RACV welcomes the ALP, Coalition and Greens’ transport policies but say they lack "vision and attention to detail"
November 23, 2010
Victorian motoring group RACV has welcomed the ALP, Coalition and Greens’ transport policies but say they lack “vision and attention to detail”.
RACV General Manager Peter Daly has welcomed the $723.4 million in transport funding in the ALP’s election policy, which includes $432 million for public transport and $292 million for road improvements.
While some projects such as $163 million for regional roads and $129 million for metropolitan road works a were included, the policy was still “business as usual”, Daly says.
“The ALP remains disappointingly silent on a number of critical projects including the east/west road tunnel from Eastern Freeway to CityLink, the high-speed airport rail link between Southern Cross station and Melbourne Airport and the complete East/West metro rail tunnel between Footscray Station and Caulfield Station,” he says.
“Planning funds have been earmarked for the essential north/east missing link between the Northern Ring Road, Greensborough and the Eastern Freeway/EastLink but this will not accelerate the delivery of this key project,” Daly says.
Funding to remove the railway level crossing at Main Road, St Albans, was a positive move to resolve congestion and safety problems, Daly adds.
He says RACV encourages the Federal Government to match Premier John Brumby’s $82.5 million commitment and has called on all parties to commit to a program to eliminate all major level crossings in the metropolitan area by completing at least five crossings a year.
RACV manager Brian Negus says he is disappointed the Coalition’s plan falls short of committing to “most of the longer term transport projects” that are critical to sustaining Melbourne’s growth.
He says a $6.5 million planning study for an Airport Rail Link between Southern Cross Station and Melbourne Airport is a move in the right direction but it “didn’t go far enough”.
Meanwhile, in the lead-up to the 2010 State election, Victorians have seen three separate plans delivered by the Greens, all of which are “effectively unfunded”, Negus adds.
He says RACV does not support the massive upheaval proposed by the Greens to create more bureaucratic bodies to perform the same role as the Department of Transport.
“Victorian voters should have greater confidence in the ability of the Greens to deliver on their transport promises if they were given more detailed plans and more than just a promise that a different system will be a better system,” he says.