Media Release: Community Rally September 18th Yarraville Gardens

Transport Workers Union joins with residents to call for Westgate Ramps truck route to be built

In a major development in the battle to get trucks off residential streets in the inner west, the Transport Workers Union has joined with residents, local council, business groups and other prominent voices to call for the Baillieu Government to build the Westgate on/off ramps, which were a part of the Victorian Transport Plan, as soon as possible.

“It is often thought that groups like Maribyrnong Truck Action Group (MTAG) are against truckies” said Martin Wurt from MTAG, “but this isn’t true. We know that truckies hate using residential streets and want a proper 24 hour route to the port, and the fact that the Transport Workers Union is now on board with the coalition gives voice to this.”

“These ramps are essential especially given the projected growth of the port and associated container movements. They will be good for residents, good for truckies, good for business, and good for the environment,” said Mr Wurt.

The ramps, first proposed by Sir Rod Eddington’s 2008 study of Melbourne’s transport needs, will create a route for trucks that bypasses residential areas in Francis St and Somerville Rd with exits and entries from the Westgate Freeway before the bridge that takes them directly to the port via Hyde St and Whitehall St. They will also provide an alternative route for many of the trucks that currently use streets in Footscray to access the port. They will direct about one million trucks per year away from residential streets improving health and safety in the inner west and giving industry a 24/7 route to port.

Anton Mayer, spokesperson for the group and CEO of Leadwest says that the ramps offer the best solution to truck traffic problems in the inner west, “They tick a lot of boxes,” he said, “and will improve and address amenity for residents while also addressing access issues for industry.”

The Maribyrnong Truck Action Group along with Less Trucks for Moore concur with Mr Mayer’s assessment: “These ramps are what MTAG has been calling for since the group was formed in 2005, we want to see trucks using the Westgate Freeway to get to the port because that’s the route with the most buffer between the trucks and communities in the inner west.”

The Westgate Ramps Coalition includes Maribyrnong City Council, Yarraville Community Centre, The Greens Inner West Branch, Labor Party-Yarraville Branch, Transport Workers Union, Kingsville Primary School, Yarraville West Primary School, and Paul Delutis’ De Group (Bradmill site developers), Less Trucks for Moore and Maribyrnong Truck Action Group.

For interviews etc call Martin Wurt 0411 063 071

www.facebook.com/westgateramps

Download the flyer.

Almost 70 percent of Australians want truck movements restricted to non-peak periods and 50 percent of Australians want large trucks banned from cities, according to polling released today by a public transport and health coalition.

The poll, of 1500 Australians was released at a Parliament House Summit addressing the issues of carbon pollution, road congestion, our growing population, and public transport.

The Auspoll survey also found that more than 80 percent of Australians want the Federal Government to be more involved in the strategic funding and planning of our public transport systems.

Bryan Nye, CEO of the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) says the polling confirms that Australians are tired of wasting time in traffic jams and want the Government to act.

“Traffic congestion costs Australians more than $15 billion a year through time wasted in traffic, delays and disruptions to businesses, associated health problems and road accidents. Our congested roads are a result of poor planning. It impedes Australia’s productivity and liveability of our cities. Australians want a solution,” said Mr Nye.

“This is not an argument about road or rail. However, if we are to relieve road congestion and make our roads safer, there is only one solution and that is the better use of our rail networks.”

According to the poll, 87 percent of Australians support improving public transport to reduce traffic congestion. If we are to achieve this, the Federal Government’s role is critical.

“Rail has been experiencing significant growth in major cities and regional areas. Over the past two years, passenger numbers have increased by 60,000 each week,” said Mr Nye.

“Our rail networks are reaching or exceeding capacity, particularly during peak periods. The Federal Government must take the lead in increasing capacity and planning for public transport across Australia. It must increase infrastructure funding and assist State Governments to deliver more services where they are needed,” continued Mr Nye.

Relieving capacity constraints in our transport systems will help position public transport as a key solution to road congestion, reducing carbon emissions, and minimising our dependence on imported oils.

