Clean air for the Inner West
We’re delivering on our commitment to improve air quality in the inner west through a $20 million package to modernise the truck fleet travelling through the area and seal roads causing dust pollution.
Heavy Vehicle monitoring camera trial
We’re running an innovative heavy vehicle monitoring camera trial in Melbourne's inner west, with cameras installed along key routes, providing valuable data on heavy vehicle movement.
The trial uses video analytics technology to capture heavy vehicle compliance data and detect, identify, and report on different heavy vehicle types across three sites in Melbourne’s inner west.
The camera sites are as follows:
- Somerville Road and Williamstown Road
- Moore Street and Hopkins Street, and
- Melbourne Road and Hudson Road.
We’re now sharing this data with industry, council, and the community for informed decision-making. This will enhance the existing information about inner west truck curfews.
View the Inner West Truck Movement Monitoring dashboard(opens in a new window)
With ongoing validation and accuracy improvements, the data supports the NHVR in identifying patterns and planning compliance measures.
Moving forward we’ll use this innovative technology and data to inform our framework for trucks in the inner west with the opening of the West Gate Tunnel.
Air quality monitoring
The Victorian Government is enhancing the level of air quality information(opens in a new window) and understanding of its impacts, through a suite of air monitoring, source identification, and assessment initiatives that complement the EPA’s air monitoring network and programs.
For the inner west, this includes:
- commencing an Inner Melbourne Air Monitoring project, collaborating with the community, to build an understanding of air pollution impacts in the inner west
- undertaking a source apportionment study to understand the composition and sources of air pollution in the inner west
- securing a monitoring site in the Footscray area and replacing the aging Brooklyn station infrastructure to ensure we have appropriate data and information to understand air quality trends in the area
- improving our understanding of ultrafine particles in inner Melbourne
Victorian air quality strategy
The strategy raises awareness about the impact of air pollution on human health and the environment by encouraging Victorians to act through community education programs.
This includes $2.8 million to establish two Air Quality Improvement Precincts in the inner west and outer west of Melbourne.
These precincts will reduce air pollution and address emerging environmental challenges, in partnership with the community and business.
We’ve developed a fact sheet outlining the actions underway to improve air quality in the inner west and across Victoria.
Climate change strategy
Victoria’s Climate Change Strategy(opens in a new window) charts the path to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Our transport sector pledge includes actions that reduce emissions now and lay the foundations for a cleaner future, such as:
- fast-tracking adoption of low and zero-emission vehicles
- trialling new and evolving transport and commercial vehicle technology
- investing in active transport infrastructure to support a shift to low and zero emissions travel choices such as walking and cycling
Former Melbourne Market site
In August 2024, the Victorian Government finalised the lease of the old Melbourne Market site to the Port of Melbourne until 2066.
Equivalent to more than 14 MCGs – the old Melbourne Market site has the potential to further increase the Port’s capacity by an additional one million containers a year. This will help trade and make supply chains stronger in Victoria.
The new site will make it easier to store containers and manage freight deliveries, reducing traffic around the port and cutting down the number of trucks through the inner west.
This lease will help Australia’s busiest container port grow and deliver on a key action in the Victorian Freight Plan: Delivering the Goods.
Moving more with less
Part of the Victorian Freight Plan, Moving More with Less supports the use of more efficient, safer, and environmentally friendly road freight combinations known as High Productivity Freight Vehicles (HPFV).
This strategy aims to grow the HPFV network to encourage the adoption of newer, performance-based vehicles that can meet the growing freight task while improving safety and reducing heavy vehicle impacts on the community and environment.
Shifting freight from road to rail
The Victorian Government is partnering with industry and the Australian government to establish a network of port rail shuttles and intermodal terminals to enable more freight to be transported by rail.
This transformational investment includes:
- $58 million to create the port rail shuttle network linking terminals at Somerton, Altona and Dandenong with the Port of Melbourne
- $125m investment by the Port of Melbourne for a new rail terminal at Swanson Dock
- A further $4m extension to the Mode Shift Incentive Scheme, removing the equivalent of 28,000 truck trips of Melbourne’s roads each year, building on the more than $30m invested since 2015
- Partnering with the Australian Government to deliver new intermodal terminals at Truganina and Beveridge
An integrated and efficient rail freight network will reduce truck numbers in the inner west, removing congestion around the port and giving industry a more cost-effective way to get their products to market.
Transport Integration Act
We’ve improved Victoria’s planning system to give effect to the Transport Integration Act 2010.
State planning policy has been updated to support a more integrated transport system that is simpler and more certain for decision-makers, infrastructure providers and the community.
We need to plan for increased movement of people and goods, deliver critical infrastructure and jobs via our transport system. Delivering integrated transport and land-use planning will ensure our cities and regions are efficient, liveable and well placed to face these contemporary challenges.
More information about transport planning reforms is available on the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning website(opens in a new window).
Learn more about Victoria's rail freight network.
Zero Emissions Bus Program
To support our transition towards zero emissions public transport, the Victorian Government has invested $20 million in a state-wide trial of zero-emission buses to run over the next three years.
Melbourne’s inner west suburbs and routes have been identified as a priority region for the rollout of this initiative.
A further 36 electric buses will be introduced across metropolitan Melbourne by June 2025 as part of the Metropolitan Bus Franchise agreement with Kinetic.
This includes five new electric buses running along 11 dedicated routes in the inner west from mid-2022.
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