Victoria is the nation’s freight and logistics hub, with Australia’s largest port, and the most complicated and varied logistics system in our supply chain lies with the movement of freight by truck. Trucks are responsible for the delivery of essential everyday items to our warehouses, supermarkets and stores, and without heavy vehicles, we wouldn’t be able to live our lives the way we do.
Currently, road vehicles carry an estimated 84 per cent of Victoria’s total land freight task or over 347 million tonnes per annum, and with this set to double by the year 2020, it is vital that desperately needed road infrastructure is delivered. Ask any Melbourne motorists and they’ll agree that when an incident occurs on one of the major arterials, freeways or tollways, Melbourne’s traffic grinds to a halt. And there’s no wonder, when this network of just three per cent of major roadways carries 50 per cent of Victoria’s daily traffic.
The recent state election saw political parties try to outdo the other, with pledges to remove level crossings, duplicate roads, extend existing and introduce new train lines. The VTA welcomes the new Victorian Labor Government, and Luke Donnellan, the Minister for Roads and Road Safety and the Minister for Ports. Regular meetings have been proactively arranged with the Minister to ensure that the voice of the freight and logistics industry is heard and we work together to achieve best possible outcomes for the industry.
What we already know is that the East West Link project has been scrapped. In its place, the Victorian Government has commenced planning of the West Gate Distributor. The VTA is supportive of any project that keeps traffic moving, however, it is still early days and there have not been enough details released on the West Gate Distributor and what measures may be introduced to drive freight traffic to it. Without more detail, it is difficult to assess whether these solutions will provide a reasonable alternate freight route to and from the port precinct.
The VTA has held the strong belief that the delivery of the full East West Link was the only proposed project that would have provided long-term relief to the east-west corridor as well as delivering a vital second river crossing as an alternative to the West Gate Bridge.
The VTA maintains this view and will continue to fight for a much needed second river crossing, to improve the city’s liveability, reduce freight costs and assist economic growth. Having said that, we see this crossing as simply one small piece of the bigger picture of supply chain efficiency and key to the states long-term economic viability.
As an industry that understands its responsibility to its customers and the community, it is necessary that workable solutions that allow efficient freight movement to its point of sale are discussed at every opportunity by all levels of Government, authorities and community stakeholders. The VTA was bitterly disappointed in the lead up to the election that none of the major parties committed to delivering what we consider to be the most important piece of road infrastructure – the missing link on the M80 ring road.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the north east has been forgotten when it comes to road infrastructure commitments, it’s simply that political parties have failed to look at the longer term and plan for the future.
Without delivery of the ‘missing link’ between the M80 ring road and the Eastern Freeway congestion in and around Melbourne’s north-east will only worsen, particularly if heavy vehicles are banned from major roads during non-peak periods. Logically, if proposed bans on major roads in Melbourne’s north-east go ahead, freight vehicles will travel deeper into suburban lower grade roads that are less equipped to take heavy vehicles. We’ll also see an increase in the number of freight vehicles travelling on these roads during daylight hours, simply adding to the existing congestion.
The VTA will continue to raise the issue with the Minister and detail our concerns of election issues, highlighting the deeper secondary effects of all proposals and stress the practical requirements of the industry. It is pleasing to see that the government wishes understand the impact to the community before making decisions. We will urge them to ‘take the blinkers off’ and look at the bigger picture and deliver effective and efficient road infrastructure for our state.