Fifteenth Ave Austral left out on $1.9bn investment for Western Sydney Airport road upgrades

A southwest Sydney mayor and MP are disappointment after a crucial road connecting a CBD into the Western Sydney Airport was missing from a federal $1.9b cash splash.

Fifteenth Ave on the edge of Middleton Grange. Picture: John Appleyard

A southwest Sydney mayor and MP have expressed their disappointment after a crucial road connecting the Liverpool CBD into Western Sydney Airport was left out of the federal government’s $1.9bn cash splash.

Leppington state Labor MP Nathan Hagarty in a parliamentary speech last week said he was “disappointed” Fifteenth Ave – the main east-west arterial road through Austral – missed out on the billion-dollar cash injection after the Infrastructure Review Panel labelled the road as a “high priority”.

Mr Hagarty said his electorate was witnessing a “surge in growth and grappling with infrastructure challenges” and the “neglect is most acutely felt on our road network”.

“Families in Austral are stuck in gridlock while on their way to and from work and school. The failure lies at the feet of all three levels of government,” he said.

The arterial Fifteenth Ave. Picture: John Appleyard

He said while the roads around the aerotropolis, such as the Eastern Ring Rd in Badgerys Creek received funding, Fifteenth Ave’s upgrades were “overdue and more urgent”.

“While the construction of the Eastern Ring Rd has been applauded by the developers with landholdings in the aerotropolis, the area will not see significant population growth for some years to come,” he said.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said funding for road upgrades to the aerotropolis was “desperately needed”.

MP Nathan Hagarty. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“The federal government’s neglect of Fifteenth Ave is a Sydney-wide issue with serious effects on the planned development of Western Sydney Airport,” Mr Mannoun said.

“Western Sydney Airport is due to be operating from 2026. It’s going to be the federal and state governments, not Liverpool City Council, who will be left looking bad when passengers can’t get to and from their flights.”

This comes after Mr Mannoun called for the council to allocate $100,000 from the general funds during his mayoral minute at a council meeting in February to appoint a person to oversee the campaign, lobbying, advocacy and petitioning to the NSW Government for upgrades to Fifteenth Ave in Austral and Cowpasture Rd.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun. Picture: Monique Harmer

Mr Mannoun said in his mayoral minute while Fifteenth Ave was the “spine road” connecting Liverpool CBD to the new airport, traffic backs up over 3km during peak hour.

“It is also one of only two roads leading out of Middleton Grange which results in extreme traffic delays … it takes residents 40 minutes to travel 300m,” he said.

Mr Mannoun said during the meeting while the council signed an agreement with the federal and state governments to fund $50m for Fifteenth Ave upgrades, it “appears to have been forgotten” and only made up 10 per cent of costs for the required works.

Mr Hagarty said in his parliamentary speech investigations works have started as $20m of the $50m will go towards works to reduce congestion build-up on Cowpasture Rd between Fifteenth Ave and the M7.

“I have and will continue to advocate for updates on Fifteenth Ave. Fifteenth Ave will remain a major priority for me and the government,” Mr Hagarty said.

A spokesman for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts said while it was “doing a lot, but we know from the findings of the Western Sydney Transport Infrastructure Panel that there is a lot more to do”.

“It is important to remember that Western Sydney International Airport will not be at capacity on day one in 2026,” the spokesman said.

“We will continue working through the recommendations of the Western Sydney Transport Infrastructure Panel through future Budget processes.”