More Tooting for Trains!
Here’s some red hot Tooting for Trains action (30 August) from the Trains Not Toll Roads Campaign peaceful protest at Alexandra Parade & Hoddle Street. Many thanks to Maree for the audio.
City of Darebin: Forum on the future of transport
City of Darebin: Forum on the future of transport: Panellists include Kenneth Davidson from The Age Newspaper, Professor Graham Currie from Monash University and Cr Jackie Fristacky, Mayor of Yarra. The forum will be chaired by Councillor Tom Melican from the City of Banyule, who is also the Chair of the Metropolitan Transport Forum. Further panellists will be confirmed closer to the date.
Darebin Mayor Cr Tim Laurence said Darebin Council has joined City of Yarra to support the Trains Not Toll Roads campaign, which calls on the State Government to prioritise the Metropolitan Rail project over the East-West Link project. “The Wrong Way Go Back campaign also calls for State Government to prioritise the west section of the East West Link as without the western link, the number of trucks on inner western suburb roads will continue to grow,” Cr Laurence said. Continue Reading…
Can a road tunnel reduce air pollution?
Attendees at the Linking Melbourne information sessions were told that the tunnel will reduce air pollution. This is an argument often used by the road lobby.
The argument is that by taking cars of congested roads and putting them in free flowing tunnels, there will be less pollution. Furthermore, the ventilation in the tunnel pushes the pollution up the vent stacks and away from the road, bringing further benefits. Cars travelling at a constant 50km/hr do emit slightly less pollution that cars that are idling, and the mixture of pollutants is different. And vent stacks do push a lot of pollution higher into the ‘air shed’, where it has a better opportunity to be dumped somewhere else or dispersed. Also, car emissions are improving, as the fleet is renewed with stricter emission controls.
The problem with the first argument is that most of the cars will remain stuck in traffic jams. Many will be stuck in the tunnel trying to exit onto a clogged city road such as Hoddle Street. The tunnel will only add more cars and trucks to the mix.
Some of the new traffic will be queued up in a tunnel with an exit just down the hill from the Gold Street Primary School 1360 in Clifton Hill (1874, Victorian Heritage Register) Continue Reading…
