Geelong motorists will save up to 20 minutes driving to Melbourne with East West Link, according to an independent study.
Premier Denis Napthine released the results this week, saying the report demonstrates “the need to get on with building East West Link as soon as possible”.
The proposed $8 billion project would link Melbourne’s eastern and western suburbs with an 18-kilometre tollway.
Mr Napthine said the TraffiXGroup study on East West Link found “massive reductions in travel times for motorists”.
“That’s valuable time people should be spending with their families and friends. This is valuable time costing our tradespeople, businesses and freight industry every day.
“The outcomes from the report show that some people could run home faster than driving at the moment.”
Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss confirmed $3 billion in federal funding for East West Link, noting the savings for Geelong motorists.
“Once the full East West Link including the western section is completed motorists will save 15 to 20 minutes in travel time when coming from Geelong, Werribee, Altona and Laverton to the city and other key destinations.”
Labor Member for Lara John Eren said the forecast time saving for Geelong motorists was dodgy.
“Given the Napthine Government has refused to release a business case or full traffic modelling, how can these figures stand up to public scrutiny?
“In any case, even if they could be believed that they would…build this road it would take more than a decade to be built.
“In contrast, Labor has an immediate plan to deal with traffic congestion and will build the Westgate distributor to take heavy trucks off the Westgate.
“Labor’s Regional Rail Link which opens in 2015, will also allow more peak services to and from Melbourne taking more cars off our roads.”
Mr Eren questioned why the coalition failed to promote its “dud” East West Link before the last election.
“The Geelong community wants action on congestion now, not disingenuous spin from a Premier about projects that stretch into the never-never.”
