The study commissioned by the State Government that concludes the EastLink tollway will bring $15 billion of benefits (The Age, 5/10) is flawed. On page 11, the report makes the astounding assumption that the tollway will not create new vehicle trips. This flies in the face of past experience with motorways around the world. If it were correct, none of our freeways and tollways would get congested. We know this is untrue: each new expansion of roadway creates more traffic to fill it. It’s time we accepted that the billions of dollars continuing to be sunk into motorway construction around Melbourne will not solve traffic congestion.
Daniel Bowen, Public Transport Users Association, Melbourne