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Trucks to be banned from taking shortcuts through inner-Melbourne suburbs

Xinhua, April 3, 2017 Adjust font size:

Trucks will soon be banned from the streets of Melbourne's inner-western suburbs to force them onto a new tollway.

Trucks will be banned from a popular detour through main suburban streets in Yarraville in Footscray 24 hours a day, seven days a week once the new Western Distributor is completed in 2022.

The heavy vehicles will instead have to pay a toll to access the Port of Melbourne, Australia's largest container port, which was sold in 2016 for 8.4 billion U.S. dollars.

Luke Donnellan, Victoria's Roads Minister, downplayed the impact of the ban, saying it would save "truck drivers time and money by avoiding 17 sets of traffic lights and reducing vehicle wear and tear."

"The freight industry needs an efficient connection to the Port - one that has been specially designed for heavy vehicles - not suburban streets," Donnellan told Fairfax Media on Monday.

The ban is facing resistance from the Victorian Transport Association (VTA) who said the ban would put financial pressure on operators already struggling with toll increases and higher registration fees.

The VAT's opposition to increased tolls was supported by trucking magnate Lindsay Fox who slammed the increases as "extortion."

Fox, the owner of Australia's largest freight company, said he was preparing to take legal action against Transurban, the operator of Melbourne's CityLink toll road, who announced that daily fees for heavy vehicles would be increased from 9.1 U.S. dollars to 19.8 US dollars.

The increases are to cover the costs of Transurban's share of the CityLink widening project.

"Let the judge decide. It's very much like extortion. You're paying for something you're not getting," Fox told News Limited on Monday.

"I think it's a disgrace. If the government allows it to happen, it will completely throw the whole system out of control. Where in the world do you pay the fee for going on a freeway system that won't be built for another 12 months?"

"The roads were designed for traffic. Streets are no different to the veins that run in your body. When the blood stops, you die." Endit