By Jacob Saulwick
Two lanes on Parramatta Road will be "solely dedicated" for public transport, says the NSW Planning Department, which has approved a motorway tunnel under the maligned corridor.
The approval conditions mean there will be less road space for motorists trying to avoid paying tolls, but public transport travel times should improve.
Planning Minister Rob Stokes announced on Friday he had approved the M4 East motorway section of the WestConnex motorway between Homebush and Haberfield, but imposed what he described as "unprecedented" conditions on the project.
Foremost is the requirement for at least one lane in each direction on Parramatta Road to be exclusively used for public transport.
An artist's impression of how the M4 East Homebush Bay Drive will look.
However the conditions also say that those two dedicated public transport lanes may not be required if "an alternative dedicated public transport route that provides an improved public transport outcome for the area ... is approved."
At the moment there are no dedicated bus lanes on Parramatta Road west of Leichhardt.
There is as yet no detail on what sort of public transport will be included on the road surface. Options could include either light rail or, more likely, lanes restricted for buses.
Other conditions imposed on the 5.5 kilometre motorway tunnel, to be built by 2019, include the requirement for an Air Quality Community Consultative Committee to include residents who live close to proposed ventilation stacks, and a requirement for an increase in open space in the area.
How the M4 East Parramatta road entry and exit will look.
The proposed motorway, part of the $16.8 billion WestConnex project, has been hugely controversial in the inner west areas under which it will run.
NSW Planning received submissions from 4480 people and organisations in response to the project, many of them highly critical.
Artist's impression of WestConnex entry and exit in Haberfield. An entrance of similar scale would be built at Parramatta Road at Sydney University if an interchange was build there.
The motorway is to be one of four sections of the 33-kilometre WestConnex project.
The others included a widened M4 between Parramatta and Homebush, which will re-impose a toll on that section; a new tunnel between Beverly Hills and St Peters to be built by 2019; and a tunnel between St Peters and Haberfield, including outlets at Rozelle and Camperdown.
The projects are being funded by the NSW and federal governments, as well as from toll revenue.
"I don't want motorists to lose any more time sitting in the car park that is Parramatta Road, and WestConnex will be crucial in fixing the problem," said Roads Minister Duncan Gay.
The Federal Minister for Major Projects, Paul Fletcher, said construction was due to start in the middle of the year.
"This is another WestConnex milestone and, once finished, the tunnel will allow motorists to travel between Homebush and Haberfield without stopping at a single traffic light," Mr Fletcher said.
But Labor's Member for Summer Hill, Jo Haylen, said the government should be scrapping WestConnex, not approving it.
"I'm disappointed the government has decided to move ahead with their plan to rip a hole through the inner west, offering small concessions but more or less sticking with their destructive plan," Ms Haylen said.
"Despite the consultation emphatically saying the community doesn't want this road, it's business as usual for the government," she said.
Pauline Lockie, a spokeswoman for the WestCONnex Action Group, which is opposed to the project, said the process had been a "sham",
"We can't trust that those conditions will be met," Ms Lockie said.
She said the modelling for the project, including its impact on air quality, health, noise and vibration, was based on the provision of two dedicated bus lanes, which may never be built.
Labor's Jodi McKay, the Member for Strathfield, said the surface transport option should be a light rail line from Strathfield to Sydney University, connecting to the existing light rail line at Taverners Hill.
The government has already committed to a light rail line from Parramatta to Strathfield via Sydney Olympic Park.
Ms Haylen said light rail would have multiple advantages over bus lanes. It would carry more people, and better encourage local retail and cafe strips.
"And it could interchange with the existing light rail to give an east-west and north-south connection that we don't have with heavy rail in the area."