No Link will keep traffic clogged

Minister’s road claims

HE might be only nine months old, but Chase Murphy’s sparking blue eyes stop adults in their tracks.

Chase, pictured, claimed the Geelong Advertiser’s ‘Most amazing eyes’ crown yesterday.

His mother Jessica Claridge said she was thrilled to learn her baby had won, although she didn’t expect it.

“Everyone always says ‘Look at his eyelashes’,” she said.

“We always do get stopped because of his eyes.

“He’s always happy and always smiling.”

Ms Claridge said Chase’s eyes, which are rimmed with a luscious set of dark lashes, come from his father. His entry described him as a “walking hurricane that has a cheeky smile and the best lashes.”

Hundreds of parents entered their babies in the awards, with young Lani Flaccavento’s taking out the prize for baby with the cutest smile. COMMUTERS on Melbourne’s busiest road corridors are stuck with the worst traffic delays in the country and more funding commitments are needed to stop playing catchup, the nation’s peak infrastructure body has warned.

Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge will today seize on a new report by Infrastructure Australia to argue for the East West Link, which would likely go from Hoddle St to Parkville linking the Eastern Freeway with CityLink.

Congestion in Melbourne will double by 2031 if no further projects are delivered and much of the city’s rail system will be at capacity by the time the $11 billion Metro tunnel is complete.

The journey times on the two slowest corridors in the country — the links between the West Gate Freeway and Princess Freeway and Princes Freeway and Monash Freeway — will continue to soar unless new roads are delivered.

Commuters are currently experiencing 10,800 hours worth of delays on the West Gate Freeway-Princess Freeway corridor, costing them $218,000 every day.

By 2031, this will soar to 16,800 hours at a daily cost of $334,000.

Growth in the outer north will also pile pressure on the Hume Freeway where drivers will spend three-quarters of their journey stuck in traffic by the end of the decade.

The Infrastructure Australia audit — the first of its kind since 2015 — will heighten calls for the Victorian Government to reverse its opposition to the East West Link.

“This report reinforces what every other report and major transport body says: the East West Link is critically needed,” Mr Tudge said. “Failure to build the East West Link will mean even greater headaches for residents in the eastern suburbs in the years to come.”

Mr Tudge said the Melbourne Metro tunnel was a worthwhile project but “we are 10 years behind where Melbourne’s infrastructure should be”.

The Morrison Government has committed $4 billion to build the first stage of the East West Link, urging the Andrews Government to take the money and give the project the green light.

Victorian Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said the report showed the importance of the Andrews Government’s record levels of transport infrastructure investment.

“Projects like Metro Tunnel, North East Link and 75 level crossing removals — on top of our massive upgrades to suburban and regional roads — will slash congestion, reduce crowding and carry more people as our city and state grows,” she said.

The study also raised concern about Victoria’s regional rail system, with daily passenger boardings in Geelong estimated to increase by 28,000 by 2031.