Too little national action to unclog cities (The Australian)
AUSTRALIA'S infrastructure providers have called on the states and federal Government to bring a new urgency to the country's worsening infrastructure problems by fast-tracking projects and to stop blaming labour shortages for the problems.
Federal funding to ease city's road woes (Sydney Morning Herald)
THE Federal Government would devote funds from its $20 billion infrastructure war chest to help tackle Sydney's public transport woes, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, said.
Italian connection for trams (Sydney Morning Herald)
A LIGHT rail line running for 2.3 kilometres along Leichhardt's bustling cafe strip has been investigated by the State Government as part of a large-scale expansion of Sydney's light rail network.
Motorists face rise in toll roads (Herald Sun)
MOTORISTS struggling with higher fuel bills face a rise in urban toll roads as the Rudd Government turns to business to roll out infrastructure.
Homes at risk under NSW planning laws (Village Voice)
Proposed planning laws in NSW will give the Iemma government power to compulsorily acquire private land to resell to developers, experts say.
Public private push (The Age)
THE Government has given strong indication it will favour public-private partnerships for major infrastructure projects, after appointing half the members of its advisory body from the private sector.
Airport, city pact signed (Canterbury-Bankstown Express)
BANKSTOWN Airport is one of the largest employment areas in Bankstown but because it is Federally-owned, the council has no control over the development that goes on there.
Means test threatens solar use: industry (Sydney Morning Herald)
BUSINESS leaders have criticised the federal Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, over the Government's decision to means test a rebate for residential solar panels, telling him it will threaten the viability of the industry.
Cyclists and the city (Village Voice)
Cyclists have been propelled into the spotlight after a Mascot incident earlier this month and controversial plans by Sydney Council to build a cycleway on Bourke St in Surry Hills.
Buck passed as iron duke suffers (Village Voice)
The Botany Rd saga continues with the Iron Duke hotel in Alexandria still closed despite the road being reopened last month.
Bourke Street plans revealed (Village Voice)
Sydney Council has released detailed plans for the Bourke Street Cycleway in hopes of alleviating residents concerns about changes to their area.
city buses to give way (Village Voice)
Deputy Premier and Transport Minister John Watkins has announced changes to bus routes for World Youth Day, to be held from July 15-20, and said that residents would have to plan in advance to get around the city.
Langton job furore (St-George and Sutherland Shire Leader)
TRANSPORT Minister John Watkins has defended the appointment of former Kogarah MP Brian Langton as chairman of Sydney Ferries Corporation, saying he was "the best man for the job''.
Train security crackdown: 566 arrests (Sydney Morning Herald)
A crackdown on Sydney train crime resulted in 619 charges over three months.
Transport industry missing in make-up of Infrastructure Australia (Australasian Bus News)
The transport and logistics industry has been snubbed in the announcement of the make-up of Infrastructure Australia, with half of the board being made up of current as well as former government officials.
Ghetto tragedy (SX News)
Oxford Street may be sinking, but this is no time to abandon ship, writes Steve Dow.
Metro rail network a 30-year project, says Iemma (Inner West Weekly)
Mr Iemma said it could take up to 30 years to build lines from the northwest, west, northern beaches and southern beaches into the CBD.
How petrol is putting Sydney under the pump (Sydney Morning Herald)
AS PETROL surges towards the previously unthinkable $2 mark, Sydneysiders are confronting a stark choice - alter their lifestyles or be prepared to scrimp to pay even bigger bills.
Harbour skippers shed light on their deadly fears (Sydney Morning Herald)
ALMOST 60 Sydney Harbour skippers have signed a petition demanding the State Government hire more safety officers, saying it is only a matter of time before more people die due to poor boat lighting.
Queries raised over deadlines for metro (Sydney Morning Herald)
DELAYS are already threatening the North West Metro, and internal documents show that a senior State Government official believes the planned 2010 construction start date will be a "push to achieve".
Don't means test solar power (goldcoast.com.au)
THE Federal Government should be embracing solar panels across Australia, not means testing them, the Opposition says.
