What is a Tunnel-Bridge?
I’ve seen bridge-tunnels that run across the water and then dip down below a channel crossing to allow ships to pass, but I’ve never heard of a Tunnel-Bridge. It’s the other way around, right?
And is that a good enough reason to start building one?
No? Well, hmm, okay, how can I talk you into it... What if the reason was to conserve the areas around beaches, homes and national parks. Interested yet?
Yes or no, I’m still going to explain the premise and then where one needs to go.
For decades there has been talk of building a bridge to connect east and west Melbourne down Portsea and Queenscliff way. Maybe they will one day, or maybe they’ll build a tunnel.
But tunnels are boring, more expensive, won’t show off a brilliant new icon of Melbourne (like the Golden Gate Bridge), and can’t carry as much traffic as a long bridge.
Yes, I hear you say, but putting in a bridge means we have to build on-ramps and-off ramps and dredge up the earth across our beach. Not to mention there is no road which leads to the water’s edge that can sustain that much traffic!
Well, if the penny has dropped yet, you’ll see that the Tunnel-Bridge is the perfect option.
At present there are already plans to run the freeway (motorway) from the Mornington Peninsula Freeway to Melbourne Road. Then widen Melbourne Road all the way to Portsea. Once that is done, the work on the Tunnel-Bridge can begin.
A possibly likely beginning point would be at the intersection of Hotham Road in Portsea, just before the Golf Course. Here, once the tunnel is built, we travel under the earth and under the golf course until we’re then traveling under water.
Suddenly your car bursts out of the ocean on a road approximately 500 metres from shore and climbs into the air that will be Melbourne’s new iconic bridge.
It veers west and follows the route the ferry takes.
(The ferry will then be a good way tourists can see the bridge from another side).
As the car on the bridge closes on the shipping channel they rise further into the air until towering over everything. Then finally as the west coast comes into view it descends to join - not the shore of Queenscliff, but instead Point Lonsdale and the Bellarine Highway.
Now traffic between these areas will swell, not just because of the people wanting to see the bridge, and not just because there’s now easy access to Geelong, but because the city of Geelong will now want to share in that side of the coast. Housing will suddenly boom over the west and the two sides will be linked and population and traffic will be explosive.
Hang on, that much traffic travelling through! The roads won’t be able to support it. Sure, the new bridge and tunnel will be able to if the engineers allowed for the right amount of cars not just for today, but 20 years into the future, but the surrounding roads will boil and pop.
Hmm, so what do we do when there are so many cars on the roads that pollution, road rage, and traffic jams become a problem. Well, we put in train lines. Something the Victorian Government is loath to do.
Crazy that they don’t.
My thought is that whenever a bridge, tunnel, freeway, or tollway is built, then a trainline should be built alongside. Or over, or in between, or somewhere. You can’t just keep building more roads everywhere, you need to introduce more trains.
The artery of the commuter and the tourist.
All existing freeways should also have a train line built alongside it.
Frankston and Geelong should then be linked with a train line. If the government doesn’t do it then it will be at their own peril.
Instead of taking money from people because they use a necessity, which is electricity, politicians should use the grey matter in their head and develop new ideas that reduce pollution without robbing people blind. Yes, that’s right, trains. Trains move many people from one place to the next and do it well. Suddenly because the government has built more trainlines they don’t need to spend millions on other ways to reduce pollution. You’ve already got the basis there. You don’t need an invention. The technology has been around for ages. Put down train lines!
So there you have it, a good reason to build a magnificent bridge for all Australian people to admire. And a side note was that the public need more trainlines. Not just for travel sake, but to also reduce pollution and congestion on the roads.
