Secret warnings were given about Rozelle traffic chaos three years ago. They were ignored

The previous Coalition government was warned at least as far back as late 2021 about the risk that a spaghetti junction in Sydney’s inner west would cause two-kilometre-long queues, delays during morning peaks and rat-running by motorists trying to avoid congestion.

Confidential briefing documents by Transport for NSW spelt out the need for measures to avoid forecast congestion that were not adopted, including moveable lanes on the Anzac Bridge and widening part of the Western Distributor motorway by the time the Rozelle interchange opened in late 2023. The opening of the junction triggered traffic chaos.

Moveable lanes were planned for the Anzac Bridge but later shelved.Credit: Rhett Wyman

A briefing document in February last year – a month before the state election – warned that queues would extend up to two kilometres from the Anzac Bridge and Western Distributor during the morning peak without proposed mitigations.

While bus lane changes and other work ran to schedule at the time, Transport for NSW warned that plans to widen the Western Distributor and install so-called tidal flow on the Anzac Bridge would not be finished by the end of 2023 in time for the junction’s opening.

Transport officials also warned that an intersection upgrade in Pyrmont and other works to ease forecast congestion when the interchange opened were running late.

A spokesperson for deputy opposition leader Natalie Ward said in a statement that the former government invested in works around the interchange to support traffic flow during operations.

He said the document was “not consistent with the ministerial briefings Natalie received” when she was metropolitan roads minister between December 2021 and March last year.

The Herald has previously revealed that the confidential plans to widen a 900-metre stretch of the Western Distributor and put in moveable lanes on the Anzac Bridge were de-prioritised in the lead-up to the election and have since been shelved.

The spokesperson for Ward said the possibility of introducing a so-called tidal flow system would have been weighted against the long-term benefits of the Western Harbour Tunnel, which is due to open in 2028, and disruption to the Anzac Bridge.

Roads Minister John Graham said the Liberals had at least two years to warn Sydney to expect traffic jams, longer trip times and rat running through suburban streets in the inner west.

“Instead, they went to an election promising ‘traffic nirvana’, in one ex-minister’s words. The inner west was led to believe Victoria Road would be all bus lanes, bikes and fresh air,” he said.

“The NSW Labor government has always been brutally frank with the public about the challenge in balancing extra traffic induced by the Rozelle interchange.”

Transport for NSW’s document in February 2023 also warned of the risk that motorists’ trips would be 15 minutes longer and that “rat-running” would increase on two key streets in Annandale, as well as Parramatta Road. The delays for motorists turned out to be much longer after the interchange opened last November, especially along Victoria Road.

It also cited a 2017 environmental assessment predicting “significant queuing” on City West Link from congestion on the Anzac Bridge and Western Distributor without mitigations. In addition, it forecast queuing in the new Iron Cove Link tunnel and on an M4 motorway exit ramp.

More than two years earlier, a “sensitive” briefing document in November 2021 also warned that the interchange was forecast to increase traffic on the Anzac Bridge, and that without mitigations, would result in queues up to two kilometres long from the bridge and Western Distributor into WestConnex tunnels.

As it turned out, the queues extended along Victoria Road and City West Link while traffic out of WestConnex tunnels flowed relatively smoothly onto the bridge during morning peaks after the interchange opened last November.

The November 2021 document also warned of 15-minute delays for motorists bound for the CBD during the morning peak without mitigation measures.

Congestion caused on roads in Sydney’s inner west by the Rozelle interchange’s opening late last year.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald

The measures targeted to be completed by December 2023 when the interchange had been expected to be opened included ramp meters on roads approaching the Anzac Bridge. Other work was to install electronic signage on the bridge in a bid to improve traffic capacity.

Toll road operator Transurban recently told a parliamentary inquiry that it undertook high-level analysis of traffic “hotspots” and other likely impacts of the Rozelle interchange as far back as July 2022 and shared it with the previous Coalition government.

The opening of the WestConnex motorway interchange late last year caused severe congestion on roads in Rozelle, Balmain, Drummoyne, Lilyfield and Annandale as motorists struggled to navigate new routes, poor signage and multiple-lane merging.

Victoria Road and local streets in Drummoyne and Gladesville remain the worst affected by congestion. Changes to the sequencing of traffic lights to reduce congestion closer to the Balmain peninsula have caused vehicles to back up further west along Victoria Road in the morning peak.

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