NSW households reduce carbon emissions (Village Voice)
Households across NSW have wiped off almost 14,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year, while also saving 585 million litres of water annually, under a state government scheme.
No more excuses: extent F6 now (Illawarra Mercury)
The NRMA is demanding cashed up State and Federal governments combine their resources and finally complete the F6 extension into Sydney.
Morris Iemma's $112M for 115 new buses (Daily Telegraph)
PREMIER Morris Iemma will shave $112 million from next week's State Budget to buy 150 new State Transit buses to cope with an unprecedented public transport demand which increased patronage by a million extra passengers in the past year.
Rail service is a basket case (Daily Telegraph)
THE former RailCorp boss Vince Graham told ICAC last week he was too busy to notice the fraud and corruption that was flowering under his nose. His frank admission is hardly surprising in light of today's revelations.
Empty dwellings in a city desperate for places to live (Sydney Morning Herald)
IN ITS obsession with property prices and housing affordability, Sydney has overlooked a startling fact: the city is awash with empty buildings.
Growth focus on Parramatta (Parramatta Sun)
URBAN growth was discussed at a public forum in Parramatta last Wednesday.
Bumbling RTA boasts $50M new Sydney Harbour view (Daily Telegraph)
While you are stuck in peak-hour traffic or on public transport anywhere between Penrith and the city, RTA bosses will be sitting back admiring the world's most stunning view from their new office.
Public transport is more than just the ticket (Blacktown Sun)
Rising petrol prices have Sydneysiders looking at public transport alternatives. Most will be disappointed.
METRO//NEWS - 28 May 2008
//CANBERRA///
When a Roads Minister dismisses criticism of his roads with allegations of dullness, you know something’s going wrong on NSW bitumen. This week’s //SMOKESTACK// asks is Canberra boring? 
Last week NSW Roads Minister and lifelong Sydneysider, Eric Roozendaal, announced that Adelaide is a “pretty boring place” and Canberra is “even more boring than Adelaide”. The comments were made in response to SA and ACT government advertisements plastered around Sydney transport hubs with slogans like “You’d be home now if you lived in Adelaide” and “Like traffic that moves? Move to Canberra”.
I can’t really comment on Adelaide, I’m sure it’s a lovely place, but having spent the first couple of decades of my life in Canberra, I might just have something to say about it, Mr Roozendaal.
I wonder what the minister really knows about life in Canberra, being born and bred in Sydney. It would be very easy, and somewhat disappointing, for him to pander to the clichéd Sydney mindset that Canberra is boring. An opinion, if true, that is surely in the eye of the beholder. I ask Sydneysiders, so willing to criticiser other cities, whether they would like their own home town if they came from somewhere else?
Growing up in Canberra, I can say I truly loved the place – not for any tangible reason, but because it was familiar. I still get a rush of nostalgia driving down the tree-lined streets and walking through the malls and arcades of childhood. When I moved to Sydney in 2001 I hated it. I wasn’t used to big cities and saw everything as an outsider, and I didn’t like what I saw – particularly on Mr Roozendaal’s roads. Sydney driving for a knowledgeable local (a group in which I now count myself) is a struggle. For the uninitiated it was hell. Adjusting to narrow lanes, unintuitive no-left-turns and aggressive fellow commuters was gruelling. Predicting two kilometres ahead which lane I needed to be in to avoid the turning lanes was absolutely alien to me. But the most horrendous part was Sydneysiders’ acceptance of it. Of course we hear about the traffic problems and local communities cut off by traffic bottlenecks and such, but to hear my friends shrug off a 90 minute commute or a 30 minute, 10 kilometre round trip was mind-boggling. You don’t have to accept this, I thought. Don’t you know what it’s like where I come from? A ten minute trip took ten minutes, not thirty! Come see Canberra, the anywhere-in-twenty-minutes city of leisurely circles and boulevards. Stare in awe at the median strips you need binoculars to see across. Turn any direction at any intersection – guaranteed!
