Melbourne’s level crossings are an historic anomaly. While the Coalition has signed up to its east-west road tunnel link, Labor, heading into November’s election, is promising to take a bulldozer to the anomaly.
Other cities have spent the past 40 years or so separating roads and rail tracks. In some, such as Sydney, the twain never met.
So as the campaign heats up for November’s state election, Labor politicians called the crowds, and media, to Melbourne’s worst level crossings last week.
The party’s policy manifesto, Project 10,000, promises to spend about $5-6 billion removing the 50 worst level crossings, to build Melbourne Metro Rail and put $2 billion into road upgrades, including widening the Tullamarine Freeway. Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire last week hit the hustings at priority problem crossings at Camp Road, Campbellfield, and Glenroy Road, Coburg.
Labor leader Dan Andrews said Project 10,000 would be partially funded by an independent, dedicated transport fund, the Victorian Transport Building Fund (VTBF), which would pay for improvements to Hoddle Street, introducing continuous flow intersections at key junctions, at a cost of about $60 million.
