Herlad Sun: Is Daniel Andrews taking the wrong turn on East West? Tom Elliot. 22 November 2014

If Labor wins government in the upcoming state election, Dan Andrews will likely backflip on his commitment to scrap the East West toll road. Abandoning this project will cost Victoria billions of dollars, and thousands of jobs, it cannot afford to lose.

I understand why East West Link arouses so much debate. To inner-city types well served by public transport, yet another big road will simply encourage more people to travel by car. More cars mean increased emissions, frequent traffic jams and lengthier commutes. How great life would be if sparkly, new, locally made Xtrapolis trains could ferry all of us to and from work each day.

For those who can’t afford stratospheric inner-suburban house prices, however, new roads represent vital infrastructure. Tradies who serve clients all over Melbourne have no choice but to carry their tools in utes and vans, which must be driven. Salespeople keen to show potential buyers their wares cannot lug samples on and off trams, trains and buses. And the lack of interconnection between freeways like the Eastern, the Tullamarine and the Ringroad shows the wisdom of linking transport arteries rather than forcing vehicles to rat-run through residential streets. Continue Reading…