Being a political animal, I’m sure Eric Roozendaal has spent his fair share of time in Canberra, but I remind him that he’s seeing the city through outsiders’ eyes. The real question is whether Canberra is inherently ‘boring’. I think boring means a lack of vibrancy, a fun city is a place where the action finds you. A boring city makes you go out of your way. A fun city has options for cultural activities all year round - day or night. A boring city might get excited over it’s one and only annual flower festival. It’s true that Canberra doesn’t have the population to naturally sustain activities at the same intensity as bigger cities. In fact, that low population and low density affects Canberra in a number of ways. The city can feel quieter and ‘absent’ as you walk through it. Wide streets, large blocks, lower volumes of cars and buses add to the ‘where is everybody’ factor. Again, this is only noticeable for a metro-immigrant, not a Canberran. There is also the low-rise, sparse city centre – Civic. Civic is a strange creature – full but quiet, dense but open. Broad pedestrian arcades fail to become crowded as the lunchtime rush filters onto the footpaths.
The low density is held in place by the constraints on the city’s major export – bureaucracy. The current scarcity of available office accommodation in Canberra, along with Rudd’s razor gang certainly keeps public service growth down, and while the core government population is kept in check, all the other service industries associated with this primary population also fail to grow.
So Canberra is quieter, broader, safer, slower, less crowded and more humble in its offerings. Is this boring? Canberrans, on the whole, don’t think so. It’s the Sydneysiders, cowed into acquiescence by the harbour city, that think it boring. To illustrate, I refer you to the comments made by Sydneysiders in the City of Sydney’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 report. When asked what they wanted from Sydney as a cultural and recreational centre, they responded:
“…where people walk.”
“…not clogged by cars.”
“…well planned public transport.”
“…celebrates the outdoors.”
“…where public spaces invite people to pause.”
“…which has a human scale.” If it sounds good, I suggest seeing yourself in the nation’s capital.
Article by Adam Rosalky.
To submit your own //SMOKESTACK// article for review and publication, email smokestack@futuredesignsydney.com.
METRO//NEWS - 18 May 2008
Adelaide boring, Canberra worse: NSW MP (Sydney Morning Herald) – NSW Roads Minister, Eric Roozendaal, calls Adelaide and Canberra boring in response to South Australian tourism ads around town describing Sydney as gridlocked and congested.
NSW vows to keep Lane Cove Tunnel open (ninemsn.com.au) – Despite warnings of a coming debt crisis, Roads Minister, Eric Roozendaal, vows Lane Cove Tunnel operator, Connector Motorways, will continue to keep the tunnel operating.
City and Community Working Together to Design Bourke Street Cycleway (City of Sydney) – Local communities are assisting the City of Syeny develop the 4.3km two-way cycle path from Zetland to Woolloomooloo.
Wind turbines to power NSW desal plant (Sydney Morning Herald) – NSW Government signs deal to power the new water desalinisation plant with power from the Capital Wind Farm in Bungendore.
NSW government praises federal budget (Business Spectator) – NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, welcomed the federal budget, saying the commonwealth was "back in the business of big infrastructure".
TACKLING URBAN CONGESTION AND PLANNING (Minister Media Release) – Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, announces funding for major road projects including feasability studies for the NSW Western Metro and the M5 East duplication.
Two routes for metro plan (Sydney Morning Herald) – Plans for the Western Metro line progress with the NSW Government unveiling two possible routes costing up to $10b. The Federal Government will be contributing money towards a fesability study.
Metro promise (The Hills Shire Times) – NSW Transport Minister, John Watkins, has reaffirmed the North West Metro construction after gaining support from local councils and mayors.
Station's upgrade is still in motion (The Wollondilly Advertiser) - Wollondilly State MP, Phil Costa, has denied claims the Macarthur train station upgrade has been scrapped.
North-west metro rail link boosted by Budget (The Daily Telegraph) - State Government sources reveal the North West Metro link could be fully completed by 2015, and that a new metro rail authority would be set up to manage Sydbey's three proposed metro lines.
Investors show 'strong interest' in metro plan (ABC News) - Despite claims that low poulation density in the north west will make the North West Metro unsustainable, NSW Transport Minister, John Watkins, is confident the project will attract private investment.
