Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, the EastLink tollway was officially opened by the Premier of Victoria, the Hon. John Brumby, in my electorate of Deakin. This massive $2.5 billion infrastructure project was opened five months ahead of schedule and is providing benefits to residents in my electorate and in many surrounding electorates. The complete length of the road, measuring 39 kilometres, was constructed in just 39 months—and the roadway includes 17 traffic interchanges, 88 bridges and two 1.6 kilometre-long tunnels. It has also opened up the toll-free Ringwood Bypass, directing many thousands of cars each day away from the busy shopping and transport precinct that is central Ringwood and significantly speeding up travelling times for local east-west journeys.

The Saturday morning traffic jam on Maroondah Highway is now greatly reduced, as many motorists now have an alternative to travelling through the retail precinct. This will be even more appreciated in the weekends just prior to Christmas, when there is so much more traffic and even longer delays. Similarly, peak hour travelling through Ringwood is greatly improved as more traffic uses the bypass. The large numbers of buses that operate out of the Ringwood station interchange are also able to get on their way with much fewer delays in the traffic around the station. Travelling times to the city have been reduced for many Deakin constituents with the opening of the Mullum Mullum tunnels, and this has taken some pressure off our existing road infrastructure.

Coming from the eastern end of the electorate, I have found a reduction in travelling times of 15 minutes or more in each direction when travelling to the airport or the city. And travel from Mitcham to Frankston, a journey that in the past has taken an hour or more, can now be completed in around 25 minutes. Even better is that you get to avoid 45 sets of traffic lights. Of course, not everyone wants to pay to use the tollway—very understandable—and many people continue to use the existing road infrastructure that surrounds EastLink. Very importantly, there have been no road closures or restrictions put in place to force traffic onto EastLink. The effect of this is that traffic flows on local arterial roads have improved, as traffic numbers have decreased due to the increased numbers of people using the alternative of EastLink.

Congestion at railway crossings such as Springvale Road in Nunawading, however, must still be addressed, with nearly 250 trains per day keeping the boom gates down for extended periods of time, causing extensive delays for motorists, buses and pedestrians in both peak and non-peak hours. The Rudd Labor government has committed to fixing this mess in Nunawading and is working cooperatively with the state government of Victoria to deliver a project that will fix the Springvale Road bottleneck.

In the coming days, the final federally funded report, as commissioned by the Whitehorse council, will be handed over to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon. Anthony Albanese. The Rudd government has already committed the amount of $2 million in this year’s budget to fund the next stage of the planning process. This is part of a Rudd Labor government commitment of up to $80 million which, along with state government involvement, will free up transport in this vital eastern corridor.

As many locals are finding out, EastLink is much more than just a road. There is also the EastLink trail, a shared-use pathway that runs for a distance of 35 kilometres, with connections into many existing bicycle paths adjacent to the roadway. The trail provides excellent access to the many reserves and parklands along the EastLink corridor, including the 60 new wetland areas created during construction. These wetland areas are very important and are designed to treat drainage run-off from the roadway, but also have the added benefit of creating new habitats for birds, frogs and other native wildlife. At three metres wide, the concrete paved trail also has seating at appropriate points to provide users with places of rest and vantage points to enjoy the scenery. And every day, whether the sun is out or it is raining, or somewhere in between, you can see hundreds of people using the trail in all its guises.

There is also designated car parking areas near the reserves to provide access to the trail for visitors from outside the area or for local families who might want to undertake a family bike ride in safety, away from road traffic. Over 3.6 million native shrubs and trees have been planted along the corridor. In combination with the 60 new wetlands, the total area of landscapes and gardens is more than 480 hectares. I congratulate everyone involved in this project, in particular the workers and their unions, Theiss John Holland, Connect East and the state government of Victoria. Our community has waited many long years for an improvement in road infrastructure, and EastLink has delivered big time.