Western Sydney drivers left behind with road upgrades crucial for second airport defunded
New data shows traffic in Western Sydney is worse than in the CBD, with the Albanese government accused of deserting the region by defunding road upgrades crucial to the success of the incoming airport.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Traffic is worse in western Sydney than in the CBD for the first time ever, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
It comes as the Albanese government is accused of deserting the city’s west by defunding upgrades for roads which are crucial to the success of Westren Sydney International Airport.
The Telegraph can now reveal seven roads around the new airport, where planes will start landing in just two years, went from being labelled a “priority” to losing federal funding seven months later.
It comes as fleet business rated western Sydney roads as worse for congestion than the CBD according to the NRMA’s latest Congestion Survey.
For the first time in the survey’s 16 year history, western Sydney roads surpassed Sydney CBD as the area causing the most grief to drivers, with southwest Sydney coming a close third. Inner West roads were also noted as those that were highly congested.
Ahead of the federal budget next month, The Telegraph is today launching the Let’s Get Moving campaign, calling on the Albanese government to reverse road and rail funding cuts.
Infrastructure Minister Catherine King announced last November that she was scrapping federal funding for 17 road and rail projects across the state, amounting to $1.4 billion in cuts.
One of those projects which had its funding cancelled was designed to upgrade seven roads around the new Western Sydney Airport.
Ms King announced that she was scrapping $15 million in federal funding for the “Western City Road Transport Network Development”. This project, also known as the Aerotropolis Roads Package, would have paid to build and upgrade crucial transport links around the new airport: Eastern Ring Road, Luddenham Road, Fifteenth Ave (West), Devonshire Road, Badgerys Creek Road, Bradfield Metro Link Road and Pitt Street (West).
An independent planning panel declaring in April 2023 the roads were a “priority” to be upgraded, but Ms King slashed federal funding seven months later.
In a report published last April, the federal government’s Western Sydney Transport Infrastructure Panel determined that $35 million should be spent on a business case to upgrade the “seven priority road corridors”.
It recommended that the government “prioritise” a final business case and start paying to upgrade the roads within five years.
Without upgrading, the panel said, the road network would “increasingly become unfit for its new purpose and preclude efficient movement of passenger and freight transport” around the airport.
The report also warned of “significant road safety issues” should the roads not be upgraded.
Despite those warnings, the road network is among 16 other projects now in limbo after the federal government pulled funding.
Upgrades to Mulgoa Road are also in purgatory, after Ms King cut funding.
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has vowed to press ahead with one project on the federal government’s chopping block – an interchange linking the M7 and the M12 – despite losing $115 million in funding from Canberra.
Over 10 years, the cuts amount to $3.5 billion ripped from NSW roads and rail projects according to NSW Government figures. The state is in frantic negotiations with the Commonwealth to get that money back.
The cuts come as NSW bears the brunt of migration-fuelled population growth, currently at record levels.
Failing to upgrade roads around the Western Sydney Airport risks making congestion worse in parts of Western Sydney that are expected to explode in population when the airport opens.
The NRMA’s Rate Your Road survey of almost 29,000 motorists found Parramatta Road at Auburn the worst road in NSW due to congestion. Four of the top 10 worst roads were all western Sydney based.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury warned that if not enough money was spent upgrading Western Sydney roads, the congestion numbers would worsen.
“Western Sydney’s population is getting much bigger, particularly around Parramatta and if we don’t step up our infrastructure funding then getting around is going to be slower and harder,” he said.
Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh accused the Albanese government of deserting communities around the new airport by failing to pay for infrastructure upgrades.
“Roads across Western Sydney, including in my electorate, needed upgrading before work even began on the Western Sydney International Airport,” she said.
“They have forgotten about western Sydney and worst than that they just don’t care,” she said.
Western Parkland City Authority chair Jennifer Westacott has also called for the federal government to put more money into infrastructure around the Aerotropolis, to help attract business investment and turn the flailing precinct around.
In a statement, Ms King said the Albanese government is “working with NSW on options for new projects and additional assistance to ensure projects can be delivered”. She said all the money cut from NSW projects is still available to the state government for other infrastructure.
“We will look forward to having more to say at budget time.”
Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest said it was “critical” that the federal government reverse funding cuts.
“The Commonwealth has opened the floodgates to migrants and a third of the 750,000 new entrants this year settle in NSW,” he said.
“While in minority Government, Anthony Albanese appears to be deserting Western Sydney. Why? It doesn’t make sense for NSW, the nation or his leadership.”
‘LOCALS TERRIFIED’ OF HORROR TRAFFIC
- By Lachlan Leeming
Jenny Schweers has called the tiny western Sydney village of Luddenham home for almost a decade and has seen the surrounding area transform from a mass of rural paddocks to rapidly developing industrial land – with the traffic to match.
One thing has remained largely unchanged though: the network of small roads weaving across the area.
Mrs Schweers said roads featuring one lane of traffic each way had failed to keep up with the influx of traffic now using them.
She said Luddenham Rd had become so jammed with traffic that locals driving to Sydney often took a longer route, via Northern Rd, to get to the city.
“The trucks are just horrendous. They’ve got to get to work, but because there’s so much development around the airport, the M12 and the normal transporting of goods that we need, there’s just so many trucks,” Mrs Schweers said.
She said while she was a “confident driver”, older locals were not as comfortable driving on roads that had previously been quiet, rural routes.
“This area is (home to) an older generation … Elderly people would be absolutely terrified to be driving through here with big trucks in front and behind them.”
She said Luddenham Rd – which links Luddenham north towards the M4 and is still one lane each way – desperately needed to be upgraded, particularly because of the rise in development occurring in the aerotropolis surrounding the new Western Sydney Airport.
“It’s bad enough now – but can you imagine what it’s going to be like in 12-18 months’ time when all the new construction is finished? How much worse is it going to be?”
Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email tips@dailytelegraph.com.au
The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology then edited and approved for publication by an editor.
More Coverage
Read related topics:Future Western Sydney
Join the conversation
Drivers win as Minns bans ticketless parking fines
Councils will be forced to go back to leaving a note - or a sticker - when stinging motorists for illegal parking.
Read more
‘Megaphone of the left’: Backlash against ABC fake news
The ABC is under fire over ‘fake’ gunshots added to a story about serious war crime allegations by Australian soldiers, as a former chairman of the national broadcaster accuses it of being a ‘self-serving collective’.
Read more