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Transport investment needed: Abbott

From: AAP
October 03, 2012 12:01PM


TRAFFIC chaos in Melbourne caused by the shutdown of two city tunnels shows investment in transport infrastructure is needed, federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.
Mr Abbott says the coalition's full fiscal position will be publicly available well before the next election and it will reveal a focus on infrastructure spending.

"One of the things the Australian public will see from us, which they haven't seen from this government, is a commitment to the kind of infrastructure which is really going to make a difference," Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.

"We've got traffic chaos in Melbourne today because of problems with some of the tunnels.

"This just emphasises the need to get cracking with the transport projects that Melbourne so desperately needs."

Mr Abbott said the most obvious project is the East West Link, to which the coalition has pledged $1.5 billion in funding should it win government.

"We are confident with $1.5 billion from the Commonwealth the work can be underway within 18 months of a new government in Canberra at the latest," he said.

"We want to see cranes over our cities, we want to see traffic moving around our cities, we want to see better public transport as well as better private transport, and the best way to get that is with better infrastructure and modern infrastructure is precisely what people will see from an incoming coalition government."

The federal government has said the East West Link, a proposed 18km road connection between the Eastern Freeway and Western Ring Road, is not a top federal priority.

CityLink's two tunnels have been shut since early Wednesday morning because of a computer glitch.



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/transport-investment-needed-abbott/story-e6frfku9-1226487258507#ixzz28IjQyaFa