Town Hall on track to burst at the seams (Sydney Morning Herald) - Overcrowding at Town Hall train station has reached crisis levels. A proposed station upgrade was put on hold after the 2005 announcement of a new Metro-Pitt station, now with that option dumped, in favour of the new metro lines, calls are renewed for urgent upgrades at Town Hall.
URBAN///CONSOLIDATION
In this week's post URBAN//FOCUS looks at urban consolidation and why reducing Sydney's sprawl supports the environment and communities. The NSW State Government plans to build up to 660,000 new dwellings in Sydney's existing suburbs between now and 2031. Are any new houses planned for your suburb?
NSW Department of Planning)
As Sydney expands faster and faster, and new suburbs open up further and further away from the city's dense core, its residents starts to encounter serious problems. Transport is a nightmare and people become dependant on their cars and the fuel to keep them running. Suburbs fill with cheap mansions and town centres lose their character and vibrancy as everyone shuttles from errand to errand. It seems harder to obtain Government and Council services that are ubiquitous in the inner suburbs. Public transport is inadequate or nonexistent. The problem is urban sprawl. Put simply, sprawl is what you get when you combine outer suburbs with low density housing. When you see McMansions, you're seeing sprawl... and Sydney can't sustain it.Sydney has benefited from a series of fast expansion events over its two hundred years. While the population growth brought prosperity, it also left the legacy of a huge sprawling outer west as successive governments tried to keep up with the growth by releasing more and more tracts of residential land for development. Now, for a number, of reasons, we're reaching the limit of geographic growth. The Sydney basin is a fixed geological formation and it imposes a strict size limit on Sydney's outer suburban expansion. Recent growth projections have indicated we will rapidly fill the space at current levels of low density growth. Sydney's changing demographics are also drawing housing demand away from the outer ring and closer to the centres and corridors. As the population ages, more aged couples and singles are looking for smaller living areas near transport and shops. Younger people are also buying homes earlier and they want to live where the action is - in the city's heart. At the same time, a low density population reduces the efficiency and effectiveness of urban services and public transport. As an example, Councils and urban planning experts have criticised the new North West Metro plan as unsuitable for the region. Low population density will reduce passenger throughput and metro style carriages with minimal seating are unsuited to such long distances and riding times. Few passengers will be willing to stand for the 44 minute ride to the CBD from Rouse Hill.
Some people argue that urban consolidation - the filling in of empty spaces in existing suburbs - will bring about the end of the suburban backyard and that it will reduce livability and increase crime, all for a questionable environmental and social outcome. Studies have shown that consolidated medium and high density living can create vibrant, sustainable suburbs with affordable housing, efficient and effective services, infrastructure and public transport. It increases social inclusion, promotes a healthier lifestyle and cuts our dependency on the car.
The latest iteration in the evolving plans for Sydney present the future city as a collection of cores filled with retail, health, education and social facilities. The cores are surrounded by medium to high density housing and connected by a series of transport corridors. The corridors are lined with more housing, businesses and commercial zones. The gaps contain industrial zones or parks. This idea of strong, vibrant and activated centres and corridors is a central feature of the NSW Department of Planning's Sydney Metropolitan Strategy.
(image courtesy of
NSW Department of Planning)
The Strategy, called City of Cities, identifies Sydney's various cores. These include Global Sydney, comprising the CBD and North Sydney, Satellite 'River Cities' of Parramatta, Penrith and Liverpool. Then there are major centres, such as Bondi, Hornsby, Castle Hill, Bankstown and others. Planned major centres include Rouse Hill, Leppington and Green Square. Specialised centres such as Norwest, Olympic Park and Port Botany compete the picture. Corridors are also identified in the strategy. The orbital freeway network includes economic corridors along the M7, M4 and M5. The 'Global Economic Corridor' is identified as a crescent shaped swath of productivity running from Macquarie Park, Chatswood, North Sydney, Sydney CBD, Botany, Port Botany and the Airport. the northern and southern tips of this arc point directly at Sydney's new expansion zones, the North West and South West Growth Centres - areas of planned residential growth centred on Rouse Hill and Leppington respectively. These areas are mainly 'greenfield' developments, that is, they are new suburbs to be built on virgin Sydney Basin bushland. How does this contribute to urban consolidation? Well, it's all part of the plan!The Sydney Metropolitan Strategy predicts Sydney's 4.2 million strong population will grow by 1.2 million by 2031. To accommodate this growth, and the shrinking household size, we need to build around 650,000 new dwellings; that's around 26,000 new dwellings each year between now and 2031. Finding places for all these new homes isn't easy, but with the help of a custom designed population modelling computer system called METRIX, the Government has found a way. The Strategy divides the city into ten subregions, each with its own plan for housing growth. Overall, the plan calls for 60-70% growth will be urban consolidation - new houses in old suburbs. The rest will be greenfield development, the majority of which will be in the two identified Growth Centres. As for the remainder, each of the subregional plans has identified low density local government areas where new dwellings can be developed.
