Trucks on Francis St, Yarraville. Picture: Mark Smith Herald Sun

COMMUNITY groups have demanded the state government stop sitting on it’s hands and honour a Brumby government plan to slash the number of trucks rumbling through the western suburbs.

Concerned residents held a rally in Yarraville today calling on the Baillieu government to begin work on the $380 million Truck Action Plan.

The scheme would see the construction of a dedicated truck route via Westgate freeway ramps designed to divert more than a million trucks a year from local streets.

Read full article online heraldsun.com.au

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

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Article in “The Age” July 6 2011

WHEN Noah Lautman-Wurt was seven, his family took him to his first protest rally over the number of trucks in residential streets in their Yarraville neighbourhood.
Noah, now 17, has heard a decade of state government promises to reduce the number of trucks driving through the inner western suburb.
It hasn’t happened. About 7000 still drive down Yarraville’s Francis Street each weekday.

Noah says he has grown up used to the number of trucks using his suburb as a bypass to the port.
He goes to school in Flemington now and notices the difference. ”I barely ever see trucks around that area compared to here.”
Noah’s father, Martin Wurt, is secretary of the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group, which met with the Environment Protection Authority’s chief executive yesterday to discuss diesel emissions in Yarraville.
Mr Wurt’s group has been seeking a meeting with Transport Minister Terry Mulder since the government was elected last year to see if it has any plan to deal with the truck issue.
Mr Mulder has rejected the meeting requests, telling the group he is too busy.

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.

BY GRANT REYNOLDS
Maribyrnong Weekly
08 Jun, 2011 12:00 AM
Roads and Transport Minister Terry Mulder has undermined the future of a $380million project to divert trucks off residential streets after contradicting advice from VicRoads about its benefits.
And a local MP says Mr Mulder has to explain whether he knowingly misled the public accounts and estimates committee hearing last month.

Facing questioning on budget spending, Mr Mulder was asked by Altona MP Jill Hennessy when the state government would commit to continuing the $380million truck action plan and “give local residents some peace of mind” that there would be relief from trucks.

Mr Mulder said: “Early advice that I received in relation to this indicated to me that without WestLink, this particular upgrade would be very quickly taken up with additional vehicles and no real benefit would be seen in the future.”

Mr Mulder’s statement contradicts advice he was given in January by VicRoads acting chief operating officer George Mavroyeni.

Incoming ministers are briefed on the status of major projects by the departments they represent following a change of government.

In a progress report for the minister, obtained by the Weekly under freedom of information laws, Mr Mavroyeni wrote: “Traffic analysis shows that the Truck Action Plan, in its own right [without WestLink], provides a significant contribution to improving access to the Port of Melbourne as well as reducing truck traffic in residential streets by around 50 [per cent].”

The truck plan was put forward by the previous Labor government to get trucks off residential streets after years of lobbying by residents.

It would include ramps linking Hyde Street to the West Gate Freeway, removing up to 5000 trucks per weekday from Francis Street and Somerville Road.

But only $41million for stage one, widening and strengthening Shepherd Bridge and

realigning the northern end of Moreland and Whitehall streets, was included in the 2011-12 state budget. Mr Mulder has said the remaining work is under review.
State Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said Mr Mulder had “serious explaining” to do.

“He needs to come clean about whether he knowingly made statements to an important parliamentary committee that clearly contradicted th e advice that he had received from VicRoads.

“This is a most important issue and the minister shouldn’t be playing games with local residents.”

Maribyrnong Truck Action Group spokesman Peter Knight said Mr Mulder’s office had not responded to repeated requests for a meeting and the latest revelation about his contradictory statements called into question his ministerial competence.

“If they’re ignoring us, VicRoads and the EPA – what are they doing? Who are they listening to?

“If they’re pulling out of the the Truck Action Plan they need to be prepared for prolonged and regular disruption of port traffic.

“If we have to go back to square one and blockade Francis Street every month in peak hour until he commits to a plan to get trucks off residential streets then we’ll do that.”

Late yesterday, Larissa Garvin, a spokeswoman for Mr Mulder, said the minister’s comment in PAEC “referred to an earlier comment in an Infrastructure Australia submission that Truck Action Plan would provide an interim reduction in truck numbers until WestLink can be provided. The comment was made in context of the government’s decision to review the Truck Action Plan.”

