Trucks avoiding Sydney toll amid concerns of delayed solution

Truck movements through Sydney’s M5 East motorway and new M8 have hardly increased since the opening of a new tollway last year,despite a surge in car traffic,while the government’s review into the number of heavy vehicles bypassing tolls by spilling into local roads is yet to be completed.

The number of cars using the new south Sydney tollways grew by more than 15 per cent between August 2020 and May 2021,but the figure for truck movements was lower than 1 per cent,traffic figures show.

Thousands of vehicles,including trucks,began circumventing the tollways and using local roads when a new charge was implemented on the M5 tunnel as the M8 opened last year.

The Herald revealed in January that an extra 7500 vehicles were recorded per day on average at the intersection of Forest and Stoney Creek roads in Bexley after a toll was introduced on the M5 East in mid-2020.

And while the government said in January that it would prepare a report considering the issue once the M8 had been in operation for one year - a milestone it reached in July - a Transport for NSW spokeswoman on Thursday said there was still no timeline for when it would be finalised.

“Transport for NSW remains committed to minimising the impact on surrounding roads and has already rolled out a number of mitigations,” the spokeswoman said.

Traffic on Sydney’s M5 East on Thursday.

Traffic on Sydney’s M5 East on Thursday.Edwina Pickles

The M8 burrows up to 90 metres under Sydney’s southern suburbs and connects Kingsgrove to St Peters,which the government says slashes travel times for cars and trucks.

“Motorists can now expect to save an average of 30 minutes on a typical pre-pandemic peak hour commute,” the spokeswoman said.

But trucks,which will be charged between $9 and $27 for using the M5 East tunnels,have been using surrounding roads to avoid the tolls,with locals complaining about increased traffic noise and congestion.

Bayside Council earlier this year called on the government to scrap the M5 East toll to reduce the thousands of heavy vehicles spilling onto local roads each week.

The government’s handling of motorways in the city’s south and the subsequent impact on local roads is expected to be a focal point of Friday’s budget estimates hearing,where Transport for NSW secretary Rob Sharp will appear.

Opposition Leader and Kogarah MP Chris Minns said the new M5-East toll had been imposed on a decades-old road and was forcing trucks onto local streets.

“Families have had their lives turned upside down by thousands of b-double trucks hurtling through local roads 24 hours a day because they are now trying to avoid paying the exorbitant tolls,” he said.

Opposition roads spokesman John Graham said the government needed to provide the Bexley community with an answer as to when its report would be completed,and what would be done to alleviate traffic in the local area.

“Four billion dollars and two tunnels later,trucks are still on suburban streets,” Mr Graham said.

“Where is the traffic analysis the government offered?”

The Transport for NSW spokeswoman said the government had also installed clearways along Stoney Creek and Forest roads.

The Road Network Performance Review Plan is currently being prepared by the government,according to Transport for NSW.

A handful of local governments will be consulted on the report findings and measures to improve traffic issues before a final draft report will then be issued for consideration by the Transport secretary.

It will only become publicly available once it is approved by Mr Sharp and submitted to the Planning Department.

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Tom Rabe is the WA political correspondent,based in Perth.

Nigel Gladstone is an investigative journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald.

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