The Age: Council takes aim at Baillieu freeway link plan. Jason Dowling, April 6, 2012

Traffic crawls along the Eastern Freeway towards the city. Photo: Craig Abraham

The architect of the proposed east-west freeway connection from the Eastern Freeway to CityLink, Sir Rod Eddington, said road congestion in the corridor had worsened since his 2008 report that recommended the new link.

”There are real road traffic issues north of the inner city and I raised that in some detail in my report, and I hope the government will take a hard look at what can be done,” he said. ”Since that report was published, if anything the congestion has got worse.”

The Saturday Age revealed the Baillieu government had begun early modelling on the proposed freeway, including options for part of it to be built above ground along Alexandra Parade in Clifton Hill to save money.

Unlike Sir Rod’s 2008 recommendations, it is believed the Baillieu government is also considering exit ramps from the freeway to the CBD to help fund the project with maximum tolling revenue.

The freeway is expected to cost several billion dollars, with most of the connection likely to be in an expensive tunnel. Continue Reading…