Seamless link from Parramatta to Sydney Olympic Park on its way
A $10 million boardwalk from Parramatta ferry wharf will connect cyclists and walkers to Meadowbank. The link will halve the current travel distance, remove steep inclines and avoid a number of road crossings.
Parramatta
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A $10 million boardwalk from Parramatta ferry wharf will connect cyclists and walkers to Meadowbank.
The critical link in the Parramatta Valley Cycleway has been promised in the NSW State Budget, due on June 19. It means users will avoid the 36 per cent gradient incline at the Gasworks bridge on MacArthur St and will make the ride from Parramatta Park to Sydney Olympic Park “seamless”.
The link will halve the current travel distance, remove steep inclines and avoid a number of road crossings.
It will also provide safer access for users, including Macarthur Girls High School students who were previously using a “goat track” on the top side of the cliff between Queens Ave and Stewart St.
An upper level pedestrian link between these two streets will be created as part of the project to cater for the student traffic.
Parramatta Lord Mayor Andrew Wilson said it was $10 million well spent.
“It will improve traffic flow by reducing the volume of pedestrians and cyclists using the crossing on Macarthur St,” he said.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet visited Parramatta on Monday morning to make the announcement.
He said big ticket items like the Powerhouse Museum moving to Parramatta were great for the area but he said “sometimes smaller investment can make big changes in people’s lives”.
“Parramatta is one of the three city hubs identified by the Greater Sydney Commission and is already forging a bold new future for western Sydney,” he said.
“It’ll (the link) be seamless and in keeping with the current infrastructure.”
Construction of the boardwalk will be completed, where possible, at the same time as Transport for NSW’s Parramatta ferry wharf upgrade.
A combined 400,000 walkers and cyclists used the cycleway last year. With the link upgrade, those figures are expected to double. Validating that theory, when the Subiaco Creek link opened last year, numbers doubled overnight.
The Subiaco link made the route from Parramatta to Sydney Olympic Park completely off road, but this new link makes it more enjoyable for the user.
With only four per cent of the population using bikes to get to work, there’s a real push to increase those figures.
Parramatta state Liberal MP Geoff Lee said Parramatta Council has “aspirations of 10 per cent of people cycling to work”.
“We’re building Sydney’s best shared cycling and walking path. We want it at 20 per cent,” he said.
Recent sections that have been completed include:
● Subiaco Creek path, Rydalmere.
● Baludarri Wetlands boardwalk, Rangihou Reserve to James Ruse Drive, and Western Sydney University.
● The Lennox Bridge Portals.