A Melbourne Airport rail link and a new, tolled Outer Metropolitan Ring Road (OMRR) are crucial to Sunshine’s emergence as one of Melbourne’s key employment centres, a major infrastructure report has revealed.
Sunshine will be “critical to the state’s economy over the long term”, Infrastructure Victoria’s 30-year strategy says, but it requires an “adequate road network”.
The strategy, released early last week, outlines short, medium and long-term infrastructure needs and priorities for the state.
Sunshine is a “particularly important employment destination” for people living in surrounding areas, the strategy states, but “access will need strengthening”.
Major employment centres, like Sunshine, need “mass transit bus or light rail networks” connecting to existing heavy rail lines over the next 15 years, the strategy states.
Infrastructure Victoria projects “high growth” on the Sunbury and Melton train lines and calls for a rail link to Melbourne Airport within 15 to 30 years.
“Further network planning to confirm the optimum way to integrate this [airport] line into the network will be required … a Melbourne Airport rail link is currently proposed to share tracks along the Sunshine corridor.”
The strategy found “trigger points that would require a major uplift in capacity on the … Sunshine rail corridor” should be identified within five years. It also calls for the construction of a user pays, Outer Metropolitan Ring Road, stretching from west of Werribee to the northern suburbs within 15 to 30 years as a key to improving access to Sunshine.
“The resulting redistribution of traffic would enhance access to major employment centres in the west …including Sunshine,” it found.
The strategy adds that Sunshine will be well served by the Melbourne Metro project, which is due to be completed in 2026.
“You can’t build a rail line to the airport without the Metro tunnel, and Infrastructure Victoria agrees. It’s the project that unlocks the network so we can run more trains on more lines across Melbourne,” a state government spokeswoman said.
Asked if the state government would consider a toll on the proposed OMRR, a spokeswoman said it “won’t be putting new tolls on existing roads”.
Sunshine was named as a national employment cluster in the state government’s
Plan Melbourne report in 2014.
Residents can respond to the draft report by October 31 at yoursay.infrastructurevictoria.com.au
The state government is expected to respond to the report by the end of the year.
