No Tunnels

VicRoads recently closed down Hoddle Street for a week to work on streamlining the corridor. The project is expected to continue for the rest of 2018.

"Streamlining" in this case is a euphemism for increasing the capacity of Hoddle Street for higher volumes of vehicle traffic every day. Whilst dedicated bus lanes are part of the project the Andrews government intends that the overwhelming future growth in traffic movements will be passenger cars.

Call for Victorians to write to the Hon. Anthony Albanese, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport at A.Albanese, to oppose funding of the East West Link and to support funding public transport instead, especially the Doncaster Rail Link along the Eastern Freeway.
The Baillieu Government has resurrected Sir Rod Eddington’s discredited road transport project and the Premier now has it as the centerpiece of his recently announced transport plan. The Victorian State Government has asked the Federal Government to provide funds of $30 million for a “review”. This would be the third review in the last 10 years. Victorian citizens, members of Protectors of Public Lands Victoria, working free on behalf of the public, and representing 16 democratic groups, traveled to Canberra recently to put the case for public transport. Here is their report.

Also published by Yarra Campaign for Action on Transport

Spokespeople for Royal Park Protection Group Inc. (RPPG) have called the deletion of the East West road tunnel and freeway from the Brumby Victorian Transport Plan, a win for commonsense and the common people and said that even the Zoo animals can breathe easy now that a tunnel won’t be constructed next to their home. See also upcoming forum 10 December: What will the Brumby Transport Plan mean for Melbourne?"

Melbourne Tunnels Protests in Melbourne are gathering, not losing, steam as suburban groups organise under bigger groups. Report:
See also article on Tunnels-shareholder liabilities: Dodgy connections in BrisConnections

Up to 1,000 houses are threatened with requisition and Melbourne's Royal Park is threated with destruction in order to build unsustainable road tunnels in inner Melbourne. On Sunday 26 October community groups will protest to prevent this reckless stupidity.

What you can do: attend the rally at 12 noon for a 12:15 pm start on Sunday 26 October 2008 at Flinders Street Railway Station under the Clocks. 
See also: www.royalparkprotect.org.au, VCAT "Community Forum highlights problems fixes none" of 17 Oct 08.

Melbourne community anti-tunnels activists held a successful protest outside Premier John Brumby's Transport Summit at Telstra Dome in Melbourne.

Trevor Rowe is chairperson of the Queensland Investment Corporation, a state-owned corporation that invests the super of Queensland public servants. He is now also the chair of BrisConnections, a private consortium that has been given the contract to build the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council's Airport Link car tunnel. So were is the superannuation of State government employees going, and what will be the most important urban transport investments in a future market that will be forced to acknowledge resource scarcity and the need for energy efficient transport?

Send a message to the Queensland Premier to stop the destructive Hale Street Bridge and to build better public and active transport for Brisbane.

Cross-posted to www.notunnels.net.

See also: www.stopthehalestreetbridge.com, Managing car use in cities, Courier Mail story $55 million overpass to link with Riverside Expressway of 15 July 2008 together with readers' comments (132 in all).

Residents of Toowong and other inner-western suburbs in Brisbane who will be adversely affected by the proposed Northern Link tunnel should work together and put forward a united front against this absurd proposal.

Originally published on www.notunnels.net on 5 Jun 08.