Sydney’s missing F6 motor link to the south on road to reality

RED light. Green light. Go. After 50 years, the State Government has started work on the F6 motorway to Sutherland. It will bypass 60 sets of traffic lights.

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AFTER 50 years on the drawing board, the state government has started work on the missing link to Sydney’s south — the F6 motorway to Sutherland.

Investigation work is currently under way to determine the route for the F6 motorway, now dubbed SouthConnex, which would link the M1 Princes Motorway near Waterfall with the rest of the Sydney motorway network.

Roads and Maritime Services engineers have been carrying out geotechnical analysis for the past month near Brighton-Le-Sands, San Souci and Taren Point.

Peak hour traffic on the Grand Parade, Brighton-Le-Sands. Picture: RMS

Work begins underneath the Captain Cook Bridge as part of the Bradfield F6 project.

The underground testing currently being carried out along the corridor from President Ave in Kogarah, Taren Point, Loftus and at Waterfall involves drilling a small diameter hole — about the size of an orange — to extract a rock core sample which is used for scientific testing and analysis.

If built, the link would allow long-suffering motorists from southern Sydney to avoid 60 sets of traffic lights between the Princes Highway at Loftus and St Peters.

The NRMA, which is backing the construction of the motorway, is calling on both the federal and NSW governments to finally commit to, and build, SouthConnex — formerly the F6 Extension — to provide much-needed relief from the congestion choking local roads and finish this long overdue missing link in Sydney’s transport infrastructure.

NRMA analysis of data from 2013-14 to 2015-16 found travel times between Kogarah to Caringbah are 9 per cent slower in the morning and 16 per cent slower in the afternoon/evening, while from Princes Highway at Heathcote to Blakehurst they are 13 per cent slower in the morning and 20 per cent slower in the afternoon/evening.

NRMA President Kyle Loades said SouthConnex would deliver vast benefits to families in southern Sydney and the Illawarra while providing a major boost to the local economy.

“Sydney’s boundless potential as a benchmark for what the cities of the future should look like to the rest of the world can and should be realised by putting innovation at the heart of our infrastructure development — and SouthConnex is a great place to start,” Mr Loades said.

“As more freight is delivered to Port Kembla and Port Botany and as Sydney prepares to welcome WestConnex and NorthConnex, (the case for) finishing SouthConnex to get heavy vehicles off our surface roads and fast-track the delivery of goods and services will be strengthened ever further.

The proposed route for the F6 corridor.

“However, at the most basic level it’s about getting our members home to their families faster and safer.

“This project has been in the pipeline for decades and I can’t think of a better reason to make it a reality.”

SouthConnex would link up with the 33km WestConnex system set for completion in 2023 and could allow motorists to traverse Sydney without having to travel above ground, dramatically reducing travel times and easing congestion.

A corridor of land has been reserved for the motorway since 1954, which should minimise headaches for the government on the project.

Mr Loades also urged the government to adopt the latest in intelligent transport systems when building SouthConnex, including using data sensors to record real-time traffic flows, variable messaging signs and metered ramp entry on to the motorway to make sure taxpayers got bang for their buck.

University of Sydney Business School founding director of Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies Professor David Hensher said SouthConnex needed to be built.

“That particular corridor is very congested. Some say the rail corridor needs to be beefed up but I cannot see how that will be enough to cater for the population growth down there,” Prof Hensher said.

A report using the information gathered from the investigation works will be compiled and will become part of a business case for the new motorway.

Minister for Roads Duncan Gay said the state government was delivering on its promise to do the work and see if SouthConnex was a viable project.

“I have made a point of putting it under a microscope to see if the benefits stack up, just like I did with all of the projects we have under way in NSW,” Mr Gay said.

“I look forward to receiving the business case once this work is completed to see where the F6 upgrade ranks as a priority along with all of the other road needs across the state.

“In the meantime, we also have the $300 million Gateway to the South program under way busting congestion in the short term.”

Patrick Casey with his wife Rose and kids Georgia, and Tommy at their Caringbah home.

Dad Patrick just wants more time with the family

PATRICK CASEY, who has made the tortuous trek from Caringbah to the city for work for more than a decade, says he would love to see the SouthConnex built if it meant less time in traffic and more time with his two young children.

“I am typically out the door at 7am and not home before 7pm, so with them being so young that means they are typically in bed or I only get to spend an hour two with them,” the Assure Wealth managing director said.

“If it’s a bad week, I could be spending up to 15 hours in the car. The Grand Parade and Southern Cross Drive are by far the worst sections of the trip, they are shockers.”

Mr Casey said his battle with traffic was highlighted when he arrived at his daughter’s preschool to pick up her up and the teachers did not know who he was.

“They said, ‘Excuse me, who are you here for?’ That’s when it dawned on me that it was first time I had been able to make it to pick Georgie up from school,” he said.

“Georgie is five years old and Tommy is two, so I want to spend as much time with them as I can, and to be able to play with them at home or take them to swimming lessons.”