YOU sit down with your coffee, maybe some breakfast, open up your Sunraysia Daily and enjoy the ambience of alfresco dining in the heart of Mildura.
Then a big truck thunders past with stinking cattle on the back.
Its brakes screech and squeal as it stops and starts its way across 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th streets, on its way through the city centre.
The poor truckies have to be “200 per cent” on guard for pedestrians, particularly with the school crossings.
Let’s face it, the time is well past due to get the trucks out of town.
PUSH ON FOR SECOND MURRAY BRIDGE
To do that, a bypass is needed around Mildura that begins with a second major bridge crossing the Murray River.
It could bypass Gol Gol, Buronga and Mildura, saving truckies around 30 minutes on an average trip from Adelaide to Sydney, while improving safety and cutting out noise pollution in those growing towns.
Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of Victoria president Russell Borchard said this week that the issue was of national importance and should be made a priority.
And he is right.
Remember, this issue isn’t anything new.
The 2005 Mildura Transport Plan for Long Term Regional Development and the 2019 Central Murray Transport Strategy recommended a second major bridge for Mildura. The 2005 report suggested it could be at Monak and the 2019 one at Karadoc, both with the aim of getting trucks out of Mildura’s town centre and improving transport efficiencies.
No costings have been done yet on a second bridge, but it’s safe to say it’d run into hundreds of millions of dollars. A good comparison to make would be against the Echuca Moama bridge and the associated road upgrades, which is expected to cost $327 million by the time it fully opens later this year. As an aside, George Chaffey Bridge cost $15 million in 1985.
But the cost benefits to the towns and the transport industry will be set in stone.
Mildura and Wentworth councils need to put themselves in the driver’s seat here and literally get moving on producing a business case for a second bridge and bypass.
This week, Mildura councillor Ian Arney and Wentworth deputy mayor Daniel Linklater both joined the fight and need to bring the rest of their respective councils with them. Our political leaders, including Federal Member for Mallee Anne Webster, and State Member for Mildura Ali Cupper, also need to be vocal on this issue.
Our case needs to be prosecuted at all levels of government.
With talk of a new hospital being built in Mildura, potentially near the centre of town, traffic management is already going to become a bigger headache in Mildura, so a new bridge would help address many planning and liveability concerns for the region.
It all makes sense.
The truckies will be happier, as will businesses, pedestrians will be safer and we may even be able to enjoy our coffee and morning paper in peace.
