Sydney Uni transport expert backs Beaches Link tunnel
TRANSPORT expert Dr Geoffrey Clifton is backing the Beaches Link tunnel to allow the lower north shore community to reclaim their roads.
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BUILD the tunnel as soon as possible.
That is the opinion of a leading transport expert who is backing State Government plans to build Beaches Link.
Senior lecturer Dr Geoffrey Clifton from the University of Sydney believes the region has been waiting a long time for the project.
“The main need for it is to cut out the congestion on Military Rd and around The Spit bridge,” Dr Clifton said.
“Urban tunnels work well if you can get the traffic off the surface roads and free that space up for other uses such as public transport, cycle paths and footpaths.”
At the moment, more than 66,000 vehicles travel along Spit Rd on weekdays.
Dr Clifton, who has a PhD in transportation management, explained that the tunnel on its own is not enough to fix congestion and must be part of a package.
He would like to see public transport being prioritised along the Spit and Military Rd corridor, helping to transform into a place where people can sit out in cafes or go for a cycle.
This could be achieved with dedicated bus lanes and potentially light rail.
“It’s worth considering whether we would prefer a light rail solution or a bus solution,” he said.
An underground heavy rail line to the northern beaches has been mooted but this a project Dr Clifton he believes should be planned for the future.
At the moment, building a rail line would not stack up economically because the population isn’t dense enough, he said.
More apartment blocks would need to be built and this would drastically change the look and feel of the beaches area.
“You can only have a fixed rail underground service if you can live with a lot more density of housing,” he said.
The location of exhaust stacks for the tunnel is already proving to be a controversial topic among residents.
Dr Clifton acknowledges this is a “contentious issue” and would like to see filtration. But he pointed out that cars are getting cleaner as technology develops.
“They definitely need to be built ideally with filtration but certainly provision for filtration in the future,” he said.
“Pollution from cars isn’t going to be the big worry that it is today in another 20 years’ time.”
Meanwhile, Simon Menzies has his shovel out and is ready to dig to the northern beaches.
The Mosman councillor is calling on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to make a solid commitment to build the Beaches Link and Western Harbour tunnels.
Funding worth $556 million was announced in the NSW budget for the project and this will go towards planning and pre-construction. But he wants to see more.
“I’ll be finished digging before Gladys has even started,” Cr Menzies said.
“The policy of procrastination must end and works need to commence this year.”
Cr Menzies posed for a photo with his shovel at busy Spit Junction.
The road corridor is one of Sydney’s worst bottlenecks and the tunnels would bypass this problem.
Cr Menzies is running a campaign in support of the tunnel and his online petition at change.org has gathered more than 400 signatures.
He believes the state government has reneged on a promise made prior to the by-election last year.
“New housing development is in overdrive yet the infrastructure to support it has been further delayed,” he said.
“It’s ridiculous that we need to wait another decade on top of the three decades we have already been waiting.”
He fears the whole project will be axed by Labor in the future.
The government has already invested $77 million in geotechnical work on the project.
The Budget stated a total of $556 million would be spent on tunnel pre-construction and planning over the next four years. A detailed project design is expected to be released soon for public input.
“We know this is a vital project and only the NSW Liberals & Nationals will deliver it. Labor has stated repeatedly it would cancel the project,” a NSW Government spokesman said.
“The NSW Government has a proven track record when it comes to infrastructure and we will have more to say on the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link soon.”