The Age: East-west road tunnel back on the agenda (November 12, 2011)
Josh Gordon and Clay Lucas

A controversial road tunnel linking the western suburbs to the Eastern Freeway is back on the agenda for Melbourne, with Premier Ted Baillieu enthusiastically endorsing the idea ahead of a major infrastructure strategy to be unveiled early next week.

After facing criticism for failing to tackle congestion and maintain Melbourne’s coveted liveability, the state government has completed its major projects plan with Infrastructure Australia, with the controversial east-west road link high on the list.

Asked yesterday whether he backed the idea of the tunnel – proposed in 2008 by Infrastructure Australia chair Sir Rod Eddington – Mr Baillieu said: ”Yeah, you bet. We’ve always been supportive of an east-west link.” But Mr Baillieu said the real challenge would be finding the funding, with the plan almost certainly to involve a tollway and private operator.

”We want to set them out and get them right and get them correctly planned and that’s what we are embarking upon and I’ve had many of those discussions myself with Infrastructure Australia and I think they understand that and they support the position that we’ve taken.” Continue Reading…