The following chart shows the relative breakdown of developments by local government area. The green slices are greenzone development, the blue slices indicate urban consolidation. You'll note two silver wedges on the chart too, these are subregions where the draft subregional plans haven't been released yet so there isn't any specific information for housing developments for the Inner West or the CBD. As you can see, the largest areas of growth are greenfield developments in the Growth Centres. Following these the central west area in and around Parramatta appears to be the focus of consolidated development. This makes sense, since the central west is about half as dense, on average as the inner west and lower north shore.
Google Maps Australia upgrade
//NEWSFLASH//
Hi folks, it looks like Google Maps Australia has been updated tonight. It now shows photos and Wikipedia articles integrated onto the map.
Train stations now have active icons, showing Sydney's train lines and a link to cityrail.info. This also works for stations in other cities.
Check out this image from Google Maps Australia:
METRO//NEWS - 11 May 2008
Sydney's $260m cheap home plan (Sydney Morning Herald) – The City of Sydney will be developing its Bay St, ultimo council depot into affordable housing to address the local housing shortage.
Sydney's worker bees will get inner-city homes (Sydney Morning Herald) – Further details about the new City of Sydney's affordable housing development in Ultimo.
Call to spend fuel excise on transport (Sydney Morning Herald) – A call from the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils for fuel excise in the western Sydney region to be funnelled back into regional public transport infrastructure.
Build foundations to economy's future (The Age) – A call from the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils for fuel excise in the western Sydney region to be funnelled back into regional public transport infrastructure.
City’s leaders are going Green (City of Sydney) – 120 businesses operating within the City of Sydney have joined the City's GreenLeaders program to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The heavy question of light rail (Village Voice) – Calls for a light rail line to Bondi.
Catch the train now, pay at your last stop (Sydney Morning Herald) – Ticketing chaos on Sydney trains leads to CityRail issuing hundreds of 'pay at destination' boarding passes. Commuters abuse the system.
Danger zone, but buses are coming back (Sydney Morning Herald) – Despite being a pedestrian accident black spot, buses are returning to Druitt St, Sydney.
PM overloads transport reform (Sydney Morning Herald) – COAG Reform Council shows a new COAG agreement with the Federal Government to reform transport infrastructure is already behind schedule.
NSW govt to start NW rail link talks (Business Spectator) – The NSW Government will hold a forum on May 14 to provide an overview of the north-west metro link project to major contractors and suppliers in preparation for a formal tender process.
Thumbs down to city's daft desalination plant (Sydney Morning Herald) – Kurnell residents express unhappiness with the desalinisation plant as work stops after damage to local homes reported.
Metro throws Sydney's big plan on its head (Sydney Morning Herald) – Metro line will deliver a predicted 11,000 people per hour from the hills district to Epping expecting to transfer to the new Epping to Chatswood heavy rail line, which is only designed to take 4000 people per hour.
Businesses willing to pay tolls: survey (The West) – Businesses across NSW are willing to pay tolls if it means getting their vehicles out of Sydney's road congestion, according toNRMA .
Canberra asked to help build M4 extension (The Brisbane Times) – The announcement of the M4 East extension is expected to be delayed further as NSW Premier, Morris Iemma continues to negotiate for federal funding for the project.
