Triple trailers for city

By Melissa Grant
TRIPLE trailer trucks could soon be travelling through the City of Casey.
State Government documents obtained by the Opposition show longer, heavier trucks would be driven on the Pakenham Bypass and the Princes Highway, from Nar Nar Goon to Sale, as part of a freight transport plan.
Opposition Transpor spokesman Terry Mulder said the document showed a B-triple truck route map that included many roads, freeways and tollways in metropolitan and regional Victoria.
The Monash Freeway and Eastlink also form part of the B-triple truck route.
Mr Mulder described the proposed truck route as a State Government “fall-back plan” because it had failed to transfer freight to rail as promised.
“The map omits the alternative of upgrading Victoria’s rail freight network and providing port-rail container shuttles between the Port of Melbourne, Dandenong South, Somerton and Altona/Laverton,” he said.
Opposition infrastructure spokesman Edward O’Donohue said the triple-trailer trucks could weigh as much as 82 tonnes and measure 36 metres in length.
He said residents should be concerned.
“If we are going to have B-triples the community should be aware of it,” he said.
“Mr Pallas needs to come clean about what plans he and the Government have.”
Premier John Brumby said an increasing amount of freight was needed to be transported but the State Government was yet to make a decision on B-triple trucks, according to a media release.
“The challenge that we’ve got is the freight task in Victoria is going to more than double by 2030, so there is going to be a lot more goods being moved and we’ve got to look at the most efficient way of moving them,” Mr Brumby said.
“With B-triples, if it means that we’d have less trucks on the road and fewer trucks in local roads, that would be a good thing.”