$1.6b road 'a waste of money'
A report on the WA Government's proposed $1.6 billion road freight link between Kewdale and Fremantle has described the project as a waste of taxpayers' money that should be reconsidered immediately.
The report by Professor Peter Newman and research fellow Cole Hendrigan from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute said the money would be better spent on good road and rail connections to a new container port in Cockburn Sound.
This would involve a cheaper upgrade of Tonkin Highway and remove the need for the controversial extension of Roe Highway, known as Roe8, through the Beeliar wetlands.
The Perth Freight Link project, which will incorporate Perth's first toll road on trucks, is jointly funded by the State ($650 million) and Federal ($925 million) governments.
But, as part of its GST negotiations over the past week, the WA Government is hoping for a greater contribution from Canberra.
Construction of the link is due to begin in mid-2017 and be completed by mid-2019. The State Government believes the project will remove 500 trucks a day from Leach Highway.
But the Newman-Hendrigan report says the link would harm the city of Fremantle and damage the operations of the port.
It says the number of trucks passing through Fremantle would increase fivefold and cut a swath through the surrounding urban area.
Fremantle will be "as truck city" as Port Adelaide, which is "dominated by freight with few of Fremantle's people-oriented attractions and amenity".
"For several decades the freight strategy in Perth has been to reduce the impact of trucks on Fremantle by increasing rail freight and shifting the growth in containers to a (new) outer harbour (in Cockburn Sound)," the report said.
"This will now be undermined by the PFL as it will mean deliberately not investing in the outer harbour because it will be necessary to extend the life of the container port in the inner harbour to enable the PFL to be paid off using the tolls on trucking."
The report said Fremantle Ports had indicated its container trade would reach its optimal capacity within 10-15 years, when additional facilities would be needed.
"In the developed world, there are no major cities that have left their container port in the centre of major urban activity," the report said.
Professor Newman said the efficient transportation of freight was important but the proposed FPL was designed to solve "a grubby local political situation" and remove trucks from Melville and marginal seats around Leach Highway.
