Melbourne Port Tunnel

Articles in THE AGE and HERALD SUN this morning suggest that the government is proposing to construct a Melbourne Port Tunnel.

If, and its a big if, the Melbourne Port Tunnel has tight policy objectives around improving freight access to the Port of Melbourne then this is a good thing. If its a back door way to starting the Eddington freeway/tunnel connecting the Eastern Freeway to the Western suburbs then it is decidedly bad.

One model of ensuring that the Melbourne Port Tunnel is a freight tunnel is to look at the model of the Dublin Port Tunnel. Here is something I wrote earlier about the Dublin Port Tunnel.

The Dublin Port tunnel was opened in December 2006 and provides a link between the Port of Dublin and the M50 ring road around Dublin.

The policy objective of the tunnel is to remove heavy traffic from city streets providing a freight designated route.However, the authorities did not want the tunnel to become an alternative commuter route so undermining the freight objectives.

To this end the tunnel is free for heavy vehicles, buses and disability vehicles. To discourage commuters from using the tunnel, small vehicles are heavily tolled, 12 euros in the morning peak, 6 euros for the rest of the day and 3 euros in the late night and on weekends.

The City of Dublin, following the opening of the port tunnel has placed a ban on Heavy Goods Vehicles entering the central city (our equivalent is the CBD).

The Melbourne Port Tunnel should follow the lead of Dublin, and toll small passenger/commuter vehicles.