By ALESHA CAPONE
A MAJOR new campaign advocating for the East West tunnel to be built from the West will use the slogan ’Wrong Way Go Back’.
The Metropolitan Transport Forum (MTF), which represents 23 Melbourne councils – including Brimbank, Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay and Wyndham – recently launched a petition, calling on the State Government to prioritise the ’western end’ of the tunnel.
The State Government has pledged to start building the project in the eastern suburbs, from Hoddle St to the Tullamarine Freeway.
However, the MFT wants the project to be built from the western end of the plan – starting at the Port of Melbourne, travelling under Footscray and coming onto the Western Ring Rd in Sunshine West.
The MTF also wants the government to prioritise the Melbourne Metro underground rail project – a new rail tunnel from Footscray and South Kensington to the Domain Interchange – ahead of the eastern end of the East West tunnel.
MTF acting chair, Councillor Andrew Munroe, said The Linking Melbourne Authority had already recommended that the west section of the East West tunnel should be built first.
“As the Port of Melbourne grows, there are many more trucks running through suburban streets, especially in the inner West,” he said.
“Thousands of trucks are coming out of the port and using suburban streets.
“The western section of the East West tunnel was specifically designed to get trucks off suburban streets.”
The MTF petition also says trains in the West are already overcrowded, with the Werribee and Williamstown lines “at crush capacity”.
Brimbank City Council administrator, Jane Nathan, said a council representative attended an MTF meeting last month.
“We are very much in favour of the East West Link, but like all councils in the West, we believe the greatest economic benefit would come by starting in the West,” she said.
Star did not receive an official response from the State Government by deadline.
