By 2022, at the end of Labor’s next term, the West Gate Tunnel will be built. The brand new tollway will funnel thousands of trucks off the West Gate Bridge and streets in the inner-west by creating a direct road into the Port of Melbourne. Transurban’s new road will be great if you drive a truck, while the additional four lanes added to the West Gate Freeway and the second river crossing will help your commute to the city from Geelong. But you might be less than impressed if you’re living in North and West Melbourne – inner city suburbs set to be flooded with cars from the new highway, creating “peak-hour conditions for 12 to 14 hours in both directions on weekdays”. Tolls are a bone of contention. Credit:Phil Weymouth The tolls you pay to use Melbourne’s key roads are also starting to climb.

And then, if Labor sticks to its promises, you could ditch a taxi or Uber and catch a train to the airport – a trip that could cost $20 and take 20 minutes from Southern Cross. Perhaps you've noticed that the Tullamarine Freeway is a smoother run, as people start using the new rail link to the airport. But, you might wonder, would priority lanes for airport-bound buses on the Tulla have helped fix the problem more cheaply and quickly? New lanes have made the Tullamarine Freeway less congested. Credit:Joe Armao By 2027, Melbourne’s biggest toll road, the North East Link, has opened.

Your drive along residential streets in Rosanna will be safer thanks to the highway taking thousands of trucks underground. But with an extra 100,000 cars a day flowing from the North East Link to the widened Eastern Freeway, you might be wondering about a long-term solution to Melbourne’s congestion problem. There’s only so much available space in Melbourne to widen massive highways to 20 lanes, as is the case with this road. Train journeys to Geelong could become less unpleasant. Credit:Joe Armao By 2032, your train trip to Geelong would take just 35 minutes and you'll be able to get to Ballarat in less than an hour due to Labor’s Western Rail Plan.

You’ll get to Melton and Wyndham Vale faster than you do now because new, electrified tracks have been built that separate the city and country rail track. All going well, the new electric trains on the busy routes might also be less crowded. But much of the success of this project hinges on the frequency of services and a secret government report warns that most of Victoria’s biggest regional cities could see no more than three trains an hour in future. It's 2050. For the first time, you can ride the train from Monash University to Doncaster in a single trip (without stopping in the city), thanks to Labor's suburban rail loop. But the 90-kilometre route linking nearly every railway line through Melbourne’s middle suburbs which was announced in 2018 has taken 30 years to be completed.

You'll also be able to catch the train and tram every 10 minutes between 6am and 9pm, seven days a week, within 12 months. And Melbourne Metro 2 – a rail tunnel linking the Mernda line in Clifton Hill and the Werribee line in Newport via Fishermans Bend, could start to get under way. What if you voted for the Liberals? Perhaps your vote helps hand power to Matthew Guy and the Coalition in November.

By 2022, your drive on the Springvale Road, Nepean Highway, Ferntree Gully Road, Princes Highway and Ballarat Road is smoother, now that the Coalition has ripped up 35 intersections. Your journey is faster but only partially. Of course, removing one traffic light doesn't stop you from getting held up at the next traffic light. And you might be starting to feel that the massive trench or overpass in the heart of your suburb is too imposing. Perhaps it's splitting up houses, shops and walking and cycling routes. The policy is modeled on Labor's level crossing removal policy, with 29 removed by 2018 and an extra 25 to be removed by Labor by 2025. By the end of the Coalition's next term in 2022, your train trips to Geelong would be significantly cut from 58 minutes to 32 minutes.

The fast trip to Geelong is set to be a reality 10 years before Labor's competing plan. By 2028, you will shave 20 minutes to an hour off your train trip to 13 regional towns, including Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Ararat. But will the party keep its ambitious promise? The pledge – to rebuild or majorly upgrade every line – has been dismissed as “impossible” by Labor and "ambitious" by rail experts. Commuters waiting at Gisborne station for a V/Line train from Bendigo. Credit:Paul Rovere

And it's not the only rail project the party has on offer. You're set to have an airport rail link under the Coalition, which will likely run through Sunshine. It's 2022 and you live in the outer south-east. You can now take the train to the city for the first time. The Cranbourne line will be extended to Cranbourne East and Clyde under the Coalition. This won’t solve the problem of infrequent and delayed train services, because the Coalition hasn't yet duplicated the single section of track. That is to occur some time in the future. If you're living in Cranbourne, perhaps you're regretting not voting for Labor, with the party planning to duplicate track between Dandenong and Cranbourne, allowing for 10 minute services.

It's 2027 and the East West Link – the road Labor once spent $1.3 billion to kill – has been built. You'll be able to drive along the cross-city road bypassing the CBD, with previous projections showing it could shave almost an hour off travel times between the Eastern Freeway and CityLink. The road would avoid congested Alexandra Parade and Hoddle Street but at what cost? The controversial highway nearly caused the acquisition of dozens of homes, businesses and a part of Royal Parade under the former Napthine government. An artist's impression of the East West Link.