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More than 900,000 people use the Melbourne CBD every day and that number is expected to jump to 1.4 million by 2036.

The cost of congestion alone in Australia’s fastest growing city is $4.6 billion a year, but it could double by 2030.

It’s why the City of Melbourne is planning a complete revamp of the way Melburnians access the city.

The council today released the Melbourne Transport Strategy 2030 after consultation with transport experts and academics.

The 132-page document that outlines new and forward-thinking measures for getting around. But if you own a car and you drive to work in town, it’s not good news for you.

This is what it all means.

The document identifies an “urgent need” to support Melbourne’s booming population by taking 50,000 cars off CBD roads every day.

Part of the plan to achieve that goal is transforming all streets on the Hoddle Grid — bounded by Flinders Street, Latrobe Street, Spencer Street and Spring Street — into a single lane of traffic. Only King Street would be excepted.

The city’s streets would also become mandatory 40km/h zones.

Cycling in the city is going to be a focal point under the new plans, too. The council plans to develop more than 50km of protected bike lanes to cement Melbourne’s standing as the “nation’s leading bicycle city”.

Four main points from the council’s plan are summarised as follows.

1. Reduce by half the number of people killed or seriously injured on our streets. That number today is 231 annually. By 2040 they want it to be zero.

2. Reduce by half the proportion of central city-through traffic.

3. Increase public transport, walking and cycling mode share to 70 per cent of all trips.

4. Increase the proportion of women cycling to 40 per cent. It is currently at 24 per cent.

But there is a bigger picture at play here too. The council wants to reduce the emissions produced by those coming into town.

At present, private cars account for almost 50 per cent of all emissions in the CBD. The rest is shared between motorcycles, light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, buses, trams, electric trains, diesel trains, cargo ships and helicopters.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp says the plans to declutter the city reflect what’s already happening.

“We have heard that our people are voting with their feet,” she said.

“Nearly 90 per cent of journeys within the city are made on foot. As such, we are planning on how to create more space for people to walk, talk, meet or sit under a tree and enjoy Melbourne’s coffee with friends or colleagues.”

The shake-up to Melbourne’s grid is being influenced in part by a model being rolled out in the Spanish city of Barcelona.

“Barcelona has a uniform street grid similar to Melbourne’s Hoddle Grid,” the document explains.

“The city has recently introduced the concept of ‘superblocks’ where streets that form a three-by-three group of nine city blocks are being redesigned to prioritise people over cars.

“The streets within each superblock are transformed into shared spaces and prioritised for walking, cycling, resident’s cars and deliveries.”

The streets that form the perimeter of each superblock are designated for cars and public transport. Speed limits are reduced to 10km/h to create people-friendly environments where children can play freely.

“Vehicle through-movement is not allowed. In areas where, previously, almost 75 per cent of

all space was allocated to cars, 75 per cent is now given to pedestrians.”

The council’s priorities over the next four years include adding protected bike lanes along Exhibition Street, Latrobe Street and Rathdowne Street, creating 300 new on-street motorcycle parking spaces and limiting speeds throughout the entire municipality to 40km/h.

Deloitte Access Economics estimates the economic benefits of the Transport Strategy actions will be $870 million over 10 years.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter: @ro_smith