Sydney Gateway fails to take trucks off roads: Clover Moore
Lord Mayor Clover Moore says the new Sydney Gateway misses the mark in terms of completing and expand the M4 and M5 corridors and create a link to Port Botany
Central Sydney
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LORD Mayor Clover Moore says the Sydney Gateway project fails to deliver on the State Government’s original justification for WestConnex — a road link to Port Botany.
Dubbed the missing piece in Sydney’s infrastructure puzzle, the new motorway will cost taxypayers an additional $2.6 billion and link the St Peters Interchange with the airport’s domestic and international terminals.
“The NSW Government’s original justification for building WestConnex was to complete and expand the M4 and M5 corridors and create a link to the airport and Port Botany,” Cr Moore said.
“This latest version of the Sydney Gateway project still does not provide an important link to Port Botany, so they are still failing to deliver on their original justification for WestConnex.”
She said the motorway would dump freight at St Peters and make tens of thousands of cars compete on already congested roads such as the Anzac Bridge, the Western Distributor and within the CBD.
An alternative proposal put forward by the City of Sydney would see the alignment of the new M5 and Gateway to directly connect Port Botany and the airport.
The City recommends the government create a new M5 connection to the Eastern Distributor to better distribute demand and manage existing congestion, which would complete a city ring road.
Residents of Tempe and St Peters are facing another five years of construction works near their homes with the government’s design.
Treasurer Dominic Perrotet said $800 million of the cost would come from the WestConnex budget.
Unlike WestConnex, the motorway will not be tolled.
Initial plans show major works are slated for existing roads including the relocation of Airport Drive north to Tempe and upgrades for Qantas and Joyce drives, the main arteries to domestic flights.
Locations for tunnelling and construction sites have yet to be confirmed.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the project would slash travel times and “help to fix notorious bottlenecks and congestion on roads around the airport”.