CURFEWS are failing to cut the number of trucks driving through Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay at night, new figures reveal.
The Weekly has obtained figures from a VicRoads truck count in March, despite Roads Minister Terry Mulder’s office failing to release the data more than six months after the count.
They show night-time truck traffic has increased on nearly every main local route in the year to March compared with the previous year. Overall, truck traffic is also up on most routes, spurring calls for action to fast-track infrastructure improvements for the health and safety of residents.
Moore Street in Footscray has been hardest hit by extra night-time truck traffic — up almost 40 per cent in the 12 months to March and 400 per cent heavier than in 2006. Truck movements have more than doubled on Moore Street since 2006 to an average of 2647 per day.
Small falls were registered in the past 12 months on Yarraville’s Hyde Street and Somerville Road and Newport’s North and Melbourne roads, but big jumps were recorded on Francis Street, Yarraville (19 per cent), and Buckley Street, Footscray (9 per cent). Francis Street remains the most truck-choked route with 5800 trucks a day — one truck every 15 seconds.
Former Moore Street resident Andres Pineros said the truck traffic had driven him out of the area. “It is an absolute disgrace what goes on there. People can’t begin to imagine what it’s like to be there.”
Western suburbs Greens MP Colleen Hartland said the predicted doubling in size of Melbourne’s Port by 2025 meant truck numbers would continue to increase. “That’s more and more trucks clogging our streets and polluting the air we breathe; successive governments have known this yet have failed to act.” Ms Hartland has also demanded that VicRoads implement a night-time curfew for Moore Street.
