Residents ‘short-changed’ as $100m tunnel fund fails to deliver inner city road upgrades
A $100m fund was set up to help ease traffic jams when thousands of extra cars are pour into Melbourne from the West Gate Tunnel. But just a fraction of it has been spent and most of that has been splurged on bike lanes.
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A $100m transport fund set up to reduce rat runs and traffic jams once the West Gate Tunnel opens has failed to deliver a road upgrade within 2km of the project.
The fund was set up seven years ago by Melbourne City Council and the Andrews Government, and was to be spent in North and West Melbourne by the end of 2022 when the toll road was initially scheduled to open.
But the Herald Sun can reveal that just $10.7m of the Transport Amenity Program has been spent, and most of that was splurged on bike lanes and streets near the Queen Victoria Market.
Thousands of extra cars are expected to pour into Melbourne’s inner west and north once the toll road opens later this year, sparking fears of traffic standstills in the inner city.
In 2018, former Treasurer Tim Pallas and former Lord Mayor Sally Capp announced the $100m program to address the issue, calling it “the largest dollar-for-dollar streetscape upgrade package in Melbourne’s history”.
Residents say they have been short changed and accused Town Hall and the state of misusing public money amid fears of an expected traffic surge on local streets from November – when the West Gate Tunnel is due to open.
North and West Melbourne Association spokeswoman Mary Masters said the council had “categorically failed” to deliver any outcomes the program was established to achieve.
Modelling shows an extra 5000 vehicles a day travelling along Hawke St in West Melbourne alone, with thousands of extra cars also due to hit Victoria St, Curzon St, and Dryburgh St.
The city council has financed work on CBD bike lanes and tram stops, as well as changes to Franklin St near the Queen Victoria Market to improve links to the new State Library railway station that is part of a different project – the Metro Tunnel.
The state says more than $20 million of the State Government’s TAP funding has been “allocated’’ but did not provide a breakdown of where and when the money would be spent.
“We will continue to work with the City of Melbourne to deliver transport improvements to the communities of North and West Melbourne before and after the tunnel opens,”
a government spokesman said.
Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the council was committed to delivering what was promised.
“We believe we can deliver new projects that stop the rat-runs, protect the amenity of North and West Melbourne, and unlock a major new transport option nearby.”
But Ms Masters said the council had failed to deliver the projects promised to residents.
“And it has consistently diverted TAP funding away from the communities most affected by the West Gate Tunnel,” she said.
“The continued heavy investment in Franklin St — a project that does not mitigate tunnel impacts — is a misuse of public funds.”
When the program was announced in August 2018 a statement said a joint council-government study would identify improvements to areas including Spencer, King and William Sts and the Arden St precinct, promising better access from North Melbourne to the Docklands, the statement said.
“We will see enhanced streetscapes rolled out across important roads in West Melbourne while also creating an improved Moonee Ponds Creek for residents and visitors to enjoy,” Ms Capp said.
The council said the TAP has paid for William St tram improvement works, changes to Peel St including the Dudley St intersection, protected bike lanes for La Trobe and Peel Sts.
The only work in North Melbourne has been bike lanes along Abbotsford St, as well as tree plantings and streetscape changes in Provost and Little Provost Sts – both minor roads.
Town Hall’s latest draft budget for 2025-26 commits $8.5m to TAP initiatives – including Franklin St and a linear park along Hawke St – the latter being an idea proposed in the West Melbourne Structure Plan of 2018 but now stuck in the design stage for the past two years.
Originally published as Residents ‘short-changed’ as $100m tunnel fund fails to deliver inner city road upgrades
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