The East-West Link in Melbourne has received a boost in support from eight major industrial organisations, including, among others, the Australian Logistics Council, Australian Industry Group, Royal Automobile Club of Victoria and Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce.
According to the group, Stage 1 of the East-West Link will be a vital cog in the state’s road freight network and must be built if Victoria is to retain its position as the nation’s freight logistics capital.
Over the next forty years, Victoria’s freight is expected to triple and the resulting containerised trade could quadruple. The eight industry organisations contend the only way Victoria will be able to manage this logistical challenge is if a pipeline of major projects such as East-West Link, Metro Rail and the North-East Link are built.
They assert the cost of congestion to the Victorian economy could rise from $3 billion to over $6 billion by 2020. The construction of the East-West Link would then be critical to easing Victoria’s growing congestion burden.
Once complete, the East-West Link is expected to improve travel times across northern and eastern Melbourne, remove cars and trucks from local streets, reduce north-south tram delays and relieve pressure on the critical Monash Freeway/West Gate Freeway corridor.
The project will also boost state-wide productivity, said a statement from the group of eight, reduce business costs and improve industry competitiveness. With Melbourne’s population forecast to rise from 4.3 million to over 6.5 million by 2050, the completion of East-West Link is said to be crucial to protecting Victoria’s livability and economic vitality.
In their statement, the eight industry organisations say they consider the construction of the East-West Link to be vital to the long term health of the Victorian economy and the millions of workers it supports.