Top transport expert’s East West Link build call dismissed by Premier Daniel Andrews

A CALL by one of Australia’s top transport experts to resurrect the East West Link toll road has been dismissed by Premier Daniel Andrews.

A CALL by one of Australia’s top transport experts to resurrect the East West Link toll road has been dismissed by Premier Daniel Andrews.

Mr Andrews, who flushed away $1.2 billion of work when he dumped the project in 2015, said his government had “different priorities” on transport.

The Premier said he had great respect for Sir Rod Eddington, who first recommended the link in 2008 and reiterated his support for it ­earlier this week, but he thought other roads would help ease congestion in Melbourne instead.

EAST WEST LINK MUST BE BUILT: TOP EXPERT

Sir Rod Eddington. Picture: Paul Jeffers

Premier Daniel Andrews has dismissed Sir Rod Eddington’s call to build the East-West Link.

The East West Link would have connected the Eastern Freeway in Clifton Hill to the Western Ring Rd, with Stage One running from the Eastern Freeway to CityLink in Parkville. Contracts were signed in 2014, but at the election Labor promised to ditch the $6.8 billion stage one project.

Mr Andrews said he “couldn’t agree more” with Mr Eddington that the West Gate Tunnel was needed to ease congestion in Melbourne’s west. But the Premier said he did not think the East West Link was a necessary project.

Federal Deakin Liberal MP Michael Sukkar said on Friday the road needed to be built, and Labor should support it.

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