[Greens-Media] Greens call for Inquiry into Melbourne's growing truck problem

[Adele.Pedder at parliament.vic.gov.au]

Greens MP Colleen Hartland will call for an inquiry to investigate the 
impact freight trucks are having on Melbourne and look at alternatives for 
moving the increasing volumes of freight.

"We've had a horror few weeks for truck crashes ranging from fatal crashes 
to those that cause serious commuter traffic havoc " said Colleen 
Hartland, Greens MP for the Western Suburbs.

"Information The Greens obtained under Freedom of Information laws has 
revealed that truck numbers on our streets are projected to more than 
double from 290,000 current trips per day to 690,000 trips per day - 
that's four times as many trucks on our streets as there are cars on the 
Monash-City Link-West Gate Corridor every single day*.

"This is a result of the governments efforts to expand the Port which will 
double the freight volume from 2.5 million containers a year to more than 
5 million by 2025. Our streets just can't sustain this volume of truck 
traffic.

"Despite this looming truck problem, we've seen no action from the 
Baillieu government in their two years; the government has failed to come 
up with a freight strategy nor a rail freight target, and the Westgate 
Ramps truck bypass project remains "under review".

"We're seeing the number of trucks on our streets increasing rapidly, and 
more trucks means more crashes, more damage to roads, more air pollution 
and more traffic congestion. 

"The majority of this freight moves through my Western Suburbs electorate, 
though the rapidly increasing number of trucks on our roads affects all 
Victorians" said Ms Hartland.


The Greens will use a parliamentary motion to call for a committee Inquiry 
to investigate the impact on Melbourne of trucks moving freight and 
investigate alternatives, such as using rail to move freight and more 
appropriate locations for port activity. The Greens will seek to have the 
committee investigate freight truck impacts including crashes, road damage 
and costs, air pollution (including health impacts) and traffic 
congestion. 

For comment: Colleen Hartland 0417 445 845

*East West Link submission to Infrastructure Australia. Victorian 
Department of Transport. August 2012. Obtained by Greg Barber MLC under 
Freedom of Information legislation. Available here (at end of webpage): 
http://vicmps.greens.org.au/content/greens-release-east-west-tollway-documents#attachments 

 

*****************************************************************************

Adele Pedder

Electorate Officer
Greens MP Colleen Hartland 
Ph: 9689 6373. Mob: 0422 108 539
colleenhartland.org
75 Victoria Street Seddon 3011
 


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Parliament of Victoria                                                                                                                    . 
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