Melton City Council, VIC
Moving Melton Integrated Transport Prospectus
The Initiative
The City of Melton is growing rapidly, with the population projected to double from 216,389 residents today to 450,823 by 2051, and ultimately increase to over 500,000.
Residents find it difficult to access employment, education and services. There is a high car dependency with 85 percent of weekday trips made by car, and a household average of three cars. Over 70 percent of the workforce leave the municipality for employment. Investment in the transport network is Council’s number one advocacy priority. The City of Melton’s Investment Attraction Strategy identified the need to create 100,000 jobs by 2051 supported by investment in transport.
That is why Council developed the Moving Melton Transport Prospectus, which outlines detailed road, rail, bus and active transport projects that better connect the community and attract commercial investment. This is an innovative interactive online website that provides a data driven modelling platform and scenario planning to demonstrate benefits of transport investment.
Council analysed data on population growth, travel patterns and congestion to identify the transport projects we need. Council prepared costings, project designs, traffic projections, diagrams and renders of what the projects would look like.
Council conducted independent economic modelling to provide cost benefit ratios and productivity improvements such as travel time saved, and reduction in crashes and Co2 emissions.
The City of Melton has whole estates that are not serviced by buses, so we reviewed the bus network and identified benefits of a no-cost reconfiguration and $3 million, $5 million and $10 million additional annual investments.
This interactive online platform provides a robust evidence base to inform decision makers in supporting the projects our community needs.
The launch of the prospectus in October 2022 was attended by 83 participants, including academics, transport planners, MP’s and other councils. The website had over 1,200 unique visitors in its first month.
Melton City Council is proud of the innovative approach to providing a digital, interactive, and engaging solution to planning for critical infrastructure.
The Department of Transport has adopted our traffic modelling and to quote a representative of the department “Melton has provided an evidence base behind all the asks and is the council most aligned with State’s planning philosophy and expectations.”
About the Category
The ‘Productivity through Infrastructure’ category recognises local government initiatives which:
- utilise technological innovations or regulatory changes;
- consider sustainability, liveability and productivity in investment strategies and planning; and/or
- address long-term infrastructure priorities and offer clear economic productivity benefits.
Successful initiatives in this award category benefit communities by:
- connecting cities and regions in a way which supports population growth;
- providing safe and efficient transport links and service delivery; and
- strengthening and diversifying regional economic bases by better connecting industries to markets and customers.
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