Carlton Supporters Club

That tunnel/road has been part of a master plan for decades

Andrews spent $1b of our cash after promising it would not cost anything, you alreday coughed up for a road we dont have. Did he keep that promise? Now the independent infrastructure panel has east/west as first on the list we will pay again. You tell me who played politics with our cash.

Just on this, they throw all these figures around with little to no analysis, and last I checked that quantity of money hasnt actually been spent by the Andrews Government.

Part of it was the land buy back that happened years ago which has been spent, and whilst that land does cost money in terms of rates etc, its not money that the government is going to pay to council now, its council rates the council have not seen since. 

Government talk about money is political bulltish first, and actual money spent later.

I wouldnt be surprised if the actual cost of not building the road was nothing, but people created a hole in balance sheets to show this figure.  I know a little bit about budgets, and how money gets handballed around, and I can tell you that this is the most likely scenario here.

So Thry, are you saying the contractors simply walked away with nothing?
Are you saying the State Government didn't buy the houses?

As a voter, I hate all politicians as I see them for the snakes they are.

To be perfectly honest I wouldn't use it either.
But it would have supported melbournes economy and taken a large percentage of traffic off the streets around Carlton fitzroy and collingwood, but at the end of the day, if you're not going to use it Jim, why should the state of Victoria build it?

Are you saying the State Government didn't buy the houses?

How does that make it a bandaid? There's not a single bit of complicated infrastructure you build once and forget. It needs investment and updating otherwise it becomes an issue.

I'm suggesting that people proclaiming the east west link is required to fix traffic issues is missing the bigger picture.

It will 'ease' traffic, in some areas only. It will fix nothing. Bandaid solution.

As many have mentioned, master plan, one piece of the jigsaw puzzle etc etc.

@Crash i think it was talking about radial system.
The 'outer rings' you talk about are what the buses are supposedly for. Buses on the roads that are jammed and contribute to the overall problem.
Outer ring rail system would be simply put in the too hard basket.

I used to play sim city back on the SNES when i was younger. If my city got to the stage Melbourne is at now, i'd just about take your approach and nuke the whole thing!

Yes, a bandaid over a festering sore.

Buses would really only work if there was a dedicated carriageway and I imagine that would be a cheaper option than rail or light rail.

Does it need to be a tunnel? If the skyrail process works for our rail network, why can't it work for our roads?

To get freight and airport traffic off the Eastern Freeway - Link up East-Link and the Ring Road.

That way freight and airport traffic can _completely_ bypass the city.

This project is rated at a much higher positive return on investment.

Why did the Libs not want to build it ? The big toll money is from commuters - not freight.
Tearing up the inner North upsets Greens voters, The ring road link is in swinging/lib seats.

Gets easy votes from people who fall for the illusory "more freeway = less traffic" instead of the always happens "more freeway = more traffic", especially in a city with an increasing population.

They call it VicRoads because they only do roads. The answer has to be roads, more roads, big trucks and roads. Rail/bike/pedestrian - what are they ?