother and I learned a lot about native plants from the little native garden built around the Burke and Wills Memorial, and later again as a Melbourne University student I sometimes escaped to the native plant garden off Gatehouse Street.
Royal Park has long been, and still is, a very special place.

This afternoon I want to talk to you about Melbourne’s traffic mess – what causes it, and what the solutions are for it, and why the East-West Tunnel is not one of them.

The key cause is population growth, which has exploded this century. Melbourne has been growing at 200 people per day, 1500 per week, 75,000 each year. This brings with it umerous unwelcome consequences – electricity, water and council rates rising much faster than the rate of inflation (and I’ve got copies of a speech explaining how this works down the back for people interested in this issue), the loss of a say in planning decisions for ordinary residents and communities, loss of housing affordability for young people in
particular, and pressure on open space and native wildlife.

But the consequence I want to zero in on this afternoon is traffic congestion. The 2001 Census recorded Melbourne at 3.3 million people. By the end of 2009 we got to 4 million; we are on our way to 7 million by 2050.

This of course leads to more car ownership.

There are now 500,000 more cars on Victorian roads than 10 years ago, with most being purchased by people living on Melbourne’s rapidly growing outer fringe. In 1991, Melbournians owned 1.8 million cars and by 2005, car ownership had jumped by almost 700,000 vehicles to 2.45 million. At the current rate of car possession per household, we will have an extra 1.1 million cars by 2036. Does anyone in this room seriously think moving in Melbourne is going to get anything but harder? 1 million extra cars! We get proposals for still more freeways to deal with all these cars but they don’t solve the problem; they just turn into toll roads that make motoring more expensive. Melbourne has one of the highest ratios of road space to population of any city, with Melbournians taking up more road space and generating more emissions per capita than Londoners. In 2007 there were an average 13.37 million trips a day in Melbourne, with 12 million of those taken by car. This increased car ownership and use in turn generates traffic congestion – Melbourne’s traffic mess.A major problem lurking for our economy is the burgeoning cost of traffic congestion in our major cities. Building new communities and new roads on the urban fringes of Melbourne will lead to more congestion,traffic which will ultimately hurt our economy.

For rest of speach see MELBOURNE’S TRAFFIC MESS

RPPG joined with Protectors of Public Landands Victoria Inc. and Carlton Residents’ Association at theirsnap protest – Say No to East West Link Yes To Doncaster Rail Link next week.

This was the notice:

“As you would know Stage One of construction of the East West Link has commenced with “geological investigation” (ie drilling for soil and rock samples and testing for underground water) along the proposed alignment of the above/under/on ground road way.  Note from comments made by the State Government that the tollway/freeway it is highly likely to be an above ground “aerial roadway” akin to CitiLink along Princes Street and through the inner suburbs with compulsory acquisition of property along the route. It is likely to be open cut through Royal Park.

Please support us at this crucial stage of our campaign. The drilling rig will be installed on the reserve outside the Dan O’Connell Hotel Carlton, north east of  the Canning St/Neill St intersection,Carlton.  The reserve is right on Princes Street behind the wall.  (The reference for this drilling site is EWL-B12-007 on the map from Linking Melbourne Authority. Please advse if you could like a copy of the map sent on email)

Time: 12:15 pm for 12: 30 pm start

Date: Tuesday 21 August 2012

Reason: Continue protest over East West Link and demand the Doncaster Rail Link.

Speakers: Councillors and community representatives

Bring: Green triangles with No Tunnel message or Trains not Tunnel placards or Public Transport Not Road Tunnels placards/banners.”

PPL and RPPG reps  met at 12 noon at the Football Pavilion between Brens Drive and H G Smith Ovals

See Map of drill sites. We visited EWL-B12 – 012 first on the crown of the hill in the grasslands This was an aboriginal corroboree site and are important grasslands and habitat for grasslands parrots and feeding ground for flocks of native birds.  We also checked out EWL-B12-013 and 014.

The group then drove around to Brens Drive park outside the State Netball and Hockey Centre then walked back to meet at Anzac Hall.  We inspected the drilling site next to or opposite Anzac Hall.

See  EWL-B12-007 at the corner of O’Neill Street and Canning Street Carlton on the triangle of land near the Dan O’Connell Hotel Drilling will start there on Monday next.  The Dan O’Connell Hotel only got a note under its door on Thursday afternoon advising of the drilling. .

You do realise that the drill sites indicate the alignment of the EW Link and that the Government wont be able to afford a tunnel so as we were told during the Eddington Review the motorway will be “cut and cover” – cut now cover in 5 years if ever.

