Parents and residents have welcomed new truck bans in Yarraville and Footscray but are seeking more action to take trucks off residential streets.
New curfews in effect from last Thursday ban trucks from Yarraville’s Somerville Road during school crossing hours and from Footscray’s Moore Street overnight.
Exemptions remain for trucks on “local business”, but the bans are expected to almost halve truck trips during curfew times.
Maribyrnong Truck Action Group president Samantha McArthur praised Maribyrnong council’s lobbying and the Victorian Transport Association’s ability to compromise, but warned that other inner-west streets would see an increase in truck numbers as a result of the new curfews.
“The City of Maribyrnong will still see 21,000 trucks per day on residential streets,” she said.
Less Trucks for Moore’s Scott Adams said the overnight ban on Moore Street followed a 400 per cent increase in night-time truck traffic in recent years.
The curfews were announced late last year by the then-Coalition government and are being supported by a VicRoads enforcement blitz.
Launching the new curfews in Yarraville on Thursday, Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said the next step in tackling inner-west truck traffic would be building the West Gate Distributor.
“It’s very much about delivering what the community wants, which is less trucks on our roads, especially during school hours,” he said,
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said the state government would do all in its power, including further bans, to move freight traffic from local streets to the completed distributor.
Footscray MP Marsha Thomson said the curfews should make a real difference to residents.
“At last the residents in Moore Street should get some relief with 400 fewer trucks in Moore Street every night,” she said.
