By Jacob Saulwick
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The WestConnex toll road will lure more cars onto the road in inner Sydney, but travel times on a number of routes should still improve as a result of the motorway.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the M4 East component of the motorway, which largely runs in tunnel between Homebush and Haberfield, predicts the project would remove significant traffic volumes from Parramatta Road east of of Homebush.
An artist’s impression of the modified Concord Road intersection, looking east across the portal entry and exit ramps.
But the EIS also highlights the thousands of vehicles needed to haul spoil during the construction of the motorway, as well as the significant impact on the heritage suburb of Haberfield.
According to the EIS, the volume of traffic on Parramatta Road between Concord and Haberfield should be 53 per cent lower by 2021, compared with a scenario in which the motorway was not built.
An artist’s impression of the Wattle Street interchange, looking south towards Parramatta Road above the portal entry and exit ramps.
But traffic could still get worse on some roads and at some intersections to the west and east of this section of Parramatta Road, because of the extra cars attracted to the area by the motorway. Modelling for the project predicts a 2 per cent to 7 per cent general increase in traffic through the area caused by the toll road.
The 33-kilometre WestConnex motorway is made up of three sections: a widened M4 motorway and new M4 East tunnels, to be built between 2016 and 2019, another M5 East tunnel, also to be built by 2019, and a new M4-M5 tunnel linking the two, to be built between 2019 and 2023.
The EIS for the M4 East, released on Wednesday, predicts that some of the extra traffic created to the east of the project – for instance, at City West Link – would reduce when this third WestConnex stage was built.
The federal Assistant Minister for Infrastructure, Jamie Briggs, whose government is contributing $1.5 billion and a $2 billion loan to the cost of the $15.4 billion motorway, said: "This world-class project will generate 10,000 new jobs during construction, slash travel times for motorists and inject $20 billion worth of benefits into the national economy."
An artist’s impression of the eastern portal at the Parramatta Road interchange, looking west towards the western ventilation stack in the middle distance.
But politicians critical of aspects of the project said the benefits of the project appeared slight.
Labor's roads spokeswoman, Jodi McKay, said the fact that the EIS predicted only a six-minute travel time saving along Parramatta Road was "pretty poor from a $15 billion project".
Greens MP Jenny Leong, who capitalised on inner-city hostility to the motorway to win the seat of Newtown, said: "Even on first glance ... this looks like it will provide little to no benefit in terms of congestion in Sydney. This has got to make us look at the project and say we've got to start again."
The government has already signed a $2.7 billion design and construction contract with Leighton to build the M4 East tunnels, meaning that any major variation as a result of the EIS could prove costly. Planning Minister Rob Stokes is allowing a 45-day consultation period, above the usual 30-day period.
"I encourage all interested community members to take advantage of the EIS consultation and provide feedback," Roads Minister Duncan Gay said.
About 2000 vehicles a day are expected to hit the streets to work on construction of the project, more than half of them heavy vehicles.
A heritage assessment conducted as part of the EIS highlighted the impact on Haberfield, Australia's first fully-planned garden suburb, where 53 properties will need to be resumed for road widening.
"The new motorway infrastructure and associated elements would not be sympathetic to the existing built environment or landscape character of the conservation area," the assessment says.
Labor MP for Summer Hill Jo Haylen, who opposes WestConnex, said: "The community has been saying all along that Westconnex would rip a hole in this beautiful, one-of-a-kind suburb, and now the government's own report confirms it will."