Apartment towers could soar above the Eastern Freeway one day, with easy access to Melbourne's first high-capacity "busway" below.
French-based transport company Transdev wants to build and operate Melbourne's first rapid transit bus system, between Doncaster and the CBD, and has proposed selling property developers the "air rights" to build above the freeway to help pay for it.
Two sites – the freeway interchange at Chandler Highway in Kew, and the park and ride facility in Doncaster – have been identified by Transdev as opportunities for future "transit-oriented development" if the busway goes ahead.
This would involve building directly above 10 lanes of traffic on the Eastern Freeway in Kew.
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Building above a freeway has not been attempted in Melbourne, but has been done successfully in overseas cities, including Boston and New York in the US and Osaka in Japan.
The proposal is that residential towers, with a mix of office and retail space, would extend up to eight storeys high from platforms constructed on either side of the Chandler Highway overpass.
The platforms would also include multi-level car parking, public art, and escalators and lifts down to the ground-level bus platforms in the freeway median.
Eight-storey structures could also be built over the Doncaster park-and-ride facility at the intersection of the Eastern Freeway and Doncaster Road. The buildings would house shops at ground level and apartments above.
The current ground-level car park would be expanded into a multi-level facility, according to Transdev's proposal, which was developed with engineering consultancy AECOM.
The company wants to build and operate the busway for 30 years, and has offered to pay the estimated $500 million-plus capital cost up front in a public-private partnership with the Andrews government.
High-capacity buses would run every three minutes in the peak between Donvale Hospital and Southern Cross Station. Other vehicles such as cars and trucks would be banned from the bus lanes.
According to a proposal Transdev submitted to the Department of Treasury late last month, the busway would be used by 24,000 passengers in the peak each day, and would provide the city of Manningham with a speedier and more reliable journey to and from the city than current bus services.
The Eastern Freeway median – long set aside for a potential future Doncaster railway line – would instead become an express busway.
Transdev issued a statement on Thursday after The Age revealed its bold pitch, which is at the first stage of the government's market-led proposals process.
"The Doncaster Bus Rapid Transit project is a proposal only at this stage," the company said.
"Elements of the proposal would evolve through extensive engagement with the community and other stakeholders should the Victorian government support the further development of the proposal."
It is understood the company's busway proposal does not hinge on selling air rights above the freeway.
The idea of building along the bus corridor could be explored at a future stage of its operation, should the government go ahead with the proposal.
Transit-oriented developments are already a growing feature of Melbourne's railways.
The government proposes to build a 13-storey mixed-use building above Ormond station, which was rebuilt as part of the North Road level crossing removal.
And government corporation VicTrack has already partnered with the property industry on several developments on underused railway land, at stations including Glen Waverley, Jewell in Brunswick, Hampton and Windsor.
Carolyn Whitzmann, Professor in Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne, said transit-oriented development could work just as well above freeways and busways as railways.
The key was the quality of the design and its social benefit in terms of providing good housing and improved transport.
"The main determinant will be the benefit to local residents and residents of Melbourne," Professor Whitzmann said.
"Will there be affordable housing, housing for older people, and families with a limited interest in owning cars?"
The Andrews government was contacted but said it could not comment on a proposal that is at stage one of its market-led proposals process.