“With the overwhelming number of Australians seeing a bigger role for the Federal Government in enhancing our public transport system, the Government must step up and take the challenge. The problems of congestion, carbon emissions and fuel vulnerability will only get bigger every day. We need to act now to secure a better and brighter future for all Australians,” concluded Mr Nye.

The poll was initiated by a coalition of seven key bodies; the ARA, Australian Conservation Foundation, Australian Local Government Association, Bus Industry Confederation, Cycling Promotion Fund, Heart Foundation, and International Public Transport Association.

22nd November 
Parliament
 House
 Steps
 10
am 
sharp

Maribyrnong Truck Action Group and Less Trucks for Moore are asking for people to donate toy trucks to use in a rally to draw attention to the increasing numbers of trucks using residential streets in the inner west.

On 22nd November the two local community groups will join forces to take 1000 toy trucks to the steps of Parliament House to demand funding of the Truck Action Plan as well as restrictions on truck traffic in Footscray.

One thousand trucks is the average number that uses our streets every hour in the inner west. We call on the Brumby government to fully fund the Truck Action Plan and fast track it to provide relief for inner west residents.So far the government has put up $40 million of a total cost of $380 million. It’s a good start but people really want to know why they have not fully funded a project that is so urgently needed.

The rally will also call for the government to immediately put in place curfews, speed restrictions, and engine brake bans in Footscray. Mr Brumby needs to know that we are serious and that we won’t stop until we are listened to. Truck traffic is increasing in Footscray at a frightening rate and people are really suffering. We need action now not in five years.

Trucks must use Citylink at night and on weekends and pay the tolls; this is the cost of doing business. At present residents are paying this cost with their health and residential amenity. The only way to get them off our streets at night and weekends is with properly policed curfews.

This rally is a great way for people to get involved. Show your concern even if you don’t have time to attend the actual demonstration by donating a toy truck – there is a collection box at Maribyrnong City Council office front desk. Ask your kids to donate a truck (they might even see it on TV) or if you don’t have one, pick one up from the toy shop for a couple of dollars and give it to a good cause: making our air cleaner and our streets safer. Or, of course, bring it to the rally yourself. Be part of a spectacular protest ‘installation.’ It’ll be a lot of fun with an important message.

www.mtag.org.au I  www.lesstrucksformoore.com.au

Download the pdf for the Toy Truck Rally

PRESS RELEASE

Maribyrnong Truck Action Group (MTAG) offers cautious support for preferred Westlink Tunnel route provided it is accompanied by strict truck curfews and other measures

Maribyrnong Truck Action Group has cautiously welcomed the announcement of the preferred route for the Westlink Tunnel. “The government appears to have listened to community concerns by choosing the longer, more expensive route thus largely avoiding residential areas” said spokesperson, Peter Knight.

MTAG still has concerns about the project however and insists that it will only be effective at taking trucks off the streets of the inner west if trucks are forced to use it and if measures are taken to ensure it doesn’t get clogged with commuter traffic.

“The most important consideration is the framing and implementation of truck bans,” said Peter Knight.” Once the tunnel and the Westgate ramps are built there is no reason why any truck without a local origin or destination should be using our streets, yet experience suggests that unless bans are placed and rigorously enforced truck drivers often ignore preferred routes. Without bans, the tunnel and the Westgate on/off ramps will be much less effective.”

Peter Knight restated the importance of the Westgate on/off ramps saying despite the announcement of Westlink they must remain a priority. “Westlink must not be considered an alternative to the Westgate on/off ramps. Westlink can really help with traffic problems in Footscray and but will not do anything to get trucks off the streets of Yarraville. We still need those ramps built.”

MTAG has also emphasised the need for commensurate investment in public transport. “The tunnel is going to cost a lot of money, we need reassurance that this money is not going to sucked from public transport projects that would otherwise service the west. If it is then the tunnel will quickly clog with commuter traffic and will be useless as an efficient route for trucks accessing the port,” said Mr Knight.

