By Charlene Gatt
RESIDENTS, traders and politicians will take to the streets later this month to get some traction for the West Gate Freeway on and off ramps.
The Westgate Ramps Coalition will host a community rally on 18 September at the Yarraville Gardens from 11am in an ever-increasing campaign to get trucks off residential streets in the West.
The ramps, first proposed in the 2008 Eddington report, create a truck route that bypasses residential areas in Francis St and Somerville Rd and takes trucks directly to the Port of Melbourne via Hyde and Whitehall streets.
It is estimated the on and off ramps would direct about one million trucks a year away from residential streets.
LeadWest CEO Anton Mayer said the ramps offered the best solution to truck traffic problems in the inner West.
“They tick a lot of boxes and will improve and address amenity for residents while also addressing access issues for industry,” he said.
Maribyrnong Truck Action Group president Peter Knight agreed: “These ramps are what MTAG has been calling for since the group was formed in 2005.
“We want to see trucks using the West Gate Freeway to get to the port because that’s the route with the most buffer between the trucks and communities in the inner West.
“These ramps will be a win for the community, good for business and good for the environment.”
The rally follows an ongoing campaign by Labor MPs Marsha Thomson and Wade Noonan to get the Coalition Government to commit to the Truck Action Plan. The on and off ramps are a key feature of the plan. The Westgate Ramps Coalition includes Maribyrnong City Council, LeadWest, MTAG, Less Trucks for Moore, the Yarraville Community Centre, Labor politicians in the West, The Greens, Bradmill site developers and representatives from the freight industry.
