By Matt O'Sullivan
The NSW government has committed to building the first stage of the F6 motorway extension from Arncliffe in Sydney's south to Kogarah but shelved the most controversial section that would have required 60 hectares of the Royal National Park or bulldozing 460 homes.
The first section of the toll road will comprise a four-kilometre tunnel of two lanes in each direction from the WestConnex motorway at Arncliffe to President Avenue at Kogarah. It will result in the acquisition of five homes in and around President Avenue, and the demolition of five others owned by the state which are tenanted.
The government was short on specifics about the design, cost and tolling for the first stage, which it said would be released in the middle of next year. However, much of the detail about the likely shape of the toll road has been released over the past six months in scores of government documents leaked to Fairfax Media.
In committing to the project on Tuesday, Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said the government wanted tunnel excavation and other construction work for the first stage to begin in early 2019.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Roads Minister Melinda Pavey, second from left, have committed to the first three stages of the F6 extension. Credit: Dean Lewins
"We are absolutely committed to stages one, two and three with a priority of section one at this time," she said.
The second stage will extend from President Avenue to Taren Point, and stage three over the Georges River and onto Loftus near the Royal National Park in the south.
Leaked documents have previously revealed about 28 private properties – mostly at Sans Souci – would need to be acquired for stage two, and almost 20 for stage three.
The government said the road tunnel for stage one would reduce traffic congestion on the Princes Highway through Arncliffe, Banksia and Rockdale, and on the Grand Parade in Brighton-le-Sands. The tunnel will be built to a three-lane standard to "future-proof the project", it said.
The first section of the F6 extension will link the WestConnex toll road at Arncliffe to President Avenue at Kogarah in Sydney's south.
Asked whether the government was committed to extending the motorway from Loftus to Waterfall, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the focus was on the first three sections and there was "no threat whatsoever" to the Royal National Park.
"Today is about accelerating stage one," she said. "There is no going back. This project is happening."
Ms Pavey said the government had made a decision to focus on the first three sections between Arncliffe and Loftus because traffic modelling for stage four had showed that it was not a priority.
Leaked internal documents have shown that stage four would have required the acquisition of 60 hectares of the Royal National Park, or the purchase of about 460 homes and 40 commercial properties between Loftus and Waterfall at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Another document produced late last year for the entire F6 extension also identified six locations for ventilation stations, exhaust stacks and air intake pipes at Arncliffe, Rockdale, Sans Souci, Kogarah and Port Hacking.
The government said details about the location of ventilation shafts for the first stage would be released next year.
It will spend an extra $35 million on planning and development work for the F6 over the coming months, and will lodge an environmental impact statement in the second half of 2018.
Labor's infrastructure spokesman, Michael Daley, said the government needed to release the business case and options considered before committing to the project.
"They have already made their mind up about what they are going to do and not a single community member along the route has been consulted about it at all," he said.
In March, the government also committed to the "Beaches Link" toll road tunnel between Balgowlah in Sydney and the Warringah Freeway at North Sydney.
Ms Berejiklian said the government could handle both projects at the same time, and would not prioritise one over the other.
"This is about setting us up for the next generation of projects and clearly both the F6 and the Beaches Tunnel .... will be happening at the same time," she said.
Detailed design work on the Beaches Link including final costings, route analysis and the timeframe for construction is due in the middle of next year.