The long-standing head of the state's transport bureaucracy, Les Wielinga, is retiring in September, leaving the O'Farrell government in search of a successor.
Mr Wielinga, a former boss of the Roads and Traffic Authority who kept his job as the head of transport after the 2011 state election, will leave the $507,000 a year job on September 24.
Powerful figure ... the outgoing Director-General of Transport NSW, Les Wielinga.Credit: Ben Rushton
In a statement on Wednesday morning, Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian and Roads Minister Duncan Gay praised Mr Wielinga for his 41-year career in public service.
“Few people have ever made such a contribution to transport and infrastructure – Les has left a lasting legacy for the people of this state," Ms Berejiklian said.
Mr Wielinga has also presided over his fair share of controversy.
As the head of motorways in the former RTA, he led the Cross City Tunnel project, which collapsed financially and failed to attract motorists despite the closure of roads that could be used to avoid the tunnel.
When he was later appointed to run the RTA by the former Labor government in 2006, then opposition roads spokesman and current Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner lashed out at his appointment as a continuation of a history of failure.
"The last thing a Coalition government wants is the architect of the Cross City Tunnel debacle in charge of future road projects in Sydney and New South Wales," Mr Stoner said then.
"By appointing Mr Wielinga, who was part and parcel of delivering these deals, all of which are flawed, the government has effectively said it's going to be more of the same for roads in Sydney," Mr Stoner said of the Cross City Tunnel, Lane Cove Tunnel and M5 East.
But the O'Farrell government instead gave Mr Wielinga more power than he ever had, or indeed, many bureaucrats in NSW have had.
As the first Director-General of Transport for NSW, he was in charge of a new department that subsumed many of the responsibilities of the old RTA and other transport agencies such as RailCorp and State Transit.
During this time he also repeatedly clashed with the heads of Infrastructure NSW, a specialist advisory agency set up by Premier Barry O'Farrell.
Les has left a lasting legacy for the people of this state.
Ironically, despite Mr Wielinga's long enthusiasm for and background in motorway construction, the heads of Infrastructure NSW, Nick Greiner and Paul Broad, took an even more pro-motorway stance.
They chastised Mr Wielinga for supporting the north-west rail link and the CBD light rail project favoured by his minister, Ms Berejiklian.
The son of a road maintenance worker, Mr Wielinga joined the Department of Main Roads at 18.
"I spent my life building roads," he said in 2006. "[I'm] planning to build many more."
An engineer, he was eventually promoted to run motorway construction through Sydney. His appointment to the head of the RTA in 2006 was a surprise, but his career has since thrived.
In February 2009, he left the RTA to run former premier Nathan Rees' Sydney Metro Authority. He was an enthusiastic defender of the metro project that was, again, lambasted by the state Coalition and which was eventually dropped by Mr Rees' successor, Kristina Keneally, at a cost of almost $500 million.
In June 2009, Mr Wielinga was named director-general of NSW Transport and Infrastructure.
Wednesday's statement by Ms Berejiklian and Mr Gay offers no explanation for Mr Wielinga's retirement.
Mr Gay said Mr Wielinga's record was to be admired.
“Les has been a vital contributor in this government's work to plan and build major roads and public transport projects and his contribution deserves strong praise,” Mr Gay said.
The government said a "merit-based" process to select Mr Wielinga's replacement would begin immediately.
On Monday evening Mr Wielinga chaired a joint meeting with the City of Sydney Council in which he said there would be more delays in the completion of the city's bike lanes.