The council,which has opposedWestConnex since its inception last decade,said Parramatta and Victoria roads,as well as streets in Pyrmont,one of Sydney’s most densely populated suburbs,were being used as “traffic relief valves” for the new motorway junction.
“Continued use of Harris Street and Pyrmont Bridge Road as relief valves for the Rozelle interchange puts at risk the 23,000 jobs and up to 4000 new homes in Pyrmont,” it said,because mitigation measures “jeopardise rezoning and development investment in Pyrmont”.
An end to measures that divert drivers onto local streets are among a range of changes the City of Sydney and other councils are demanding from Transport for NSW. Their pleas are outlined in submissions to a NSW parliamentaryinquiry into the interchange,which will hold its first hearing on April 10.
Inner West Council has echoed City of Sydney’s demands that the transport agency stop using “predict and provide” traffic modelling,which they argue is flawed and is likely to lead to investments in poorly planned and designed projects. The “predict and provide” modelling is based on forecasting future demand and then building transport projects to meet it.
Rather,the councils want the agency to use a “vision and validate” approach that decides on the desired future and works backwards to provide the outcomes to achieve it.
University of NSW researcher Christopher Standen said the traffic modelling used for the interchange and the rest of WestConnex had not been “sufficiently sophisticated” to forecast with any accuracy the impacts of such a major change to Sydney’s road network.