By Matt O'Sullivan
Traffic has been significantly heavier on Parramatta Road, one of Sydney's most congested roadways, due to motorists using it to avoid the first day of tolls on a widened stretch of Sydney's M4 motorway between Parramatta and Homebush.
After a month-long toll holiday ended on Tuesday, motorists began forking out for the journey as toll gantries on the M4 were activated for the first time since 2010. The distance-based tolls range from $1.77 to $4.56 each way for cars and motorbikes, or $5.30 to $13.67 for trucks and other heavy vehicles.
Travel times in both directions along western parts of Parramatta Road blew out by about 20 per cent on Tuesday. Traffic was also queued for up to 4 kilometres along Woodville Road from where it intersects with Church Street at Parramatta.
Transport for NSW said it was not unexpected to see motorists avoid the M4, which was "normal for the opening of any new toll road".
Tolls on the widened M4 and other parts of WestConnex will rise by as much as 4 per cent a year.Credit: Nick Moir
"While the arterial road network is coping, we would expect motorists to experience more congestion on those routes at this stage, and we are pulling out all the stops to help traffic run smoothly as motorists adjust to the changes," a spokeswoman said.
"As motorists weigh up the travel benefits offered by the motorway with the cost of the toll, we expect to see traffic flows normalise."
While motorists endured slower journeys along Parramatta Road on Tuesday, travel times on the widened M4 were similar to those before the toll was imposed.
The 7.5-km section of the M4 between Parramatta and Homebush has been widened at a cost of about $500 million from three to four lanes in each direction as part of the first stage of the $16.8 billion WestConnex motorway project.
Motorists' response to the tolls over the coming months will be the first test for the 33-kilometre WestConnex, the final stage of which is due to be completed by 2024.
The business case for the project forecast higher weekday traffic on sections of Parramatta Road west of Homebush in 2031 with WestConnex than without.
However, it predicted a significant decline in traffic on much of Parramatta Road east of Strathfield by 2031 as a result of the first stage of WestConnex.
Tolls were removed from the M4 in 2010, and the government has justified their reintroduction by saying they will go towards paying for WestConnex.
Labor transport spokeswoman Jodi McKay said motorists were taking Parramatta Road to avoid a toll that should not have been imposed.
"We will be campaigning right up to the next election on this because this toll should not be on the M4. You can't put a toll on a road that is not new," she said. "Motorists will use Parramatta Road because they don't want to pay a $4.56 toll each way."
Ms McKay said Labor wanted to see funding earmarked for the proposed Beaches Link to Sydney's north-east being used to pay for the widened M4, instead of tolls.
However, she said it did not oppose tolls on what she termed new parts of WestConnex, such as an extension of the M4 between Homebush and Haberfield.
WestConnex Minister Stuart Ayres said drivers were expected to test other roads when the tolls started on the M4, which was what occurred on the M7, the Eastern Distributor and the Lane Cove and Cross City tunnels under Labor.
"The M4 needs to be widened and extended to link up with City West Link and WestConnex is doing this," he said.
"Labor has ignored this challenge for 20 years. The government is simply doing what Labor couldn't do."
Mr Ayres said Labor did not believe WestConnex could be funded without tolls, which was why the opposition had not committed to removing them.
Like the rest of WestConnex, the distance-based tolls will rise each year at the rate of inflation or 4 per cent, whichever is greater.
At present, it means that tolls on the widened M4 will be rising at twice the rate of inflation and, in an era of low wage growth, resulting in a greater proportion of motorists' income being funnelled into paying for the right to drive on it.