A deluge of vehicles flowing from the new West Gate Tunnel toll road into West Melbourne and the northern end of the CBD could kill plans to transform Spencer Street from a traffic thoroughfare into a pedestrian-friendly precinct similar to Lygon Street.
A planned park along Hawke Street in West Melbourne is also at risk, as the Department of Transport and Planning and the City of Melbourne negotiate where to funnel thousands of extra vehicles from the Dynon Road off-ramp.
Gemma Gooding, with dog Ted, says West Melbourne residents will be disappointed if plans to calm traffic on Spencer Street are canned. Credit: Justin McManus
The $10 billion West Gate Tunnel is scheduled to open by the end of 2025. The Transurban-designed project will provide a tolled alternative to the West Gate Bridge via two tunnels and nine kilometres of elevated roads and flyovers on the CBD’s western edge.
The City of Melbourne objected to the project when it was being planned in 2017 because the Dynon off-ramp would reverse decades of work to reduce traffic in the inner city and would send an extra 9000 vehicles into West Melbourne each day.
As an olive branch, the state government agreed to jointly contribute to a $100 million Transport and Amenity Program with the city council to fund projects stopping traffic flooding into parts of North Melbourne, West Melbourne and Docklands.
But council officers believe two of the major projects in that program are at risk of being canned because the Department of Transport and Planning is considering maintaining high-volume traffic on key roads in West Melbourne.
The City of Melbourne wants Spencer Street turned into a “lively, attractive and welcoming street” by diverting traffic onto Wurundjeri Way. Credit: City of Melbourne
A confidential presentation the council prepared for the department in late November, obtained by The Age, says it wants traffic from West Melbourne to South Melbourne directed along Wurundjeri Way, which has been extended and widened as part of the West Gate Tunnel works.
But the document says the department has proposed traffic modelling for a scenario in which vehicles are sent from the Dynon off-ramp along Spencer Street to Dudley Street, and through parts of Victoria and Abbotsford streets.
“This scenario would prevent the implementation of the Draft Spencer Street North Masterplan,” the presentation says. “It would also detract from the intent of the [West Gate Tunnel] project that was to direct traffic away from city streets and Spencer Street.”
The City of Melbourne had developed plans to take advantage of the Wurundjeri Way extension to remove a lane of traffic in each direction on Spencer Street between Dudley and Hawke streets and turn it from a traffic-clogged arterial road into a “vibrant inner-city area” with wider footpaths, bicycle lanes, and eventually a tram line extension.
The council warns that the department’s proposal would also threaten the Hawke Street Linear Park, which was intended to prevent rat-running on local streets by replacing two lanes of traffic with new green open space linking Adderley Park and Curzon Park.
“There is a risk that these projects will not be implemented if traffic continues to be directed to Spencer and Hawke streets,” the presentation says.
The City of Melbourne has proposed short-term redesigns for Spencer Street to prevent traffic “settling in” when the toll road opens by limiting it to one lane of traffic in each direction outside peak times.
Gemma Gooding braves crossing Spencer Street by foot or bicycle most mornings to take her four-year-old son to childcare, and has written to the state government several times about reducing its 60km/h speed limit.
“Just trying to cross the road, you’re very exposed on the centre median strip and you’ve got these huge trucks going past. It’s just really intimidating,” she said.
The West Melbourne resident said she would be bitterly disappointed if the council plan to turn Spencer Street into a calmer street was not fulfilled.
“It is rapidly changing into more of a residential area, and I hope that [the Department of Transport and Planning] could get on board to make it a more pedestrian-friendly and resident-friendly Spencer Street,” she said.
North and West Melbourne Association committee member Mary Masters said backtracking on the Spencer and Hawke street plans would be a “complete undermining of the trust and relationship that we have in government”.
Masters said locals already had little faith in the amenity program to prevent rat-running.
“We still have no idea how much of this [amenity] program has been misspent on other projects which have nothing to do with traffic mitigation in West and North Melbourne,” she said.
Streetscape improvements in Franklin Street, between Queen Victoria Market and the new State Library station in the CBD, will receive $30.5 million from the amenity program – almost a third of the total.
The state government released its 50 per cent share of the funding for that project in June, but it and the City of Melbourne refused to say if the department had released funds for the Hawke Street park.
A City of Melbourne spokesperson said the council was “working with the Victorian government to ensure it delivers positive outcomes for residents, businesses and visitors” when the West Gate Tunnel opens.
A state government spokesperson confirmed it was using more detailed traffic analysis to consider the West Gate Tunnel’s impact on Spencer and Hawke streets, which would “inform” future projects.
However, they said that “with the new Wurundjeri Way extension, fewer cars will need to use Spencer and King Street”.
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