Residents surrounding Melbourne’s most polluted suburb have welcomed Hobsons Bay council’s decision to push for a truck ban on Millers Road.
It its submission to the Andrews government on Transurban’s $5.5 billion West Gate Tunnel, the council has strengthened its position to demand a ban except for trucks which originate or terminate in Brooklyn and Altona North.
The government’s Environment Effects Statement predicts an increase of up to 14,800 trucks a day by 2031, compared to 4500 trucks a day now, in Millers Road at Altona North and Brooklyn.
The council had previously called for a night and weekend curfew but toughened its stance in response to lobbying from residents of Brooklyn, Altona North, Spotswood and South Kingsville.
Its submission also calls for monitoring stations for air quality to become permanent and form part of the Environment Protection Authority monitoring network.
Brooklyn resident Chris Dunlevy, a member of the Don’t Destroy Millers Road lobby group, said that by the government’s own estimate there would be a 147 per cent increase in heavy vehicles on Millers Road as a result of the new toll road.
“We are very angry that all the hard work that Brooklyn residents have put in over the years in eliminating the foul odours from the industries nearby will all be washed away and we will now be choked by truck fumes and gridlock instead,” he said. “We are already Melbourne’s most polluted suburb.
“We have hardly any public transport, just some buses that are frequently late – how are they going to fight 14,800 trucks?”
Mr Dunlevy said he was not opposed to trucks, but rather to tolls on a freeway that had already been paid for in taxes.
“This new road tunnel will force the trucks down Millers because they refuse to build a new on-off ramp for them. It’s a raw deal for them and a raw deal for us.”