Hungry for art: plan for 4000-seat theatre (Sydney Morning Herald) – NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, plans to develop a 4000-seat performing arts centre at the northern end of the Barangaroo development site.
Norwest announces final stage (Sydney Morning Herald) – The final stage of development has been announced for Norwest, a new business park in Sydney's north-west expected to be nearly half the size of Parramatta CBD when completed. Norwest is identified as a strategic job growth development for Sydney's north-west in the NSW Department of Planning's Sydney Metropolitan Strategy.
fortnightly ticket to cut rail queues (Sydney Morning Herald) – NSW State Government releases a fortnightly rail ticket to help cut Monday morning rail queues. Opposition spokesperson claims this will simply add to the complexity of CityRail's current ticketing system while not solving waiting times at stations.
Council fires off criticism (The Hills Shire Times) – Western Sydney councillors doubtful the metro line will ever be completed as planned, despite NSW Transport Minister, John Watkins assurances that the metro line travel times are viable.
TUNNELS///AND//TOLLS
This week in //SMOKESTACK// we look at tunnels and tolls. The toll-less M5 tunnel and Eastern Distributor (southbound) regularly choke on rush hour commuters, while the tolled Cross City Tunnel and Lane Cove Tunnel are smooth sailing. Meanwhile, the roads they’re supposed to bypass turn into car parks. So what's the problem with tunnels and tolls?
Tunnels with tolls are easy to spot, not by the cleverly hidden E-tag scanners, but by their ability to repulse traffic. The Cross City Tunnel, Eastern Distributor northbound and Lane Cove Tunnel aren’t empty by any means, but they are conspicuously free flowing. We already know the CCT couldn’t make enough money to keep the owners in business, and the LCT traffic figures show usage dropping below sustainable levels. The ED northbound must have suffered a drop in usage too after the toll was increased to $5 last month. At the same time I notice the M7 is a runaway success and the M4 and M5 are the grand old tollways, successfully operating for almost two decades. So why do some tollways fail? There seems to be a clear distinction between the successful tollways and the unsuccessful ones. The unsuccessful ones are tunnels. But why? The answer is in the circumstances surrounding their construction.
The western tollways are long surface freeways linking satellite cities with each other and with global Sydney. It’s a classic ring and spoke design that’s been very successful in world cities like London, Paris and Moscow. These roads go where no road has gone before sprouting dense population and business centres as they go. People go where the roads are and the roads become vital routes though the metropolitan suburbs.
Tunnels are very different creatures; they are short, burrowing routes that don’t take people to the populations centres, rather, they take people away from the dense bits. Tunnels are bypasses. They are the perfect solution when you need a short stretch of freeway through an already dense area. The CCT, LCT and ED are designed to relieve congestion from the CBD, Epping Road and South Dowling Street respectively. The problem is they don’t work. The surface roads are still congested and the tunnels aren’t used to their fullest capacity (or even their predicted capacity.) Why pay a toll when there is a viable and time tested surface alternative?
At this point it’s important to explain the theory of traffic congestion cost management. When the ratio of cars to lane-kilometres gets too high you get traffic congestion – there are simply too many cars on the road at the same time. The problem solves itself through a naturally increasing time cost in the form of a traffic queue. Just to repeat that last point, a car queue, or traffic jam, is actually the solution to the problem of a high car to lane-km ratio. The more cars there are, the higher the wait to get where you’re going - if the time cost gets too high, road users will find alterantive routes. A perfect natural solution. Unfortunately Governments don’t stay in power thanks to natural solutions; voters want fast freeways, less congestion and bypasses. So we build tunnels and charge tolls for drivers to use them. Now commuters have a choice – pay the time cost on the surface road or pay a cash cost in the tunnel. The reason the tunnels are underutilised and the surface roads stay congested is that people have a hard time equating time savings with cash value. To most of us in the mortgage belt, paying a toll to slip quickly under the CBD isn’t worth $3.69 a trip, especially when we had to pay tolls on the M7, M4, M5 and LCT just to get there.
