2016-11-22
Constituency questions: The Federation Trail is a key bike path in Melbourne's west. When the missing link in the path is completed it will connect Werribee to Melbourne and provide an essential route for people of the western suburbs to ride to the city. The government has said that it will fix this missing link in the Federation Trail but only as part of the proposed western distributor toll road. The western distributor, if it is built, will not be finished until 2022, which is six years away. The people in the west should not have to wait this long.
The west is struggling with traffic congestion on roads, and the inner west in particular has serious pollution problems. By fixing this missing link in the Federation Trail we could provide safe cycling to the city, which could encourage more people to leave their cars at home and take their bikes instead. My question is: building the missing link for Federation Trail should not be expensive and it should be largely running through existing parkland, so when will the government actually commit to finishing it rather than saying that it can only be done with the western distributor?