The North East Link Project (NELP) is stepping up its propaganda campaign along the Eastern Freeway corridor – to distract public attention from the fact the project would see a prodigious increase in lane capacity to cater for thousands of extra motor vehicles every day between Springvale Road and Hoddle Street.
On 7 May, NELP paid a visit to Belle Vue Primary School in Balwyn North. The school is located on Bulleen Road adjacent to the Eastern Freeway and Bulleen Road interchange. It is thus very close to the massive interchange (i.e. “spaghetti junction”) the Andrews/ Allan government proposes to build in that “neighbourhood.”
This was not NELP’s first visit to the school. They had previously arranged tree planting as part of their quest to green wash the massive loss of vegetation, including thousands of canopy trees, inflicted by the project.
Large increases in traffic are predicted on Bulleen Road, right outside the Belle Vue Primary School front door, as a consequence of the North East Link. Measured air pollution from road traffic in the area is already very high. However, these overwhelming concerns were not on the agenda on 7 May. The visit was for “…our Year 1/2 students to educate, engage and excite students about the tunnel construction and the technology used on Victoria’s biggest road project.”.
To heighten the seriousness of the occasion students also participated in a competition to name two tunnel boring machines.
No additional evidence is required to confirm that the purpose of the Victorian government’s North East Link “education program” is to infantilise and to distract from the serious health and amenity issues, as well as transport policy failure, that the project presents for those of us who live or work (or attend school) at locations along the Eastern Freeway corridor between Springvale Road and Hoddle Street.
See a report of the North East Link Project visit to Bellevue Primary School at: http://www.bellevueps.vic.edu.au/bvps2/?p=9543.