Yarra Campaign for Action on Transport

“If the tunnel is the answer, we asked the wrong question” - Professor Peter Newman, addressing Yarra forum at Collingwood Town Hall, 2008

“No road tunnel or expansion of freeways” - City of Yarra submission to Eddington Enquiry, 2007.

“The people of Doncaster are plaguing the life out of me to get a survey of the proposed line from Canterbury to Doncaster” - Local MP John Kews to the Premier Duncan Gillies 1888, Quoted by Graeme Davison The Age April 20 2008

“A new road tunnel will benefit its promoters not local commuters. … Once again VicRoads is creating congestion so it can later pretend to solve it.” - Kenneth Davidson Tunnel vision: a victory for the road lobby, The Age Sept 10th, 2005

“An east-west tunnel is the only real way to remove traffic from Royal Park, but it is difficult to justify the expense, even of a shorter tunnel, based on relief to this area alone. Relief to the rest of Alexandra Parade and Princes Street route is less assured (these are significant traffic reductions, but remaining traffic levels are still substantial). Induced traffic may refill the additional road capacity unless it is utilised for other purposes (eg. improving north-south priority, public transport, cycling and walking facilities) …“

- Northern Central City Corridor (NCCC) Strategy, Draft (and Final) report August 2003, Department of Infrastructure. The NCCCS concluded that “no further investigation should take place on road tunnel options in the inner north.”

“A previous study, initiated by the former Kennett government, looked at the possibility of a road tunnel between the Eastern Freeway and City Link, and between the Eastern Freeway and the CBD. The summary report for that study is available for download or viewing. It should be noted that the Bracks Government does not endorse any of the concepts presented, but has decided that a more integrated approach is needed for the inner north area to provide a comprehensive package of measures to improve transport conditions and the amenity of the area.”

- Department of Infrastructure Web Site, based on Media Release by Peter Batchelor, former Minister for Transport.

““Infrastructure improvements will continue to play a key part in the development of urban transport systems. However, travel demand management measures should always be considered and evaluated, either as an alternative, or as part of an integrated package, prior to the introduction of major infrastructure or improvement works. …the analysis must take account of environmental, energy, social and equity consideration within the context of sustainable improvements to mobility or accessibility.“

- Institution of Engineers Australia (1995): Policy on Travel Demand Management in Urban Areas

“Demand for an East-West tunnel was not sufficient to warrant a $700-million dollar tunnel. I’ve always said that if a tunnel is done to try and solve the problem of the through traffic… there will still be a lot of cars going down Hoddle Street.” - Former Transport Minister Peter Batchelor quoted in Not Enough Demand For East-West Tunnel. The Melbourne Times Nov 9 2005.

The terms of reference definitely pointed to a particular solution for what was perceived to be the problem. The Macquarie Bank have more power in the ALP than any faction” - Peter Fitzgerald, Public-Private Partnership expert , Quoted in TMT Oct 10, 2007

“Doing nothing is not an option” - Macquarie Bank submission to Eddington Enquiry

“Doing nothing is not an option.” - Sir Rod Eddington, East West Link Needs Assessment Investing In Transport Final Report

“The fundamental problem with the car is not that it burns too much of the wrong kind of fuel. The problem is that cars enable, and perpetuate, patterns of land use, transport intensity, and the separation of functions in space and time, that render the whole way we live unsupportable. Rather than tinkering with symptoms - such as inventing hydrogen-powered vehicles, or turning gas stations into battery stations - the more interesting design task is to re-think the way we use time and space. Rather than enable long-distance patterns of movement, at accelerating speeds, we should add a ton of new functions and value to local patterns of activity so that we no longer need or want to move so much, except on foot or by bike. There’s plenty of evidence, after all, that self propulsion is central to everything from tackling obesity and climate change to creating high quality liveable cities.”

- John Thackera, In the Bubble, MIT 2005

The Premier, Mr Hamer told the Working Party that “Trams must have priority at Smith, Brunswick, Nicholson, and Lygon street intersections and that storage of traffic must be on the freeway itself, not Alexandra Parade” - Quoted in The Melbourne Times, December 14 1977

Energy is already becoming the new money. Until recently, if more money went into circulation, more energy could be produced and fuel prices stayed down. Money bought energy. Now, however, there’s no more energy to be had for love nor money. The boot is on the other foot — energy is buying money.

Oil producers are making huge profits and buying into distressed banks. As a result, energy, not money, is the source of commercial, political and financial power.

So from now on, projects should not be assessed in terms of value for money. That’s the old thinking. They need to be assessed in terms of value for energy.

Richard Douthwaite, The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability. in The Sunday Times, Dublin, July 20th 2008

SIR Rod Eddington’s plan to build a road tunnel from Footscray to Clifton Hill will only make transport emissions worse, a Government-appointed watchdog has found.

And in a report released today, Victoria’s sustainability commissioner, Ian McPhail, warns that Melbourne’s car dependence could mean serious social breakdown if oil prices continue to rise.

Emissions from transport have shot up in Victoria since 2003, while emissions from other areas have dropped. Transport is responsible for 17% of Victoria’s greenhouse emissions.

And, in a frank assessment of Sir Rod’s Investing in Transport study - which proposes $20 billion worth of transport projects, including the $9 billion road tunnel - Dr McPhail said Sir Rod was either “unable or unwilling” to consider a shift towards public transport.

Sir Rod, in his recommendations for Melbourne, found the number of car trips would not decline “in the decades ahead”.

But Dr McPhail said this view could prove ill-founded, particularly with the CSIRO predicting petrol would rise as high as $8 a litre within a decade.

“It is disappointing that Eddington’s view is of a future that is fundamentally business as usual,” Dr McPhail said.

His report called for new suburban train lines, extension of tram lines, and more bus services.

Victoria’s Sustainability Commissioner, Ian McPhail, quoted in The Age 28 July Eddington tunnel ‘fails’ on emissions

highwaymen: 1. persons who rob travelers on a road (from Webster’s dictionary)
2. politicians and bureaucrats who demand that taxpayers given them money to build a road

- The Road-Scholar