Alternatives to the proposed bypass

There is nothing integrated about SEITA (South Eastern Integrated Transport Authority) .  They claim the Frankston By pass has been in the Melways since the sixties, but was it  considered when the South Gippsland Highway was built? Did they reconsider when the Moorooduc Freeway was constructed? Why was McClelland Drive half upgraded when it was less than half a kilometre from the Freeway reserve?

Peninsula Link is another embarrassing episode in the ongoing shambles that passes for transport 'planning' for the Mornington Peninsula

Yet another freeway down the Peninsula, the fourth in fact.  Did anyone look at the Bypass or the end of the Mornington Freeway when the Bulky Goods Project was magically approved? Where are the plans for more Rail and Bus Services for the Peninsula? Where is the integration in this so-called integrated transport system?

A thorough and complete EES for the Frankston Bypass should have been completed prior to the building of Eastlink.

The EES has considered enough alternatives to the Frankston Bypass and SEITA has dropped many alternatives very early in the piece stating they were too expensive. Biosis has put a value on our natural environment and that is extremely high.

Building another dual carriage way down the Peninsula fragments this region environmentally as well as socially.

Moorooduc Freeway has already been dealing with the traffic coming off the freeway and Eastlink - with the great roundabouts and arterial roads, most of the everyday traffic turns off the freeway to home..... the Frankston bypass/Peninsula link is about to be built for those few occasions each year when every one else wants to go to the Mornington Peninsula.

Best alternative option - Avoid the Pines, upgrade the Cranbourne Road intersection instead

The bypass should not go through the Pines at all.

The upgrading of the Cranbourne Road intersection with a flyover from the end of the Freeway to the top of the hill at Hastings Road should have been completed prior to Eastlink being completed.  An assessment of that intersection should have been looked at well before the approval of the Bulky Goods Zone was given. 

Least worst of the routes through the Pines Reserve - build a tunnel under the entire habitat corridor

If the Pines route is to be pushed through regardless of sense or reason, then an underpass would be the better alternative. The Mullum Mullum tunnel is a great example of preserving significant vegetation.

However, the entire bypass route is a critically important habitat corridor which must be preserved. The tunnel should extend the entire length, emerging south of the grassy woodlands and shallow marshes of the Westerfields property.

Second least worst route through the pines - the original alignment along Tamarisk Drive

The original alignment along Tamarisk Drive would actually be less ecologically damaging if built with an elevated section starting at the southern end of Tamarisk where it meets Honeysuckle Street. The road would pass over the Reserve and join the existing road reserve near the old tip site.  There is already an edge effect along Tamarisk Drive and there would be no further division of the Reserve. The current alignment further to the east would mean a larger footprint and would create a new barrier. The elevated section would be to allow passage of fauna and dispersal of flora from one side of the reserve to the other.

Although the original alignment has some fantastic heathland, it is an ecological vegetation class (EVC) that is present in other parts of the Pines. The current preferred alignment is right through the only example of a complete naturally vegetated water catchment in the south eastern metropolitan area - Tamarisk Creek. There are EVCs present here  that don’t occur elsewhere in the Reserve. The bushland  along  the creek doesn’t look as spectacular as some of the heathlands, but the ecological integrity and robustness of the Pines would be compromised by the loss of entire classes of vegeation and the habitat value it represents.

This option would however catastrophically destroy significant habitat north and south of the Pines reserve.

This fiasco is the result of a shameful lack of intelligent planning for transport on the Mornington Peninsula

For the 4 decades this proposal has been in the Melways books there has been no additional public transport proposed or initiated on the Peninsula. There has been no major study on the economics of the project. And there has been no study on how many 'real' jobs it will create and how it will benefit residents on the Peninsula. 

The whole Bypass takes out hundreds of hectares of Green Wedge land that was set aside as "the lungs of Melbourne". It is a monstrosity.