Lastly, MTAG raises the issue of the ventilation stacks. “We need to make sure that this is high on the list of priorities. There are going to be a lot of trucks using this tunnel, the last thing we want is the pollution to be concentrated in a vent stack and pumped out into the suburbs. We need the stacks to employ world’s best scrubbing technology and to be placed away from residential areas.”

Contact Peter Knight 0409 797 852

Less Trucks for Moore
Protest Blockade of Moore St Footscray 26 October

A new community action group has formed out of frustration about increasing truck traffic on Moore St and Buckley St Footscray.
Less Trucks for Moore plans to blockade one of Melbourne’s busiest intersections for half an hour on 26th October, 8am corner of Moore and Hopkins St in cooperation with Victoria Police and VicRoads.
More info at www.lesstrucksformoore.com.au

MTAG encourages all its members to support this action.

Prior to that the group will hold a community meeting on 13th October, 7:30pm Angliss Neighbourhood House 2/11 Vipont St, Footscray
In the past year Moore St Footscray has seen a staggering 46% increase in nighttime truck traffic and an overall increase of 24.6% taking its total count to nearly 2500 trucks per day.
Truck traffic on Buckley St has also increased, and alarmingly for residents has jumped during nighttime hours by more than 30%. Buckley St now carries nearly 3000 trucks each day.
The government has announced the Westlink tunnel project but that won’t offer a solution for five to ten years and this problem is unbearable now. Residents need short term measures to give residents some relief.

Less Trucks for Moore is calling for the following measures to be implemented immediately:

1. A night curfew from 7pm to 7am on Moore St and Buckley St Monday to Friday and 24 hours over the weekend
2. A 50kmh speed limit for both streets
3. Bans on the use of air horns and engine brakes
4. The EPA to test air quality in Moore St and Buckley St

Research released by the World Health Organisation that nominates the particles in diesel pollution as among the most carcinogenic substances ever discovered, as well as research that reveals that children who live near diesel pollution hotspots are 12 times more likely to contract childhood cancers.

This protest will be a family friendly event held with the cooperation of the authorities. MTAG really encourage residents of Footscray and surrounding suburbs to come out to both the community meeting and the protest. This is a chance for families to come out and send the government a strong peaceful message that we in the western suburbs have a right to expect what other Melbournians take for granted: clean air and safe streets.

Community Meeting 13 October, 7:30pm Angliss Neighbourhood House.
2/11 Vipont St, Footscray

Moore Street Protest 26 October, 8am. Corner of Moore and Hopkins St

Truck count figures leaked to MTAG.

The Maribyrnong Truck Action Group has learnt that VicRoads truck count figures soon to be released will reveal dramatic increases in truck numbers in the inner west especially in Footscray.

The biggest increases have been recorded on Moore St Footscray, which has seen a staggering 46% increase in nighttime truck traffic and an overall increase of 24.6% taking its total count to nearly 2500 trucks per day.

Truck traffic on Buckley St has also increased, and alarmingly for residents has jumped during nighttime hours by more than 30%. Buckley St now carries nearly 3000 trucks each day.

MTAG is demanding immediate nighttime curfews on both Buckley St and Moore St to put a stop to a problem that is worsening dramatically.

“People can’t sleep because of all these trucks and that’s incredibly frustrating,” said MTAG spokesperson Peter Knight. “But that’s not the worst of it, we know that diesel pollution is incredibly dangerous especially for children, and we know that these streets have some of the highest levels of diesel pollution recorded by the EPA.”

MTAG insists that something needs to be done immediately to bring these trucks under control and in addition to curfew restrictions has suggested the immediate implementation of freight efficiency measures to ensure that trucks don’t travel one way empty.

“Nearly half of truck trips in our streets are made by empty trucks. This could be changed very quickly and take lots of trucks off the streets, all it needs is political will. These kinds of measures are used widely in many large cities; it’s pretty standard. We’re way behind on this, we need to catch up.” said Peter Knight.

