00:02An inner city intersection inundated.
00:05Tony Cedia has lived on this once quiet suburban street in Kensington for 30 years, but following
00:11the Westgate tunnel opening last December, the silence has been broken.
00:16We've been seeing close to 10 trucks an hour, so the noise, the pollution that's coming
00:22from those and the general safety that's involved.
00:26Residents, primary school students, cafe and churchgoers now sharing the road with a much
00:31larger, much noisier neighbour.
00:34We have become the classic rep run for trucks.
00:37Melbourne City Council says trucks have increased by 300 per cent on Kensington Road in part because
00:43truck drivers are avoiding tolls imposed by the new tunnel.
00:46Since the Westgate tunnel opened, trucks have been banned on a number of key roads in Melbourne's
00:51inner west.
00:51The city of Melbourne wants to add a stretch of Kensington Road to the list between Dynan
00:56Road and the intersection of Epsom and Macaulay roads.
00:59But truck drivers say that leaves them with nowhere to go.
01:03These people have to get between point A and point B, and how do I do that?
01:07If you don't want me to go down this road, which road do you want me to go down?
01:11If I don't want to pay the toll, I've got to find some other way to get there.
01:14The government says the $10 billion Westgate tunnel here is slashing travel times and reducing
01:21traffic in Melbourne's inner west, including in Footscray and Yarraville.
01:24But Melbourne City Council says that's simply kicking the issue down the road.
01:29We have seen increased truck movements in inner city roads, and as the city of Melbourne,
01:36you know, we won't stand for that.
01:38What's good enough for the western suburbs should be good enough for the inner city.
01:41The final decision will still come down to the state government after council's vote.
01:46So for these fed up residents, it's certainly not the end of the road yet.
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