Melbourne infrastructure boom is just catch-up and we have to build even more — RMIT expert

Billions of dollars is being invested in Melbourne infrastructure but the city’s building program needs a “radical public transport investment” to risk falling behind, an urban planning expert has warned. Here’s what he says needs to happen now.

Melbourne’s infrastructure building program doesn’t go far enough, a professor of urban planning has warned.

Without a “radical public transport investment” Victoria’s capital risks falling behind the world’s great cities, Professor Michael Buxton says.

Prof Buxton, of RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research, said Melbourne was playing catch-up and could not keep pace with population growth.

CENTRAL MELBOURNE OUTPERFORMING SYDNEY

HOW YOUR SUBURB RATES FOR LIVING, WORK AND PLAY

WHERE YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO CATCH A TRAIN THIS MONTH

Billions of dollars is being invested in projects such as the West Gate Tunnel and Metro rail link. But Prof Buxton said work on a Metro 2 cross-city rail tunnel between Clifton Hill and Newport should start soon, connecting to a revitalised Fishermans Bend.

And a proposed 90km suburban rail loop from Cheltenham to Werribee should also begin immediately, rather than having a 2050 completion.

Renewal of inner-city sites such as Fishermans Bend and Arden in North Melbourne will deliver homes and jobs.

But such developments would also add to congestion, compromising Melbourne’s vaunted liveability, he warned.

Infrastructure Victoria chief executive Michel Masson has already supported planning for Metro 2, which would connect Clifton Hill and the new ­Parkville Station through the city to Fishermans Bend and ­Newport.

But Premier Daniel Andrews’s Labor Government, which was re-elected in November on the back of a state-building agenda, has been non-committal about the future of a Metro 2.

Prof Buxton said further projects, especially in rail, were needed to service the city’s growing population and support economic growth.

Of the current building projects, he said: “There’s certainly a lot happening, but it’s all catch-up.

“And the rate we are going, we are never going to catch up with the need. While it’s important work, it’s nowhere near the level of infrastructure building that we need,’’ he said.

Prof Buxton said other major projects were proposed for too far in the future.

“A lot seems to be on the never-never,” he said.

“To come up for a plan for a circular rail system, that is a great idea. But it has to happen now if Melbourne is to function.’’

Michael Buxton, professor of planning at RMIT

Cities on the American west coast were pushing ahead with huge investments in rail and linked transportation networks, he said.

“If we look at cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, what they are doing is massive. There’s a $150 billion rail infrastructure redevelopment in a city like Los Angeles, and it’s being done quickly,’’ he said.

Prof Buxton said Melbourne’s high-rise apartment boom was evidence of the growth that was causing strain to the city’s infrastructure ­networks.

The number of apartments jumped tenfold from just 2000 dwellings in 2005 to 20,000 by 2015, he said.

[e-mail]

@IanRoyall