More Roads Must Be A Last Resort

NO FREEWAY 4 WEST FOOTSCRAY

WHAT IS PLANNED?
{printed leaflet has map as per front page of the website}

West Gate Alternative

An underground road tunnel will be constructed with an entrance between Dynon/Footscray roads, linking these roads to Geelong and Sunshine roads in West Footscray/Kingsville. (pg 104-105 Victorian Transport plan). There is no detail yet of the exact location of exit points.

Truck Action Plan

“upgrades” of Sunshine, Dempster and Paramount Roads will link the road tunnel to Geelong Road. This plan caters for trucks exiting the tunnel traveling along Sunshine Rd. (Pg 102-103 V.T.P.)

WHY WE OBJECT

Residents will be evicted from their homes.
Large numbers of trucks would be diverted to West Footscray streets. It’s no solution to shift the problem from suburb to another.
The tunnel will not reduce truck traffic on our roads. Freight should be moved by rail.
The tunnel does not even achieve the stated aim of an alternative to the Westgate. Dynon and Footscray Roads are already congested at peak hour.
These plans have no benefit at all for our community. The Victorian Government places no value on the Western Suburbs as these are safe Labor seats.

THE IMPACT ON YOU

HOMES

Many families will be forced from their homes; both along the routes and for infrastructure such as vent stacks.
If you live along Sunshine Road, Buckley St, Dempster St or Sredna St your house may be directly at risk. The government refuses to give specific details of which houses are under threat.
The Victorian Government has said that home owners will be given “market value” for their homes. They have not said how they will compensate for the loss of market value if these works go ahead. If our suburb is divided and destroyed by roads, your home will be worth less, whether it will be demolished or not.
The longer term plan to link Sunshine Rd to the Western Ring Road will destroy hundreds more homes in Sunshine and West Sunshine. This is unacceptable.

COMMUNITY

Our community will be turned upside down if hundreds of families are forced to leave. It is impossible to replace the friendships and relationships built up in our community.
Our suburbs will be turned into big traffic thoroughfares. Every major road such as Ashley St. will become a feeder road for these new highways.

HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT

Asthma and other health issues increase if there is an increase in traffic and pollution.
For many residents it will be more difficult and risky to get to shops, parks, train stations and schools.
Global warming is a reality. Our solutions to transport problems should be sustainable. As petrol prices rise due to decreased oil supplies, we have to move to alternatives. These alternatives exist but the Victorian Government is ignoring them.

OUR SOLUTIONS

Decent public transport would take the pressure off our current road system. Public transport use has increased by 40% over the last ten years. We need a decent service which is less crowded and expanded to the outer suburbs. It would be possible for at least half of the work trips between the inner city and the west to be made by public transport, which would make a big difference to peak hour traffic.
Electrify the train line to Melton, running trains every ten minutes from Werribee, Melton and Sunbury, with good bus services to get people to the stations. We would see an extra 7000 people able to leave their cars at home or at the station. That would free up two full freeway lanes for the whole two hours of the peak – and slash our transport carbon pollution.
If the government met the target it set over five years ago of 30% of port related freight on rail (and more is possible), and made sure container trucks weren’t travelling around empty or half empty then almost half the trucks travelling to and from the port would not be needed. Properly planned freight rail links to suburban freight hubs would mean less truck traffic in our suburbs.
Many transport experts are slamming this plan. The No Freeway 4 West Footscray group is going to be part of developing alternative plans that support the community AND create much needed jobs without destroying homes and lives. We believe the Victorian Government is not trying hard enough to get the balance right.

DON’T LET THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT
USE OUR TAXES TO DESTROY WEST FOOTSCRAY

{Text copy from the NF4WF March 2009 leaflet}