The planned $5.5 billion West Gate Tunnel could scupper the rejuvenation of the Maribyrnong River waterfront, and wreck a business that has been running cruises up the river for almost four decades.Â
The toll road will link traffic between the West Gate Freeway, CityLink and the CBD via a new tunnel beneath Yarraville and a bridge over the Maribyrnong River.
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What is the West Gate Tunnel project?
With a price tag of $5.5 billion and a promise to reduce congestion, the West Gate Tunnel project is an ambitious one. But does it stack up?
But experts and locals say there are serious flaws in the plans.
Peter Somerville has been taking cruises along the Maribyrnong River for 38 years.
He said if the bridge was built lower than four metres above the river at high tide he would be forced to wind back his business.
"We would only be able to go down at low tide," said Mr Somerville.
A high-profile panel including former Labor minister Justin Madden and former Victorian government architect Geoffrey London also have reservations about the current proposal, and say a radical redesign of the road is needed to allow for urban renewal.
The government will present its argument over the road's likely traffic impacts on Monday.
It will be challenged by Melbourne City Council, which argues the toll road's city off-ramps will flood the streets of North and West Melbourne with traffic, undoing decades of work.
Urban planners, designers and architects for the government and affected parties met ahead of last week's environmental hearings into the road and examined its impact.
Mr Madden and Mr London were part of the group.
The high-profile figures warned in a report that the bridge and two ramps crossing east over the Maribyrnong River onto Footscray Road did "not satisfactorily respond to the significance of the river and adjacent land use and future development of the Port of Melbourne".
The bridge should be moved "further east" and off-ramps carrying trucks to the Port removed, the report recommended.
An artist's impression of the Maribyrnong river crossing. Photo: Western Distributor Authority
A design plan drawn up for the river by the Victorian department of planning in 2010 – and signed off by then minister, Mr Madden – set out to protect open space around the river and expand parkland, walking paths and cycling trails along the banks.
It is now at the centre of a council master plan to improve the river edge.
Expert witness for Maribyrnong Council said the crossing showed an "extreme lack of foresight", as it would block river views and spoil the the rejuvenated precinct's character."
"The design will significantly constrain the planned future opportunities for public use and enjoyment of the river," said Kirsten Bauer, director at ASPECT Studios.
Aerial image of the planned West Gate Tunnel's Maribyrnong River crossing. Photo: Western Distributor Authority
The group also warned that an elevated road extension of Wurundjeri Way from Dudley Street through to Dynon Road would "seriously compromise" urban renewal areas in Arden-Macaulay and E-Gate – a West Melbourne site earmarked as a future suburb with four hectares of parkland.
The experts proposed to remove an off-ramp into the city centre along Dynon Road that the government and the project's proponent Transurban want to build.
The Wurundjeri Way extension should be replaced with a boulevard or a tunnel, they said.
In a stinging witness statement lodged separately for Melbourne City Council, Mr London said elevated highways in the city were an "urban blight" and proposals to create large-scale iconic design structures would not help.
Minister for Roads Luke Donnellan said the government was building nine hectares of new parks and gardens as part of the project.
"To provide an alternative to the West Gate Bridge and to take trucks off residential streets, the West Gate Tunnel project has to cross the Maribyrnong River".
Expert witness for the government and panel member, architect Roger Wood, disagreed with the group's remarks on the Maribyrnong River and E-Gate.
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