A transport industry lobby group wants Melbourne's Tullamarine Freeway widened to increase traffic flow to the city’s airport
By Ruza Zivkusic-Aftasi | August 6, 2013
A transport industry lobby group wants Melbourne’s Tullamarine Freeway widened to increase traffic flow to the city’s airport.
Tourism and Transport Forum CEO Ken Morrison believes widening the freeway to six lanes is necessary because the network is under pressure and needs urgent work as it carries 75 percent of all airport traffic.
The group has released its Rapid Buses, Road and Rail report, which looks at transport solutions to meet Melbourne Airport’s passenger growth by 2020.
“We believe that the Tullamarine will need to be widened to cope with the future growth,” Morrison says.
“Melbourne is an extraordinary successful airport which is absolutely critical to the state’s economy and unless we’re able to continue to provide that access a lot of the traffic will be on the Tullamarine and that will be a handbrake on growth which is bad for jobs and the economy.”
An additional 60,000 trips are expected to be made to the airport by 2026 each day.
“Widening the Tullamarine Freeway between the M80 Ring Road and Melbourne Airport from four to six lanes is critical to accommodate this growth in demand,” the report says.
“Doing so would free-up capacity during peak times on the airport’s primary access route, resulting in shorter and more reliable trips for airport users as well as other traffic.”
