Letters: A tunnel? Try open-cut, aerial roads

IT SEEMS the east-west link project has been well and truly set in concrete by the Baillieu government, with Planning Minister Matthew Guy ”pledging” that the tollway will proceed (The Saturday Age, 24/11).

This is despite the fact that last week, at a community ”consultation” forum, the minister was distributing his latest discussion paper ”Melbourne, let’s talk about the future” and inviting attendees to comment on the recently released ”Metropolitan Planning Strategy”. It is patently clear that criticism of the tollway and discussion of the need for rail lines to serve Doncaster, Rowville and Melbourne Airport are not welcome.

The media continue to talk about the ”tunnel”, but the government has dropped hints that in fact the section along Alexandra Parade and Princes Street will be an aerial roadway and the route through Royal Park an open-cut construction. No thought appears to have been given to the impact of these massive road works on nearby institutions – the zoo, the State Netball and Hockey Centre, the Urban Camp and the Royal Children’s Hospital – let alone the magnificent bushland park and sports grounds.

Lewis Prichard, Hawthorn –  The Saturday Age, 24 November 2012