VICROADS has defended its opposition to rolling out increased truck curfews in the inner west.
The Weekly last month reported Maribyrnong Council intends to lobby the state government to introduce a curfew on Moore Street, Footscray, and extend current weekend curfews to operate from 8pm on Friday to 6am, Monday.
The decision follows a review by a truck curfew review committee into the impact of increased truck traffic on Footscray and Yarraville residents.
But despite the support of the council and resident representatives on the committee, VicRoads and local industry are pushing back against any changes.
VicRoads regional director Patricia Liew said the authority must consider factors including impacts on residents, effects on local businesses, travels cost and the availability of alternate routes.
“VicRoads considers the times currently in place in Maribyrnong to be the best balance between the needs of the residents and the needs of the businesses in the area,” she said.
This includes maintaining no curfew on Moore Street, Footscray, where night-time truck traffic was up almost 40 per cent in the 12 months to last March and 400 per cent since 2006.
“VicRoads would not support a curfew on Moore Street as it may divert trucks onto other nearby residential streets,” Ms Liew said.
She said VicRoads worked with transport companies and industries to encourage truck drivers to use freeway networks. Using larger trucks, known as high-productivity freight vehicles, would shift container traffic to the freeway network rather than residential roads.
Introduction of the larger trucks has been criticised by the state Labor opposition for taking place without community consultation.
