Councils and road experts demand urgent action on Rozelle interchange lanes

Traffic bedlam has angered drivers, with councils and road experts demanding urgent action from the Minns government to fix the spaghetti junction.

Traffic bedlam on the Rozelle interchange is the result of poor planning decisions with traffic modelling dramatically underestimating the amount of local traffic coming from areas like Balmain and Lilyfield, according to experts.

The chaos continued on Thursday with bumper to bumper gridlock for the fourth day since the $3.9bn spaghetti junction opened on Sunday with transport officials blaming ‘teething issues’.

Urban Taskforce chief executive and Balmain local Tom Forrest said traffic modelling factoring in local traffic coming from the inner west would have greatly underestimated the number of commuters.

A major choke point where Victoria Road merges connects with the Iron Cove link has partly been caused by general traffic being forced into one lane.

Mr Forrest said the number of lanes along the choke point needed to be urgently increased.

Commuter traffic feeding on to the Anzac Bridge on Victoria Road on Thursday. Traffic has been in chaos with commuters adapting to road changes since the opening of the Rozelle Interchange. Picture: Richard Dobson

“They need to add a second lane for general traffic because at the moment they’ve got the balance wrong,” he said.

“At first they had the issues with the signs about which roads were tolled, confusing drivers – it started causing mayhem on the Sunday night which the officials would have realised if they hadn’t all gone for canapes after the official opening.”

Even with a ban of some construction trucks entering the interchange during peak hours coming into effect on Thursday morning, Mr Forrst said it failed to improve the traffic gridlock.

CEO of the NSW Urban Taskforce is pictured in front of the Ryde Civic Centre which is set to be demolished. Picture: David Swift

“It was every bit as bad today as it was yesterday, banning trucks didn’t help,” he said.

“I think they’re grabbing at straws when they take the heavy vehicles off.”

Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne has also demanded the Minns government urgently review the number of lanes along Victoria Road, City West Link and the Anzac Bridge saying local

residents were “at the end of their tether”. A major choke point where Victoria Road merges connects with the Iron Cove link has partly been caused by general traffic being forced into one lane.

Traffic has been in chaos with commuters adapting to road changes since the opening of the Rozelle Interchange. Picture: Richard Dobson

“The lane configurations at the moment are very confusing – they need to be reviewed and improved immediately,” Mr Byrne said.

“The massive impact on our local traffic network is unacceptable and cannot be ignored.”

NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said the motoring insurance giant had previously raised concerns with the government over the lane reductions and warned the government they needed to remedy the Interchange debacle before the busy Christmas period.

He called on Roads Minister John Graham to set up a toll free time period for motorists to get used to the roads.

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has demanded answers. Picture: Monique Harmer

NRMA spokeperson Peter Khoury said a toll free period should have been put in place. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

While Mr Graham previously ruled out a toll free period as it would be too “difficult” and “expensive”, Mr Khoury said it should still be possible.

“They did not put in a toll free period for the opening of WestConnex and it was a big mistake – this is an even bigger mistake,” he said.

“The toll free period should be a priority for the government and they should plan for that accordingly if they want things to kick off well.”

Transport for NSW operations officer Howard Collins said there were slight improvements in traffic times on Thursday with more drivers using the free Iron Cove link but the government was still considering making changes to the number of lanes.

“We are looking at changes to physical layouts where possible, additional traffic lights and ramp metering … we’re trying to optimise those traffic flows.”