Rozelle: Traffic chaos of new interchange to be addressed with extra lane space
A reconfiguration of a key inner west bus route is being considered to ease traffic gridlocks on the city’s newest interchange. It comes as the government announced an extra lane.
NSW
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Urgent works adding a second lane to parts of the City West Link will be completed in time for Thursday morning peak hour, in a mad scramble to improve traffic bedlam on the new Rozelle interchange.
The works will see a second lane along a 400 metre stretch of road along the City West Link near the Crescent overpass, which has been one of the worst choke points since the $3.9 billion spaghetti opened at the end of November.
Construction of the second lane will begin after Wednesday morning’s peak and continue overnight to be completed in time for commuters to travel to work on Thursday. Traffic management will be in place but a Transport for NSW spokesperson said no diversions would be required.
The works come as trip times along the interchange continue to improve.
“Transport for NSW has noted some improvements in traffic flow on the City West Link compared to a week ago,” the spokesperson said.
“On Tuesday 28 November a citybound trip from Ramsey Street, Haberfield to Anzac Bridge took 59 minutes. Today the same trip took 28 minutes.”
Other changes are being actively considered by transport authorities including adding an additional lane along a section of Victoria Road as well as changes to the 500X bus service.
Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray said looking at bus route changes would be a priority this week.
“In the design phase of this tunnel the 500X bus was designed to go through the Iron Cove Link,” he said.
“We’re assessing that at the moment but certainly what I would say, the first three days of this week we’ll be looking at bus priority and bus performance on Victoria Rd because we have had some buses caught up there.”
Traffic jams across the network led to major delays for bus services along Victoria Rd last week, with many running more than 30 minutes late.
This comes as construction begins today to add a second lane for general traffic along a 400 metre stretch of the City West Link where there is currently only one lane as it merges with the new Crescent Overpass before the Anzac Bridge.
The government has said adding an extra lane further than the new 400 metre stretch is an engineering impossibility.
Construction is expected to be completed by the weekend.
TfNSW is also investigating the potential to add an additional traffic lane on Victoria Rd in the area before it merges into one lane to join the Anzac Bridge. None of the new lane spaces will create extra traffic lanes on the Anzac Bridge.
Additionally, there will be continued operational changes to the Western Distributor designed to aid with traffic flow as motorists cross the Anzac Bridge.
On Monday, conditions appeared to have eased dramatically compared to last week where it took some motorists 90 minutes to get from Lilyfield to the Anzac Bridge over a 2km distance.
NSW Roads Minister John Graham warned commuters on Tuesday morning that those using the new Crescent overpass from Annandale could expect a longer trip due to the new lane changes to the City West Link.
“Any of the changes will impact other road users,” he said.
“In this instance, prioritising two lanes for the City West Link will mean those coming through the crescent overpass will be effected as those physical changes take place, but we do believe it will result in better outcomes.”
The changes come after Mr Graham called a crisis meeting of senior transport executives on Sunday afternoon in order to find solutions for the Rozelle Interchange mess.
Mr Graham demanded TfNSW Secretary Josh Murray, deputy secretary Camilla Drover and co-ordinator general Howard Collins find options on how to remedy the pinch points that have resulted in motorists stuck in traffic for well over an hour.
Mr Graham said he believed the changes will make a positive difference to get traffic flowing “We must be vigilant that we do not simply shift the problem up the road in what is a constrained traffic environment since the opening of the new Rozelle Interchange,” he said.
“Work will begin at night and Transport has already done a lot of work to effectively redesign the road. I want to thank motorists again for their patience as we try to make the right changes to the system as it settles.”
The $3.9 billion spaghetti junction was hailed by the former government as a “game-changer”, designed to reduce traffic on Victoria Road by up to 50 per cent.
Yet, motorists travelling along Victoria Road between Lyons Road in Drummoyne and to the Anzac Bridge faced an hour-long commute on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and 55 minutes on Tuesday.
The new road caused widespread backlash on social media, including from Australian actor star Rebel Wilson.
“Thanks Rozelle Interchange for now making a 15 minute trip into the city 90 minutes via Victoria Road – WTF,’” she posted on Instagram on Wednesday.
She was not alone, Sydneysider Roblintin Sandell posted on X it took him 45 minutes Wednesday morning to travel from Gladstone Park in Balmain to the CBD, where the trip usually takes around 14 minutes.
Another user complained it was impossible to get out of Balmain this morning as “every exit toward the Iron Cove Bridge is backed up for miles”.
Premier Chris Minns said on Sunday morning that finding solutions that don’t negatively impact elsewhere in the road system was a difficult thing. He added there were no contractual arrangements between the government and Transurban, the private owners of WestConnex that would prevent future actions to increase entry points into the Anzac bridge.
“The decision we have to make is that if we solve one bottleneck, further up the road we might have bigger and deeper problems closer to the CBD,” he said.
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