Blackheath won’t be silenced on Great Western Highway upgrade

Transport for NSW will face the music at a series of meetings with furious Blackheath residents who are unhappy about a $2.5 billion Great Western Highway upgrade plan.

Blackheath Highway Action Group (BAG) chair Michael Paag addresses the community on the State Government's Great Western Highway Program and how it will impact them.

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FURIOUS Blackheath residents will get their chance to face off with bureaucrats over a proposed $2.5 billion Great Western Highway upgrade they refuse to accept.

They have been heaping pressure on the State Government to withdraw its plan to allow B-double trucks — up to 30 metres in length — on residential streets, making submissions and signing petitions, calling for freight rail to be an option.

But Government maintains its roads program is necessary to provide “safer, more efficient, more reliable journeys, and better connect communities with the Central West”.

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) western director Alistair Lunn said to ensure residents understand the plans proposed for investigating options through Blackheath, TfNSW will, in addition to planned drop-ins, host a public meeting in Blackheath — where the largest number of submissions has been received.

Blackheath residents strongly oppose trucks, like this one, hauling B-doubles on the Great Western Highway.

The public meeting will be held in Phillips Hall on Tuesday, December 10, from 6pm.

Blackheath High Action Group (BAG) chair, Michael Paag, welcomed the meeting.

But he still wants Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) to issue a public statement “unreservedly apologising” for letters it “erroneously” sent some Blackheath residents on possible compulsory property acquisitions for the upgrade.

One Blackheath resident has spoken of issues around snow and black ice in the Blue Mountains and suggested fitting major trucks with “rail wheels”.

“The question is, where is Paul Toole? As (Roads) Minister, he is responsible for this mess and he should attend the public meeting and apologise to the community for his department’s stuff-up,” Mr Paag said.

Blue Mountains Council will also join in the fight, with councillors voting unanimously to put the brakes on a plan that would open up the Great Western Highway to 30-metre B-double trucks for the first time.

BAG hopes Regional Transport and Roads Minister Paul Toole (pictured) will attend TfNSW’s planned public meeting in Blackheath.

The State Government argues that out of the four major freight connections into Sydney from the regions, the Great Western Highway is the key east-west route.

However, it is the only one of the four routes not two lanes in each direction and limited to 19-metre B-double and 20-metre Performance Based Standard (PBS) vehicles.

Government’s ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ sheet, dated November 2019, says “separating long distance and heavy vehicles from local traffic, pedestrians and cyclists will improve road safety”.

Government’s upgrade program is investigating and considering the following options:

• Katoomba to Medlow Bath to include bridges between highpoints along the ridgeline.
• Medlow Bath to include widening the existing corridor within the current property boundaries through the township with a 60 kmph speed limit.
• Medlow Bath to Blackheath options to include widening the existing corridor or running along the western side of the rail line.
• Blackheath options to include: widening the existing corridor; an outer bypass with bridges over Shipley Road, Centennial Pass and porter Pass Track; a western bypass; or a long tunnel or short tunnel bypass (both beneath the town).

Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill argued all four options “will impact every village below Katoomba”.

“It is better that the government confronts 78,000 residents as opposed to eight or nine — we are better when we are together,’ Mr Greenhill said.

BAG’s Michael Paag says “the duplication is expected to save 10 minutes ... (but) tunnel or no tunnel, it’s still going to have a huge impact on our community”.

“We are still in the very early stages of investigating options through Blackheath and community feedback is critically important in shaping the final plans for the upgrade,” Mr Lunn stressed.

Mr Paag said: “Our plan is to take back our town.”

Residents at a public meeting held in Blackheath endorsed BAG’s approach to solve the problem.

Blue Mountains state Labor MP Trish Doyle is opposed to the planned highway upgrade and has started a petition, with the aim of getting 10,000 signatures and then tabling the issue in Parliament.

Information sessions

Roads and Maritime Services invites community feedback until 5pm on Monday, December 16.

You can comment online, contact the team by calling 1800 953 777 or emailing [e-mail], or attend one of RMS’ information sessions on:

• Wednesday, December 4, 5pm-7pm: Blackheath Area Neighbourhood Centre (Bates Hall), corner Gardiner Crescent and Great Western Highway, Blackheath
• Monday, December 9, 5pm-7pm: Hydro Majestic (Delmont Room 2), Great Western Highway, Medlow Bath
• Tuesday, December 10, 5pm-7pm: Mount Vic Flicks, 2A Hartley Avenue, Mount Victoria
• Wednesday, December 11, 5pm-7pm: Hartley Hall, 2 Mid Hartley Road, Hartley