The hi-tech bunker trying to keep Rozelle Interchange moving

A tradie peak and a commuter peak have been identified as two key issues behind the blighted Rozelle interchange - here’s how you can avoid them.

Motorists struggling with the blighted Rozelle Interchange will get more information about peak traffic times, in a bid by Transport NSW to change driver patterns.

A ‘tradie peak’ at about 7am on the City West Link, and a ‘commuter peak’ between 8.15am and 8.30am – when many residents from the Balmain peninsula flood into the interchange – have been two of the key issues identified by Transport NSW teams monitoring the $3.9b piece of infrastructure.

NSW Roads minister John Graham and Transport traffic operations directors Craig Moran (left) and Chris Zito (right) during a visit to the Transport Management Centre to discuss the Rozelle Interchange at AM peak. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Travel times for the crucial junction will now be published weekly for about the next three months, with Roads Minister John Graham hoping the extra information will persuade drivers to avoid periods of heavy traffic.

“The advice to me from Transport for NSW has been that the road system can take up to six months to settle after the opening of a large new piece of infrastructure like this. As that happens we want people using this available trip time data to inform their journey planning in the AM peak,” he said.

“While many motorists from Western Sydney are benefiting from large reductions in travel time since the opening of the Rozelle Interchange, the Inner West community has been adversely affected, that is the reality.”

The Daily Telegraph visited the Transport Management Centre base at Eveleigh on Thursday, where boffins monitor the city’s traffic snarls from an assortment of screens providing live video of various arterial roads.

NSW Roads minister John Graham and Transport traffic operations Chris Zito during a visit to the Transport Management Centre. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

It’s from this hub that traffic lights are used to control the flow of vehicles onto the bridge.

Transport’s monitoring suggests that travel times have gradually falling since the opening of the interchange caused chaos, with a trip from Drummoyne to Anzac Bridge along the Victoria Road taking an average of 62 minutes in the interchange’s first week.

As of last week that trip, which is about seven kilometres, had fallen to 30 minutes.

Originally published as The hi-tech bunker trying to keep Rozelle Interchange moving