The state opposition’s pledge to remove two notorious level crossings in Werribee has been welcomed by lobby group LeadWest, which says the project is long overdue.
Opposition leader Daniel Andrews has promised to remove Melbourne’s 50 worst level crossings within eight years if Labor wins next year’s election.
Labor’s ‘Project 10,000’ also includes $1 billion for improvements to outer suburban roads and a commitment to build a metro rail tunnel to increase capacity on the city loop.
In Werribee, the Cherry and Werribee streets crossings will be removed.
LeadWest chief executive Craig Rowley said the organisation and its member councils had long advocated removal of the Werribee and Cherry streets crossings, as well as level crossings in St Albans and Essendon.
“There is certainly expectation this [plan] can address congestion and level crossing safety in the west,” he said.
The Cherry Street crossing was voted by train drivers as one of Melbourne’s 10 worst crossings earlier this year.
The government has criticised Labor’s plan, saying removing so many level crossings at once would disrupt train services and increase traffic.
But Mr Rowley said he didn’t expect the removal of the crossings to cause widespread disruption to train services or increase congestion across the western suburbs.
“It is not necessarily the case that because you are doing a number of them, you are going to cause congestion in the west because they are on different lines,” he said.
Mr Rowley also welcomed Labor’s plan to invest money in outer suburban roads.
He said while $1 billion would not fix all the roads in interface areas, it would help councils “get a start” on road improvements.
