The SEARCH FOR ACHIEVABLE Solutions
At a series of public meetings in 2019, Save Willy Road formulated a mission of “Truck bans and no clearways for Williamstown Road.” We are calling for legislated 24-hour truck bans on Williamstown Road, consistent with other key residential roads in the City of Maribyrnong, with appropriate exemptions for trucks delivering to local businesses.
The question is, how can trucks realistically be removed from Williamstown Road?
THE COUNCILS’ PLAN: PROVIDE DIRECT LINKS TO THE FREEWAY
Throughout the West Gate Tunnel Environment Effects Statement process, both Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay councils called for alternative north-south freight routes to enable trucks to travel between the Tottenham/Brooklyn industrial precinct and the West Gate Freeway without passing through residential areas on Williamstown Road and Millers Road.
Hobsons Bay Council asked the state government to extend Grieve Parade northward to Market Road and the Tottenham industrial precinct and upgrade it to a preferred truck route, and also provide new freeway access ramps at Doherty’s Road and Grieve Parade.
Maribyrnong Council’s preference was for an extension of Paramount Road southward to the freeway. In July 2019 the council formally resolved not only to request the State Government to fund the design and development of a viable north-south freight connection away from residential areas, but also to introduce truck curfews on Williamstown Road immediately, followed by a permanent truck ban once the tunnel opens.
In both cases it involves a minor inconvenience for trucks, diverting them away from the port for a short distance before turning south on to the West Gate Freeway, which then gives them direct access to either Swanson Dock via the West Gate Tunnel, or Webb Dock via the West Gate Bridge. Even if a Grieve Parade extension was not built, the location of container parks provides easy access to Geelong Road, which leads directly to Grieve Parade and then on to West Gate Freeway.
Both proposals are sensible and reasonable: restrict high-polluting freight traffic to industrial areas and the freeway network. Keep them away from residential areas.
THE STATE PLAN: FREIGHT ON RAIL, CONTAINER PARK RELOCATION
The State Government, principally through the office of Ports and Freight Minister Melissa Horne, is pushing an interconnected three-part strategy to reduce truck volumes on Williamstown Road.
CONTAINER PARK RELOCATION
The introduction of 24/7 truck bans on several major inner west roads in late 2025 creates congestion and efficiency issues for container parks and logistics companies in the Tottenham/Brooklyn industrial precinct as trucks face longer, slower trips to and from the port. Freight Victoria, a division of the Department of Transport, is working with container park owners to encourage them to relocate to sites with better access to the freeway, including locations nearer to the proposed Port Rail shuttle at Altona. If they do, the number of container trucks taking short cuts along Williamstown Road should decline.
In support of this, the Government is rezoning industrial land in Brooklyn, Tottenham and West Footscray to an alternative employment zone, which immediately raises the value of that land, some of which is currently used by container businesses. Those businesses therefore have a financial incentive to sell up and relocate to more appropriate locations in the west, such as Altona North and Derrimut Fields.
PORT RAIL TRANSFORMATION PROJECT AND PORT RAIL SHUTTLE NETWORK
The Port Rail Transformation Project is a $125 million project to build a new rail terminal at Swanson Dock with two tracks, each capable of handling a 600m-long train; it will link with the Port Rail Shuttle Network, funded with $58 million of state and federal funding and $46 million in private sector funding. Under current plans, port rail shuttle trains with a capacity of 84 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) containers, equivalent to the load carried by 28 B-double trucks, will run between the port and rail hubs at Somerton, in Melbourne’s north, and Altona, in the west. The combined rail initiatives will enable a far greater proportion of container freight to be moved by rail rather than truck. The Port Rail Shuttle link to Altona is theoretically functional now, but as of mid-2025 is yet to shift a single shipping container.
REPURPOSING OF OLD MELBOURNE MARKET SITE
Expanded use of the old Melbourne Market site on Footscray Rd for container storage will reduce the need for such activities in Tottenham and Brooklyn. The government finalised a lease with the Port of Melbourne in 2024, with sites becoming available over the next three to 11 years.
the short-term solutions: curfews and low emissions zones
Truck operators need to get the message that their massive freight trucks do not belong on a single-lane residential road.
Night and weekend curfews, introduced on Williamstown Road in late 2025, already send that clear signal. Those curfews prevent freight truck rat-running when overall traffic levels fall and force freight operators to rethink their mode of operation in order to avoid residential areas.
The government also needs to make clear to freight operators that Williamstown Road can no longer be viewed as a perpetual shortcut to the port. It must reinforce its commitment to clean air and road safety by imposing a London-style Low Emission Zone on Williamstown Road to keep older high-polluting trucks away from the residential area.
THE LONG-TERM SOLUTION: 24/7 TRUCK BANS
Ultimately the Government must impose a full 24/7 ban on freight trucks on Williamstown Road. A single-lane road through a residential area is no place for massive container trucks — particularly when more appropriate routes to the port are within easy reach. If 24/7 bans are an appropriate measure for other inner-west streets previously clogged with container trucks, then they are appropriate for Williamstown Road as well. The health, safety and amenity of inner west residents is at stake.