Drilling Program Indicates East West Link Route: We discussed at length the test drilling program – Stage 1 of the East West Link – currently underway between Hoddle Street Collingwood at the end of the Eastern Freeway and Alfred Street/Boundary Road, North Melbourne. The plans produced by LMA,  showing the individual test sites, gives a very good indication of the proposed alignment of the East West Link. It extends from the Eastern Freeway, through the inner suburbs and Footscray to the Western Ring Road, some eighteen kilometres in length. . (The full length is now known as the East West Link.  WestLink – once separate – is now known as the “western extension of the East West Link”!) As far as we know there are about 50 test sites in all with about 13 in Royal Park and Princes Park on CoM territory. (LMA had to ask CoM permission but not apparrently on VicRoads land.) It is very interesting to note that test drilling is not proposed west of CityLink at this stage.

Direction of East West Link Changed from Eddington 2008 Plan: Attached is a small version of a a map tabled at the meeting and now on the LMA website. It reveals the East West Link at around Alfred Street and Boundary Road, North Melbourne has, very generally,changed direction. (Under the Eddington Plan it barrelled under North Melbourne and Kensington including HollandPark to the Port) It now goes south along CityLink and turns west through the rail yards and Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market to link up with the tunnel running under Footscray and out to the Western Ring Road. (It is not known where the new “portal” will be this side of the Maribyrnong River.)  It is not clear from the maps if this section is in a tunnel, at grade or elevated. It is important to note that it does not go through Kensington to Holland Park as originally proposed.

More Detailed Maps of Drilling Sites: LMA has agreed to provide us with a detailed map showing clearly location of the drilling sites with information on depth etc of sites . This will help clarify the route of the East West Link and enable us to have a clearer idea of the real impact on inner Melbourne. . Note that LMA is undertaking a “Business Case” for the East West Link which will be completed next year or late this year.  There will be no access for the public to the justification for construction of the East West Link as it is regarded as commercial in confidence. So the information about drilling might be the only material to which we will be privy.

IS THIS the path the controversial east-west road tunnel will cut through the inner city?

In an application to Melbourne City Council the Baillieu government is requesting approval for 13 test drilling sites in Royal Park and surrounding suburbs to plan for the multibillion-dollar project.

In an indication of its preferred route for the tunnel, maps show the drill sites run in a direct line from Alexandra Parade under the Melbourne Cemetery and Royal Park.

At the back of the indicative route the drill sites split, suggesting locations for inbound and outbound connections to CityLink in Royal Park and nearby neighbourhoods.

The government says the project will ease traffic congestion on Melbourne’s roads and create an alternative cross-city route for cars and trucks. Since it was first proposed under the previous state government the tunnel has faced heated local opposition over tolls and concerns over its impact on the inner city and parkland.

The project received a boost earlier this month when Opposition Leader Tony Abbott committed $1.5 billion to help build it. It has been reported federal Labor could also commit funding later this year.

The application to Melbourne City Council notes previous comments by state Transport Minister Terry Mulder that ”drilling in a particular area did not necessarily mean that the east-west link would be situated or have an impact on that location”.

A spokeswoman for the state government said yesterday it was committed to the future of the east-west link. She said the tunnel would comprise a new 18-kilometre inner-urban freeway connecting the Eastern Freeway and the Western Ring Road, with key intermediate connections including the Tullamarine Freeway, Port of Melbourne and Geelong Road.

”The government is seeking approval from City of Melbourne to continue its geotechnical drilling program, which is being undertaken to determine the best connection points on a cost-benefit basis,” she said.

According to the application, a 10-centimetre borehole will be drilled at each site to a depth of 50 to 65 metres to test soil and rock conditions. A device will also be inserted to test the water table and the borehole will then be backfilled with sand and capped. Each test drill will take four to five days to complete.

The tunnel project has emerged as one of the major issues in the upcoming by-election for the state seat of Melbourne being fought between Labor and the Greens.

Deputy Labor leader Transport Minister said last night that Ted Baillieu ”can play charades all he likes but the simple facts are he is proposing to drill holes on an unfunded project that is unlikely to ever be built, while road congestion in Melbourne worsens”.

Greens leader Greg Barber said Labor’s opposition to the tunnel was expedient and for the cost of the project Melbourne could have a ”dream public transport system”.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/drill-sites-give-clue-to-future-path-of-road-tunnel-20120708-21pjp.html#ixzz2JztCdABo