MTAG today protested outside the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne where CEDA, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, was holding a conference: Australia to the world: Growing national port infrastructure.MTAG’s action was to highlight the impact that Melbourne Port truck traffic has on our community. MTAG believes the Port must think beyond its own boundaries and join the call for infrastructure solutions to stop port trucks using residential streets in the inner west. Melbourne Port will never be a world class facility when traffic to and from the port continues to use narrow residential streets that were designed in the late 1800’s.
The World Health Organisation has just declared in a new report that “diesel causes lung cancer”. Francis street in Yarraville alone experiences over 6,000 truck movements everyday, much of this is single lane traffic bounded by residential housing, schools and a community child care centre. Maribyrnong has the highest hospital admissions for respiratory ailments in the 0-16 age group in Victoria.
VicRoads has the bypass solution shovel ready, it just needs the Baillieu government to commit and find the funding.
Its time to stop talking and fund a truck bypass.
Our health needs protecting.