Currently the government is proposing the Westlink Tunnel as a solution to truck problems in Footscray, “We have real reservations about the tunnel but even if it does represent a solution it is at least ten years off. What do people do until then?”

MTAG is calling for Nicola Roxon to step in and play a prominent role in solving this problem.

“Ms Roxon is the Health Minister and this is her electorate. Trucks represent the most serious health risk to her constituents and yet she is missing in action on this issue. It would be great to hear from her in this election campaign on this issue.”
UPDATE:
The Leader runs this article.

The Mail also runs an article.

PRESS RELEASE

TRUCK ACTION PLAN

The Maribyrnong Truck Action Group welcomes the announcement of the route for the Truck Action Plan but is asking that the Brumby Government funds the project rather than relying on the Federal Government.

The project will take up to 10,000 trucks a day off Somerville Rd and Francis St via ramps from the Westgate Freeway then an upgraded route to the port.

“This project is urgently needed in the inner west. The government’s preferred route is one that is be supported by the community at large and is the option which will have the least impact on Stony Creek. Importantly, this infrastructure will bring relief to many thousands of residents as well as improve freight efficiency.”

“The only issue is funding. Infrastructure Australia did not include the project in its recommendations and it’s time that the Brumby government just gets on with it and funds it from the state budget. We’ve been waiting for action for 11 years now.”

WESTLINK TUNNEL

Of the three options presented in the Victorian Transport Plan, two are completely unviable and will simply shift traffic problems from Central Footscray to West Footscray. These are the options with the shorter tunnels.

The third option with a tunnel portal further west near Paramount Rd would solve truck traffic problems in Footscray and have minimal impact on other residents.

“This third option with a longer tunnel makes sense as a long term option if the government is committed to building a tunnel, and would not be opposed by MTAG. However, we question the economics of this measure.”

“The tunnel will cost billions. This money would be better spent putting freight onto rail, building inland freight ports, improving freight efficiencies through the use of latest technology and global industry best practice, and taking cars off the streets by upgrading public transport.”

More information and interactive maps…

PRESS RELEASE

Anger is again rising in the inner west after the state government failed to fund the ‘Truck Action Plan’ to take trucks off residential streets in the inner west.

The project is budgeted at $380 million in the Victorian Transport Plan and building was supposed to begin this year. Instead there is just $21 million for planning and early works on the Truck Action Plan and the WestLink tunnel including a $6.2 million Commonwealth contribution.

“It’s a bit of a letdown. Effectively there is nothing in the budget for the Westgate ramps given the government announced $11 million of this some months ago,” said MTAG spokesman Peter Knight.

The ramps were slated as a ‘priority’ in the Victorian Transport Plan and through 2009 MTAG had meetings with Marsha Thomson, Wade Noonan and Tim Pallas and were assured that this project would go ahead.

This latest development comes after 10 years of fighting by community groups to have something done about the 20,000 trucks a day that use residential streets in the inner west.

“In 2007 MTAG commissioned a company to conduct a health survey and it revealed asthma levels three times higher than those of other Melbournians, “ said Peter Knight. “These trucks do not constitute an inconvenience, they represent a health emergency.”

“Something needs to be done urgently about this problem. We’ve been saying it for years now, Sir Rod Eddington said it, Minister Pallas admitted it, and these ramps have been on VicRoads’ drawing board for more than a decade, we hope we’re not going to be waiting for too much longer.”

MTAG is still very hopeful of good news when Infrastructure Australia announces its funding round in a month or so but whatever happens has reiterated its commitment to fight to ensure that something is done about this intolerable situation.

“We’ll do whatever we need to and hope that the progress that has been made in the last 12 months will continue,” said Peter Knight.

