Parramatta Light Rail: Six bridges to be built at Rosehill, Dundas, Camellia, Westmead
Six bridges will be built as part of the $2.4 billion Parramatta Light Rail project including a 417,000kg structure over James Ruse Drive. But a bridge will be closed to traffic on one of the community’s oldest structures.
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Six bridges will be built at Westmead, Parramatta, Camellia and Dundas as part of the $2.4 billion Parramatta Light Rail project including a 417,000kg over James Ruse Drive at Rosehill.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the new structures would support dual-track light rail and the project would include modifications to five other bridges.
New bridges will comprise:
● A new 417,000kg steel arch bridge over James Ruse Drive at Rosehill (the biggest bridge construction on the project)
● A former rail bridge at Kissing Point Road in Dundas will be converted for pedestrians and cyclists alongside a new three-span bridge for light rail;
● The James Hardie underpass at Camellia will be replaced with a bridge for trams and pedestrians.
● Dundas’ Vineyard Creek Bridge and Leamington Road underpass at Dundas will be replaced with bridges for light rail as well as pedestrians and cyclists.
● A two-span bridge for light rail and pedestrians across Parramatta River will be built alongside the existing Bridge Road bridge at Westmead in the Cumberland Council area.
Project modifications include encasing support structures for the Victoria Road bridge and Pennant Hills Road bridge, Parramatta, in concrete for protection and modifying the Adderton Road bridge in Telopea to support pedestrians.
Under the changes, the 181-year-old Lennox Bridge at Church St, Parramatta, will no longer open to traffic, only to trams and pedestrians, when the project is under way from 2023.
Eat St (Church St, between Macquarie and Market streets) has been closed permanently to traffic since February 1 this year, with major construction underway since June.
The Parramatta River bridge at Camellia, built in 1895 and modified in 1995, will be widened to accommodate cyclists and walkers.
The Parramatta Light Rail will connect Westmead to Carlingford via the Parramatta CBD and Camellia, and is expected to open in 2023.
Mr Constance said the bridges project would also benefit the broader community, not just commuters.
“Greater Parramatta will be revitalised over the next three years with much more than a new light rail network — there will be better connections between communities thanks to new walking and cycling paths,” Mr Constance said.