WESTERN suburbs lobby group LeadWest is calling for urgent action on getting trucks off traffic-plagued inner-west streets.
Chief executive Anton Mayer said figures revealed in last week’s Weekly showing a spike in night-time traffic through residential Footscray and Yarraville streets showed it could be at least a decade before sleep-deprived residents could hope for respite.
The Weekly revealed curfews are failing to cut the number of trucks driving through Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay at night.
Traffic has increased on nearly every main local route.
Local families are also worried by new research linking traffic pollution with poor respiratory health in children.
At least a dozen Maribyrnong schools and childcare centres are within 300 metres of major truck routes.
Mr Mayer said the government must take a serious look at new on-ramps to the West Gate Bridge to take traffic off residential Yarraville streets.
Priorities should also include ensuring work on the proposed east-west link begins in the west.
“Our major concern is that if the work starts in the east we could be looking down the barrel of a decade before we have any improvements in the west,” he said.
“We have a mix of public transport and road transport requests, but this truck situation is a major health and safety issue.”
Short-term measures for improvement should include dedicated truck routes to and from the port to minimise the impact of its rapid growth, Mr Mayer said.
Corridors through Brooklyn should also be guaranteed to ensure future transport projects didn’t run into the same problems faced by the Regional Rail Link, such as the need for forced acquisitions.
Residents are also pushing for action in the light of VicRoads figures revealing night-time truck traffic in Moore Street in Footscray is up 40 per cent in the 12 months to March and by 400 per cent during the past six years.
Scott Adams, of Less Trucks for Moore, said Footscray faced health issues related to pollution, noise and risk to pedestrians and motorists.
“A lot of residents can’t sleep at night due to noise and vibration from trucks, which is linked to long-term health issues,” he said.
“There are a number of legal cases relating to similar issues in the US and it’s not long before we’ll see similar action in Australia. The government can’t put its head in the sand for too much longer on this issue. It will become an issue for the port and the city, not just Moore Street.”
