Analysis of the Eddington Report Submissions

Kate Wilson, from The University of Melbourne, has conducted a detailed analysis of all 2149 submissions that were forwarded to the Department of Transport, in response to the East-West Link Need's Assessment, often called the 'Eddington Report'.

Take a look at it here (pdf). Below are a few key quotes.

4.9 Specific Issues
According to Eddington: “The EWLNA Study Team has also assessed the environmental impacts of all options considered by the study, as well as giving close attention to issues of community and neighbourhood amenity.”47 Kensington in particular feels like this has not been the case as JJ Holland Park is a proposed construction site for the east-west tunnel. The destruction of JJ Holland Park was the single biggest specific issue from the submission process. Submissions were received from children and their parents, sporting clubs using the park and community organisations. The Kensington Association is concerned with specific impacts the tunnel would have on JJ Holland Park and “strongly opposes to the use of JJ Holland Park as a staging point for any construction, or as an exit for the road tunnel proposed in Recommendation 4.”48 Many different groups and individuals use the park for passive and structured relaxation and leisure activities and if the use of the park goes ahead it will result in a backlash for the Brumby Government. Similarly, Royal Park in Parkville also mobilised mass community support for the park and was a big issue for a number of submissions....

And from the conclusion...

The obvious conclusion to be drawn from the submissions is that there is widespread opposition to the tunnel. Almost 78 percent of submissions were opposed to the tunnel compared with almost 8 percent who were in favour of it. Individual submissions were overwhelmingly against the tunnel, with 93 percent of them opposing it. Opposition for the tunnel was based primarily on the need for public transport instead of more roads and the impact of the tunnel on climate change. Specific issues were the next biggest contender, in particular the use of JJ Holland Park in Kensington as a staging point for construction of the tunnel was met with widespread opposition.

Back to the drawing board again

JUST two years after it launched a transport strategy that was meant to last Melbourne 25 years, the Brumby Government has confirmed it is working on its latest "major" transport plan.

At a public transport forum yesterday organised by the Eastern Transport Coalition, a grouping of seven eastern suburb councils, parliamentary secretary for public transport Rob Hudson said the Government would unveil the strategy later this year. "The Government will be producing a major transport statement at the end of the year which will look at transport needs right across the metropolitan area of Melbourne," Mr Hudson said.

In May 2006 then premier Steve Bracks released, amid much fanfare, his government's $10.5 billion Meeting Our Transport Challenges strategy.

Unveiling the plan in Frankston, Mr Bracks boasted that it laid out a 25-year vision for Victoria's transport network, and provided funding for the first decade. "We must act now to protect our world-class lifestyle," Mr Bracks said at the time.

But two years later, Melbourne's transport system is under severe stress: road congestion is costing the Victorian economy an estimated $1.3 billion per year, and public transport patronage is spiralling out of control as commuters ditch cars to avoid petrol price rises.

Rail operator Connex said last month that Melbourne's overcrowded rail system would go into meltdown unless action was taken soon. Patronage levels not expected to be reached until 2016 have already been achieved. Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, who also spoke at yesterday's forum, said an umbrella transport strategy was desperately needed. "We do not have a major, overarching transport plan for this state, and in its absence we have a series of planning patchwork solutions that have failed," Mr Baillieu said.

The Eastern Transport Coalition used the forum to renew its call for the State Government to build rail lines down the Eastern Freeway to Doncaster, as was promised when the road was built in the 1970s. The coalition also wants a new rail line built to Rowville, and many more services added to the Lilydale and Belgrave lines.

Read the whole article here - http://www.theage.com.au/national/back-to-the-drawing-board-again-20080704-31xv.html

Engineering and Economics Reports

We would encourage you all to take a look at the Engineering and Economics Reports which Sir Rod Eddington (selectively) referred to in his report. Don't just take our word for it - check it out yourself.

These reports are available on the DOI website. They are, however, sizeable documents.

However, thankfully, a friend has extracted all of the references to Kensington, Holland Park and the tunnel. That means, there's a lot less pages to wade through. Follow the links below, if you want to get the detail.

