Road tunnel to northern beaches will be dumped if Labor wins NSW Election
NSW Labor has confirmed it will scrap the $8 billion Beaches Link tunnel if it wins the March 2019 election and instead spend the money on trains for western Sydney.
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NSW Labor has confirmed it will scrap the $8 billion Beaches Link tunnel if it wins the March 2019 election and instead spend the money on trains for western and southern Sydney.
As part of his “public transport over toll roads” policy released on Thursday, Opposition leader Luke Foley will prioritise the needs of western suburbs’ commuters over those on the northern beaches.
Mr Foley has already gone on record that he wants to dump what he described as Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s “pet project”.
“Frankly, the needs of three million residents of western Sydney must come before those of 300,000 northern beaches residents,” he told state parliament in his NSW Budget reply speech.
He said the proposed user-pays twin tunnels, from Cammeray to Balgowlah and Seaforth, were the wrong priority for Sydney.
Labor is set to announce a multibillion-dollar transport fund for Sydney’s growth areas that will give priority to public transport, including a new metro rail from Parramatta to the CBD, over tolled motorways.
The Government has already released a draft design plan for the Beaches Link, which it says will greatly improve travel times to and from the city. It was expected to release a detailed environmental impact statement on the project next year.
Recently community meetings show, however, that there is divided opinion on the peninsula on the need for the tunnels.
Its critics say it will attract more residents into their cars and the tunnels will end up an underground traffic snarl.
But frustrated commuters want the toll road because they say it will cut the amount of time they spend in their cars.
Residents calling for an immediate halt to planning on the Beaches Link staged a morning peak hour demonstration on a busy commuter route on Tuesday.
About 40 people, representing community groups worried about the impact of the underground motorway, held placards that also urged motorists and bus passengers using Sydney Rd, Balgowlah, to support a push for public transport options.
They encouraged people to attend a community meeting at Balgowlah Boys High School at 4pm on Sunday, November 11, to hear more information about the impacts the tunnel, and its construction, will have in a 5km radius of Balgowlah golf course.
Wearing T-shirts with the messages “Stop and Think — Rethink the Beaches Link” the residents want the NSW Government to place a moratorium on the tunnel’s development and start a review of the transport needs on the northern beaches.
Jo Casserly, a spokeswoman for Beaches Tunnel — How it Impacts You, said the review should examine mass public transit options.
Ms Casserly said tunnel planning should stop until more details about the effects it would have on the northern beaches were revealed.
“There are concerns that the Beaches Link will not lead to improved travel times to the city because it will reach full capacity soon after it opens by motorists making new trips.”
There were also concerns about unfiltered exhaust stacks, destruction of public open space and traffic “rat runs” near schools.
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