Slowing traffic on parts of WestConnex to reduce chronic congestion on the City West Link and Victoria Road in Sydney’s inner west during morning peaks is under consideration, while a crucial turning point in Annadale is set to be reinstated next month to help improve traffic flows.
The inner-west traffic jams caused by the $3.9 billion Rozelle interchange, the final part of the WestConnex toll road, overshadowed the opening on Sunday of a 10-hectare parkland built above the motorway junction.
The new parkland above the Rozelle interchange opened on Sunday.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Transport for NSW coordinator-general Howard Collins said an option could be to meter a point in the Rozelle interchange tunnels where vehicles from the Iron Cove Link and the M4 motorway merge.
“We’re also talking to WestConnex about whether we need to think about metering the start of the M4 further west,” he said. “Long term that may assist us if we can’t get the traffic volumes to work here [at Rozelle].”
Metering involves installing traffic signals to control the rate at which vehicles pass onto another section of roadway during peak periods. Ramp meters were installed on Victoria Road and the City West Link for CBD-bound motorists approaching the Anzac Bridge.
While the holiday period will provide a respite from the congestion, Collins said a right-hand turn from Johnston Street in Annandale onto the Crescent would be reinstated, most likely in late January, before high traffic volumes returned.
Cyclists and other locals tried out the parkland for the first time.Credit: Edwina Pickles
It will give CBD-bound motorists using Johnston Street an alternative to the City West Link and Anzac Bridge by allowing them to head south-east and join Parramatta Road. A left-hand turn from the Crescent onto City West Link for westbound vehicles will also be reopened in late January or February.
Collins said road authorities were still looking at whether the Victoria Road on-ramp to the Anzac Bridge should be extended, although they were holding off doing so for now, because of fears it will “cause more grief than benefit”. It had the potential to negate recent benefits from the addition of a 400-metre-long second lane on the City West Link.
Officials have been considering re-routing 500X bus services through the 1.1-kilometre Iron Cove Link, which bypasses a stretch of Victoria Road in Balmain.
However, Collins said the 500X bus services would not be re-routed for at least the next two months because more people in Balmain were trying to take public transport instead of driving.
Basketball hoops and playgrounds at the new parkland proved popular on Sunday.Credit: Edwina Pickles
“If we divert those 500X services ... it will reduce the capacity of the people in this area getting a bus into the city,” he said.
With about 1500 people converging on the new parkland on Sunday, Roads Minster John Graham thanked locals for their patience during construction of the interchange over the last four years.
Graham said the opening of a 10-hectare parkland was a “special moment” for the city, which would add 14 kilometres of cycling and walking paths. “It’s part of a push to recognise we need more parklands in our city,” he said.
Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne said locals had “put up with a lot” during construction of the interchange, including parking and traffic chaos.
The parkland features 14 kilometres of cycling and walk paths.Credit: Edwina Pickles
“This is the compensation that our community was promised,” he said, referring to the parkland. “We have had to fight hard to make sure that we got it.”
The state government has chipped in an extra $20 million for the parklands.
Balmain Greens MP Kobi Shetty said the road congestion in the weeks after the interchange opened last month had been stressful for people living in the area. “It’s been a bit of the salt on the wounds for everyone who’s put up with four or five years of construction,” she said.
However, she said the parkland was a “real win” for the inner west which had a critical shortage of green space. Pedestrian and cycling bridges over the City West Link would also better connect suburbs on each side.
Located just a few kilometres from the Sydney CBD, the parkland comprises two large grass sports fields, wetlands with a boardwalk on top, playgrounds, fitness equipment, a barbecue area and a network of cycle and pedestrian paths. The park has been built on the site of the former Rozelle rail yards, which closed in 1980.
While the park opened on Sunday, lighting for the sports fields, multipurpose courts for netball and basketball, and changing rooms for organised sports will not be completed until next year.
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