Click here for the extract of the Engineering report. (pdf)

Click here for the extract of the Economics report. (pdf)

So what's all this about?

Melbourne's transport has been slowing down for some time. Commuters from outer suburbs drive in hour-long bumper-to-bumper traffic. The inner city is choked with traffic coming off from freeways. Other routes get choked by drivers choosing alternative routes to avoid paying tolls. The train system is straining, and Connex themselves say is at its maximum and will not be able to keep up with the increasing demand.

The successive Victorian Governments have commissioned, and received, a number of reports on how to tackle the future of transport in Melbourne. The most recent of these was commissioned with a very narrow focus, and only asked very specific questions. Sir Rod Eddington answered those questions.

There are a number of 'big ticket' items from his report :
- a rail link from Werribee to Tarneit
- a rail tunnel from Footscray, via the hospitals and University district at the north of the CBD, linking with Melbourne Central and Flinders St Station, and down St Kilda Rd to Domain, before coming out in Caulfield, and
- a road tunnel, linking the end of the Eastern Freeway with the Tullamarine Freeway and then continuing on to finish somewhere around Footscray, with possible links to the docks area, Ballarat Road or some major routes headed towards the Westgate Freeway.

If all of the suggestions in Eddington's report were taken up, it would cost $18 Billion in today's money.

However, it is the East West Link car tunnel which has attracted the most attention.

The report states that it, alone, would cost close to $10 Billion. The data that Eddington uses shows that this tunnel would have an extremely low return on investment - it is not a good use of public funds. If, alternatively, it is paid for by private investment, the State Government, and the road users will be paying for it for many, many years. Paying financially, but then also most-probably, by contractual restriction in other potential solutions (eg: CityLink prevents the creation of a rail link from the CBD to the airport).

To construct the East West Link car tunnel, Eddington's report proposes using Royal Park and JJ Holland Park as 'staging areas'. These are two major points where drilling will commence from, and where piles of dirt etc can be stored when they come out of the shaft, before being transported elsewhere. According to the report, construction is liable to take around 8 years. Afterwards, there is some contradictions between the engineering report and what officials have said, but it could be that instead of parkland being reinstated, there could be an open cutting with a 6-lane highway where the parks were to "... enhance the driver experience..." (pg 75).

Artist's Impression of the cutting

So, in this age of increasing petrol prices, climate change and carbon consciousness, the State Government is suggesting spending $10 Billion on a tunnel which would encourage more car use and which will choke, just like any other main arterial near the city.

So what's a real solution? Spend the money on options that will encourage people not to drive their cars. If there are less cars on the roads, there is less traffic - leaving the roads for trucks, buses and taxis, and a minimum of private vehicular use.

This requires a number of long-term solutions, as outlined by many of the reports state governments had received prior to the Eddington report. A key one is massive spending on rail infrastructure :
- MANY people use public transport in Melbourne. However, they do it grudgingly. Others don't, because it's not meeting their needs as it is too inefficient. The current rail system, as it is, could handle many more trains running more frequently. The City Loop was designed so that trains on many lines could run as frequently as every 3-8 minutes.
- Increasing trains would have a flow-on effect to car traffic, as Melbourne has far too-many level crossings. Some key level crossings have already been earmarked for construction of under/over passes (Springvale Road) but this needs to continue. There are other massive level crossings in outer suburbs, and many, many closer to the city. More trains will mean more car traffic disruptions unless these works are undertaken.
- Current rail lines need to be extended, and the number of trains running on them need to be increased accordingly. (Not like the experience with the Craigieburn line (nee Broadmeadows) where the trains have been overflowing with passengers pretty-much since the line was extended.
- New rail lines need to be constructed. Many of the previous reports stated this, and the Doncaster Line is an obvious one.
- The State Government needs to encourage commerce and industry outside of the CBD and surrounds, so that people in outlying suburbs have less of a need for a long daily commute.

Many of these solutions would fit within the $18 Billion that the Eddington Report. And actually how much is $18 Billion? Well, it would solve Australia's Public Housing Issues. TWICE! So, we want to think very, very carefully about how we spend it!