Melbourne traffic congestion on par with world’s biggest cities like London, Rome and New York

TRAFFIC congestion in Melbourne is on par with New York and could rival the world’s worst cities if nothing is done to combat the problem.

TRAFFIC congestion in Melbourne is on par with New York and could rival the world’s worst cities if nothing is done to combat the problem.

Figures supplied by Tom Tom show congestion levels in Melbourne are at 33 per cent compared to its population.

This means motorists are sitting in peak hour congestion a third longer than if the traffic was free-flowing.

Sunday Herald Sun journalist Andrew Jefferson took a taxi from Preston to Melbourne’s CBD to test traffic congestion. Picture: Andrew Tauber

Congestion on a freeway in Beijing. Source: Transurban

London, Rome, LA and Moscow — all big cities with high congestion levels — had congestion levels of between 40 and 50 per cent.Sydney was at 39 per cent while the world’s most congested city was Mexico City at 66 per cent.

Melbourne’s population is expected to double by almost 100 per cent to 8 million people by 2050, placing twice the strain on the city’s ageing infrastructure.

By comparison, New York was expected to grow by 8 per cent, LA 12 per cent, and Chicago 16 per cent — all cities with populations two or three times the size of the Victorian capital.

Transurban chief executive officer Scott Charlton said traffic congestion in Melbourne was only going to get worse unless urgent action was taken.

“Tackling congestion is an issue cities across the world are confronting and here in Melbourne, significant funds are being poured into level crossings, a new underground rail line and the West Gate Tunnel,” he said.

Heavy traffic on busy famous 7th Avenue near Times Square in New York.

London traffic congestion.

If Melbourne continues down the same path without reform, it’s feared the city could be looking at congestion levels of between 60 and 70 per cent by 2050.

Despite Melbourne being voted the world’s most liveable city for the sixth year in a row, transport infrastructure accounts for less than 6 per cent of a city’s total liveability score.

With half of Australia’s federal budget expenditure tipped to be spent on health and aged care by 2050, Mr Charlton said areas like infrastructure would be left “scrambling for funds”.

“We’re already spending more on roads than we’re raising from road relating taxes — fuel excise, vehicle registration and licence fees,” he said.

“As well as building more infrastructure, we need to look at replacing outdated fuel taxes that sees people driving further in older vehicles paying more to get to and from work every day.”

Figures supplied by VicRoads reveal more than 400 new drivers pass their test each weekday, adding more pressure to Melbourne’s already heavily congested roads.

More than 151,000 new drivers licenses were issued in 2015/16, a jump of 16 per cent from the 130,700 licenses issued in 2009/10.

Helen Lindner, VicRoads Director Registration and Licensing Practice, Standards and Solutions, said as Melbourne continued to grow, everyone needed to be mindful of all road users.

“The number of licences issued is growing steadily each year, in line with population growth, and we are investing in the roads needed to meet this demand,” she said.

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