New night-time restrictions on heavy vehicles has the VTA bristling
Transport operators in Melbourne have a new set of night-time curfews to work around, with VicRoads implementing a one-year trial of restrictions in residential areas to the city’s northeast.
From August, vehicles over 4.5 tonne have been banned from sections of Greensborough Highway, Lower Plenty Road, Waiora Road, Waterdale Road and Ryans Road nightly between 10.00pm and 6.00am.
The curfew will also cover selected parts of Para Road, St Helena Road, and Bolton Street from November.
VicRoads says the curfews have been designed to “strike a balance [between] the local community and truck operators”.
“From August through to November 2015, the curfew trial will be progressively implemented to reduce truck volumes and associated noise at night.”
The implementation of the trial follows a pre-election promise by the then Labor opposition.
The Victorian Transport Association (VTA) warns the night curfews may lead to day-time congestion in the affected streets.
“The problem with the curfews being trialled in the northeast is that with no viable alternative north-south road, drivers making early morning runs will wait until after the curfew to complete their run, creating a surge of heavy vehicles just when people are going to work or school,” CEO Peter Anderson says.
He adds that drivers may also switch to smaller roads at night, creating safety implications for other road users.
Anderson says truck curfews do little to address the underlying congestion and environmental issues that they aim to solve.
“They are a lazy and short term approach to the larger underlying problem of the lack of connectivity of our road network,” he says.
With this in mind, he reiterates the VTA’s hope for a genuine north-south road connection in Melbourne.
“The Northern Link connecting the Eastern Freeway and the Metropolitan Ring Road is the priority roads project for the VTA,” he says.
“Melbourne urgently needs this vital connection and the VTA will continue to prosecute the case for it to be made.”