Peter Knight
June 8, 2011 The Age

Imagine 7000 huge trucks roaring past your front door every day.
ON JUNE 27, the residents of Yarraville and the inner west celebrate a dubious anniversary. Ten years ago on that day, the Environment Protection Authority measured air quality on the now notorious, Francis Street. This was in response to concerns voiced by residents about the levels of truck traffic and associated diesel fumes that had increased exponentially following the completion of the Western Ring Road and CityLink in the 1990s.

The number of trucks using Francis Street had increased to the point where it was, and remains still, blighted with about 7000 trucks every day. Many of these trucks exit the West Gate Freeway and use Francis Street as a short cut to the port; many more head to the port from container terminals just west of Yarraville and use the entire length of the street as a rat run.
Nearly all could access the port more quickly using the Bolte Bridge, but won’t because transport companies and drivers don’t want to pay tolls. This is having a devastating impact on the residents of Francis Street and other streets in the inner west.

Yet many Melburnians who have not been to the area still imagine it as part of an industrial zone adjacent to the port, and wonder why people have been complaining about the issue for so long. This image is far from the truth. Francis Street is a residential street lined on both sides with houses for most of its length. It also features a childcare centre and community centre, and has a primary school within a stone’s throw.
To imagine what life is really like for residents, you have to imagine waking every morning to a queue of trucks metres from your house filling two lanes and sometimes stretching for 300 metres, blowing black smoke as they edge their way towards the port.
You have to imagine not being able to get your car out of the driveway to take the kids to school because of this slow-moving wall. You have to imagine not being able to hang your washing out because it gets covered in black soot, and not being able to sleep properly at night for the roar of engine brakes and the clanking of trailers. And you have to imagine wondering whether these trucks are causing your child’s asthma.
The picture I paint is a daily reality for thousands of residents in the inner west, and in the 12 years I have lived in the area things have slowly worsened. At times the pollution is genuinely choking and this is reflected in the measurements taken by the EPA in 2001, which revealed some of the highest levels of diesel pollution ever recorded in Australia.
These levels regularly breach the EPA’s own intervention points and would lead to prosecution were they produced by a factory. At the time they were taken, they did lead to a flurry of activity by the Bracks government, which implemented night truck curfews.
But when the EPA returned a year or so later to conduct repeat air testing it found that the curfews, while helping to reduce truck numbers at night, had little effect on overall diesel pollution levels.
It might be expected that, armed with this information, the EPA would make a fuss, pressure government to fix the situation, and look into the possibilities of legal action. It would be reasonable to expect it to do the job it is charged with – protecting the environment.
The EPA has not acted and now 10 years have passed. And in that 10 years, nothing has been done about the trucks on Francis Street and Somerville Road, the trucks in Footscray, the trucks that arrive in ever increasing numbers and which are poisoning the inner west.
Should anyone think that that’s a little over the top, consider what we know about diesel pollution: the EPA itself says that there is ”no safe level of exposure to diesel fumes” and international studies suggest that diesel pollution contains the most carcinogenic substances known to man. The studies also suggest that the effects of diesel are most harmful to children. In addition, the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group commissioned a health impacts study in 2005 and found asthma rates for people living on Francis Street could be three times higher than those of other Melburnians.
A glimmer of hope for residents did appear a couple of years ago when the Brumby government, goaded by transport adviser Sir Rod Eddington, committed to building West Gate on/off ramps.
This measure would provide an alternative route for trucks needing to access the port and would take most of the traffic off Francis Street. It would also solve problems on Somerville Road and other affected streets, and is a solution that everyone appeared to agree on. Even the then shadow transport minister, Terry Mulder, seemed to support it. Disappointingly, he not has mentioned it since the election and has refused to meet with resident groups.
Even more disappointingly the EPA, which should be protecting, caring for and improving our environment, does nothing. It has never returned to conduct repeat air testing, has never issued a fine and has never made a public statement condemning this situation.
After so many years of government inaction, shelved studies and schemes that go nowhere, we need the EPA to stand up, show some teeth and say enough is enough.
Peter Knight has been a member of the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group for six years.

MTAG and ‘Less Trucks for Moore held a successful rally today on the steps of Parliament house today in Melbourne. The groups set up 1000 toy trucks to symbolise the number of trucks using streets in the City of Maribyrnong every hour. Residents of the inner west held up banners while playing amplified trucks noises.

The rally called on the Brumby Government to fully fund the planned Truck Action Plan, increase the number of curfews and reduce speed limits on Moore Street.