By ElvenPegasister
Why are people around the Melbourne suburb of Clayton complaining about Skyrail? I see lots of people with stickers proclaiming, “I didn’t vote for Skyrail,” but what is the complaint against it?
Firstly, the elimination of the level crossings between Caulfield and Dandenong will free up the flow of traffic on MANY roads. It is long overdue, and has been asked for by citizens for years. But I think you already know that.
Secondly, and this is the big one, is the question of rail going over or under the roads. The Level Crossing Removal Authority have engineers whose job it is to figure out the pros and cons of those options for any given level crossing. In this particular set of cases (yes, they looked at each one separately), they talk about potential flooding, loss of vegetation from tunneling, compulsory acquisition of properties, disruption to services and construction time, safe access to the stations, and cost of the project. (Source: Level Crossing Removal Authority)
So if you think you know better than the engineers, if you want to upset people who didn’t want to sell their properties, if you don’t care about keeping mature vegetation intact, if you want more tax dollars spent to achieve the same result, if you want long closures of both road and rail during construction, by all means, protest Skyrail.
And by the way, I noticed last state election that all the Oakleigh candidates promised to eliminate the level crossings. I can’t be sure about the other electorates along the line, but Liberal, Labor, and Greens would have said it everywhere or nowhere. So if you voted in the last state election, yes, you did vote for Skyrail.
ElvenPegasister has no university degrees, but does know how children behave. She is studying philosophy under CS Lewis and Augustine of Hippo, and hopes one day to study theology too.
Photo by szdl 