By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A NOTORIOUSLY congested railway crossing in Lyndhurst will be removed if Labor gains office in next year’s state election.
The Opposition’s road proposal, dubbed Project 10,000, will see the removal of 50 of Melbourne’s worst level crossings by 2022, including Thompsons Road in Lyndhurst, Clyde Road in Berwick and Hallam Road in Hallam.
The Opposition plans to finance the $6 billion worth of crossing removals by selling the Port of Melbourne.
The Opposition’s road strategy also includes widening the Tullamarine Freeway to six lanes and building a West Gate Distributor to take 5000 trucks off the bridge per day – creating 10,000 construction jobs in the process.
But Harry Hutchinson, former president of the Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce and local shopkeeper, said the proposal would just lead to more of the same after Labor planned to remove the Clyde Road crossing in their previous term and settled for a revamp instead.
“All the current roadworks almost destroyed Berwick’s economy,” he said.
“I oppose this new plan. Labor went the cheap option last time.”
Luke Donnellan, Shadow Minister for Roads and Narre Warren North MP, said Project 10,000 would remove the bottlenecks in the area, boost economic growth and create 10,000 jobs.
“Over the past decade there have been almost 200 level crossings crashes, sadly this has resulted in many deaths,” Mr Donnellan said.
“The congestion caused by boomgates being down at level crossings creates major traffic delays and costs businesses millions in travel time.”
Mr Donnellan also said suburban roads would also get a funding boost with a guaranteed minimum of $1 billion from the Better Roads Victoria Trust Account to repair and upgrade roads.
Brad Battin, Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Gembrook MP, lambasted the Opposition’s proposal for not including any new trains, trams or buses.
“Labor refuses to disclose the amount they expect to receive from selling the Port of Melbourne,” he said.
“We cannot trust Labor to deliver on its promises when it cannot tell anyone how those promises will be paid for.”
