TAP delays, gas main bungle and “wait and see” approach anger North & West Melbourne residents

Less than one-eighth of the $100 million Transport and Amenity Program (TAP) has been spent as the West Gate Tunnel prepares to open, with City of Melbourne councillors questioning delays, broken promises and a “laughable” design bungle on Hawke St.

At the November 25 council meeting, councillors were told just $10.99 million has been expended from the jointly funded $100 million TAP package first announced in 2018 to offset West Gate Tunnel traffic impacts on North and West Melbourne. A further $55 million is “committed”, and the program has now been extended to December 2027.

The council’s general manager of infrastructure and amenity Rick Kwasek confirmed that less than 11 per cent of the total fund had been spent in the seven years since TAP was created.

“These works were promised to be undertaken over the last seven years while the tunnel was being built, yet only 11 per cent of the funds has been expended and the tunnel is about to open,” Cr Dr Olivia Ball said, pressing Mr Kwasek repeatedly for an explanation.

Mr Kwasek pointed to years of feasibility work, corridor studies and early-stage projects such as La Trobe St and Abbotsford St bike lanes, Peel St planning and Docklands–North Melbourne connectivity studies, but said he could not identify a single overarching reason for the state government’s slow rollout.

The council also confirmed that key mitigation work on Spencer St North and Victoria St has been paused at the request of the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP), which wants to monitor real-world traffic for six months after the tunnel opens before locking in major changes.

That stance has infuriated local residents, who packed a community meeting in West Melbourne on November 20 to hear from council and DTP officials and voice concerns about safety, rat-running and increased traffic on local streets once the tunnel opens.

Cr Ball said the joint state-council position had effectively shifted from “mitigate before opening” to a “wait and see” approach.

“The joint press release in 2018 promised $100 million – not ‘up to’ $100 million – and promised new parkland and open space along Moonee Ponds Creek,” she said. “Yet there is no TAP funding currently allocated to Moonee Ponds Creek at all, and most of the money remains unspent.”

Mr Kwasek confirmed that, while Moonee Ponds Creek upgrades were flagged in earlier messaging, no current TAP projects relate to the creek, though he said future projects could still be considered by the central city transport committee.

The meeting also heard that the long-promised Hawke Street Linear Park – a centrepiece project for West Melbourne – has had to be redesigned after the late discovery of a high-pressure gas main and other underground services rendered the 2023 endorsed concept “not viable”.

A detailed feasibility assessment found strict exclusion zones around the gas main mean trees cannot be planted above or near it, drastically limiting canopy opportunities under the original plan and forcing the removal of several existing large street trees.

“I’m still trying to understand how we didn’t know about a high-pressure gas main under Hawke St in 2023,” Cr Ball said, noting residents had specifically asked whether underground services had been considered when council endorsed the earlier design.

Mr Kwasek said services were “understood” at concept stage, but later investigations revealed additional constraints.

“It was found that it was a high-pressure gas main which had significantly greater easement requirements, which limited the planting above it,” he said.

An alternative “Hawke Street Greening” concept will now go to consultation in December. Option 2 – the revised design – shifts most of the new trees into the central median to avoid the gas main and overhead powerlines, delivering around 130 new trees, 2036 sqm of additional street greening and an expanded Hawke and Curzon Street Reserve of 2208 sqm. On-road bike lanes and reduced traffic to one lane each way are retained.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece described the failure to identify the gas main earlier as “laughable” from an engineering perspective, but said the updated design still had the potential to be “a real exemplar of what we can do when we green inner-city streets”.

“We did a really good job on Roden St. I hope we’ll do an even better job on Hawke St,” he said.

Despite community calls for urgency, Hawke St construction will not begin until at least late 2026.

Mr Kwasek told councillors that DTP had requested a six-month monitoring period after the tunnel opens – expected in December – during which no TAP construction would occur in the area. Under the current timeline, community consultation on Hawke St will run from December 8 to February 8, with a final concept expected to return to council in early 2026.

Detailed design and procurement would then follow the six-month monitoring period, pushing construction into the second quarter of the 2026–27 financial year.

“At best, if there was funding available, we could have designs completed by June and then a tender process for construction,” Mr Kwasek said. “At earliest, we would be able to start delivery around September or October.”

Cr Reece said the city now needed to be “vigilant” in pushing the government to deliver.

“It has taken government too long to roll out the TAP projects and this has been a failure on the part of government,” he said.

“I also want to remind people of the original sin here – the West Gate Tunnel is an ill-conceived project that delivers vast volumes of traffic into densely populated inner suburban neighbourhoods. We’re left trying to ameliorate the impact of this huge road project on our local communities, and we now need to get everything right from this point on and roll out these projects as quickly as possible.”

The meeting heard that updated traffic modelling completed in July 2025 has “validated” the projections published in the West Gate Tunnel environmental effects statement in 2017, confirming higher traffic volumes on key North and West Melbourne streets once the tunnel opens.

The new modelling – which is guiding DTP’s “day one” intersection changes – is due to be published on the department’s TAP website by December 19, with council to republish it on its West Gate Tunnel page.

For now, residents are being urged to have their say on Hawke St and continue pressing for the full $100 million TAP package – including long-promised open space along Moonee Ponds Creek – to finally be delivered.