Click here to download pdf

It has not been widely reported, but MTAG has been recently involved in a stoush with Chalmers, a large container transport firm that operates at the far west end of Francis St in Yarraville. Chalmers is one of the major generators of truck traffic on Francis St and sends containers to the port (as well as empty trucks from the port) via Francis St, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

MTAG has long argued that Chalmers should not be included in the ‘local trucks’ exemption given their depot is only meters from Millers Rd and a convenient entry to the Westgate Freeway. MTAG’s view is in line with the Victorian Transport Association, which recommends that trucks use the Westgate Freeway and Bolte Bridge calling it ‘The Easy Way’ Freeway Benefits Program download pdf

Recently, Chalmers moved its operations west of Cemetery Rd (which intersects Francis St) taking them outside the curfew boundary. Chalmers has, however, kept using Francis St and ignored our calls to respect residential health, safety, and amenity. Instead, amazingly, Chalmers’ general manager Craig Webster called for B Triples to be allowed to use Francis St in this local news piece.

Provocatively he also states that his trucks will continue to use Francis St after the on/off ramps linking the Westgate to the port are built.

This spurred MTAG into action and, with the help of local member Wade Noonan we sought a ruling from the Minister, which unequivocally states that Chalmers’ operations are now outside the local truck zone and its trucks are not allowed to use Francis St in curfew hours. Vic Roads has acknowledged this ruling and has had meetings with Mr Webster to inform him that Chalmers trucks must now use the route to the port via the Westgate during curfew hours. Vic Roads has backed this action with policing and some fines but it is not enough and Chalmers trucks continue to break the law.

It seems that Chalmers’ main issue is the fact that currently, if it uses the Westgate route its trucks have to pay a small toll on the Bolte Bridge. MTAG has therefore sought a meeting with Chalmers to try to find ways we can lobby together to hurry the completion of the Westgate on/off ramp project, which would mean that Chalmers trucks could access the port without using Francis St and without paying tolls. Mr Webster has ignored our emails and messages.

Chalmers has also belligerently continued to ignore the curfews obviously making some kind of calculation that the savings made on tolls by using Francis St outweigh the amount it will have to pay in fines given the limited resources Vic Roads allocates to policing the curfews.

We need action from MTAG members on this. We need you to write to local member, Wade Noonan, wade.noonan@parliament.vic.gov.au and to Minister Tim Pallas requesting greater resources for policing curfews. We also call for citizens to report curfew breakers, here’s how:

Any truck exiting from Chalmers’ depot west of Cemetery Rd in Francis St and heading east is breaking the curfew between the hours of 8pm and 6am Monday to Friday and between 2pm Saturday and 6am Monday. Any truck heading west along Francis St and crossing Cemetery Rd is also a curfew breaker. If you can get details (time, direction, licence plate, description) and use the form below to upload to us. We will forward to Vic Roads and have them prosecute the breach. A photograph is also good if you have your mobile phone handy.

It is time we demanded corporate responsibility from companies like Chalmers, which has ignored community health, safety, and amenity for too long.

Maribyrnong Truck Action Group Press Release.

Members of the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group have met with Minister for Roads and Ports, Tim Pallas, and have been given an assurance that despite no commitment of federal funds in this year’s budget that truck ramps (which form part of the Victorian Transport Plan) will be built. The creation of this truck route away from the residential areas of Francis Street and Somerville Road will bring relief to thousands of residents.”

This is great news for the inner west, a lot of people have been very concerned, since the release of the federal budget, that the project might not go ahead, but Minister Pallas told us that the Brumby Government is 100% committed to the project.

This is such an important project for residents in the inner west who have been suffering the effects of 20,000 trucks a day using residential streets to get to and from the port. The corner of Francis St and Williamstown Rd in Yarraville has the highest levels of diesel pollution yet recorded by the EPA and residents suffer from significantly higher asthma rates and other health issues. These ramps will go a long way to solving this problem… the Brumby Government has recognised the urgency of the situation and is taking responsibility for fixing it. It’s great news.

Planning for the project is moving forward and VicRoads will be holding community consultation forums shortly as it canvasses options for the alignment of the ramps.

MTAG urges the community to get involved in this stage of the project by attending the forums and contributing ideas.