“It would be amazing to have more foot traffic. Beautifying Victoria Road would always be beneficial,” she said.
Kelly,who has lived in Balmain for 30 years,hopes changes to Victoria Road could become a reality despite the government falling short on promises for Parramatta Road.
Cities and Infrastructure Minister Rob Stokes recently told a budget estimates hearing that the opportunity to transform Victoria Road in Rozelle would be lost if changes were not introduced soon after the final stage of WestConnex opens.
“It’ll change travel patterns along Victoria Road and there’ll be an opportunity or a window to bring about some transformation. We don’t want to miss it,” he said.
Stokes told the hearing that reducing traffic lanes was “certainly the aspiration” but he declined to commit to it because the state’s transport agency was still working on plans for Victoria Road.
However,he said he was “very well aware” of significant support from Rozelle residents and businesses for a reduction in traffic lanes.
Transport for NSW is also looking at opportunities for extra public transport along Victoria Road.
Motoring group NRMA said it did not oppose improvements to Victoria Road,but traffic flows needed to be assessed after the final stage of WestConnex opens to determine the impact of reducing lanes on the broader road network.
“Before any changes are made to Victoria Road,the commonsense approach would be to take a longer-term view on the impact it has on surface traffic and access to the CBD,” NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said.
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Inner West councillor Pauline Lockie,a critic of WestConnex,said the government’s track record on delivering on promises it made about WestConnex was poor.
“They were supposed to give us two public transport lanes on Paramatta Road years ago and that still hasn’t happened,” she said.
“Based on this,I don’t have high hopes for them transforming Victoria Road. You have a small window of opportunity to take back some of that road space before it fills with traffic again.”
The conditions imposed on the2016 approval of WestConnex tunnels between Homebush and Haberfield included a requirement for at least one lane in each direction on Parramatta Road to be exclusively used for public transport. The condition did not impose a deadline.
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