WASHINGTON: An elevated freight road could be built right through Fishermans Bends’ new suburbs to cope with all the truck traffic in and out of the Port of Melbourne. The state government wants to boost the port’s capacity and defer building a second port for another 50 years, which will increase congestion in the inner city.
The proposed road, called “Freight Link”, would snake for five kilometres from Webb Dock at the foot of the West Gate Bridge through Port Melbourne, across the Yarra River and join with the Western Distributor, Transurban’s planned toll road. Indicative maps prepared for Infrastructure Victoria show the freight link running through Wirraway, an area the government has recently earmarked for a future “family friendly neighbourhood” in Fishermans Bend. But congestion around the port is likely to increase to problem levels within a decade “to the point where acceptable VicRoads conditions are reached by 2026 in the peak”.
Experts in planning and logistics said putting new roads and heavy truck traffic next to suburbia was a recipe for conflict, as seen in long-running battles between residents and freight operators in Melbourne’s inner west. “Planning needs to get much more sophisticated when it’s dealing with these intense potential conflicts between incompatible land uses,” Jago Dodson, RMIT’s Professor of Urban Policy, said. “If the port is going to intensify its operations and create increased demand for freight travel … that is something that needs very clear strategy and detailed consideration in terms of design so that we don’t end up with very poor outcomes.”The analysis by engineering consultancy Jacobs suggests the road will be needed within 25 years, depending on the pace of growth of container trade, and will cost $2.5 billion to build.