There doesn't appear to be a simple solution. Simply put, Sydneysiders just don't like tolled short cuts and as long as our mortgage and petrol cost pressure lasts I don't see that changing. For commuters, using the CCT twice a day works out to over $36 per week, not including other tolls. With petrol at over $1.50 a litre, it's too much for the population to bear. Plus, with the current state of public transport, commuters are unwilling to get out of their cars, add it all up and that queuing costs is looking like the better of two evils. Tolling the surface roads instead of the tunnels has been suggested, similar to the 'CBD tax' system in London, but that system won't work for the LCT or the Eastern Distributor. The user pays system breaks downbecause locals can't avoid the surface roads and free E-tag credits for locals can't be policed - it would create an E-tag black market.
The NSW Government habitually distances itself from these projects, calling the falling usage figures a problem for the infrastructure owners, but in reality the pressure is on thr Government to keep the tunnels open. If needed, they'll be forced to inject more public money into the tunnel to ensurethey stay open - public money that comes from taxes rather than tolls, so even non-users get hit.
For what it's worth, here's my solution to the tunnel problem:
• halve tolls at all off-peak times to encourage usage;
• provide heavy use discounts for regular commuters - calculated across all Sydney toll roads;
• restrict CBD east-west surface crossings;
• keep the toll base broad - retain the M4 and M5 tolls and reduce high tolls on the M7 and ED. In fact, remodel the entire city and remap the tolls to maintain a broad base. This will contribute to minimising common path total tolls without reducing overall revenue.
Article by Adam Rosalky
To sumbit your own //SMOKESTACK// article for review and publication, email smokestack@futuredesignsydney.com.
F3-TO-ORBITAL///FREEWAY//LINK
This week's URBAN//FOCUS looks at the planning process for the F3-orbital link. In 2001 the Federal Government announced a study to consider the best option for a freeway linking the Sydney to Newcastle Freeway (the F3) to the Sydney Orbital Network. The study was expected to identify a route and allow planning to commence by 2002. Three reports and seven years later we're still waiting.
On 4 January 2001 Federal Transport Minister John Anderson announced a joint study to be undertaken by the Federal and NSW governments to identify the best route option for a connection between the southern end of the F3 freeway and the Western Sydney Orbital. The Western Orbital, now known as the M7, along with the Lane Cove Tunnel comprised the final pieces of the Sydney Orbital Network. Connecting this network to the F3 freeway was a major transport goal of both governments, the link would ease congestion along the Pacific Highway and Pennant Hills Road and facilitate freight movements. It was expected that the study would identify a route by 2002, planning would be complete by 2005 and presumably construction could begin in conjunction with the M7 project expected to be complete by 2007. As it turns out, agreeing on the best route was not as easy as expected.
After a round of tenders, Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was awarded the study contract on 22 March 2002. In his press release, Minister Anderson said the study was expected to be completed later in 2002 and the Federal Government was committed to commence construction of the freeway link in 2007 after completion of the M7. The first sign of trouble was hinted in another press release on 31 October 2002, in which the Minister announced an extension due to 'complexities of the study'. The release date was pushed back to early 2003 but construction was expected to commence on time in 2007.
By mid 2003 there was no sign of the report. On 25 July, less than three weeks after construction began on the M7, some study outcomes finally saw the light of day and four route options were released for public consultation. SKM had analysed three possible broad corridors for the final route - A, B and C. Corridor A was considered best and it was split into four possible routes for consideration. The two rejected corridors, options B and C (shown here) were large western freeways in their own right, connecting with the F3 as far north as Kariong and meeting the M7 as far west as Quakers Hill. Corridor A was a much shorter route linking the very southern end of the F3 at Wahroonga with the M2 Motorway around Epping or Pennant Hills. Within this corridor, four options were suggested - red, purple, yellow and blue. The corridor was immediately opposed by some who claimed it failed to ease congestion and increased freight traffic in the area. Corridors B and C also provided an alternate route to the lower end of the F3, which was prone to congestion choking and accidents.
Four days before the report deadline of 12 September 2003, it was announced that the consultation period would be extended, due to the high volume of submissions. Sydney was no closer to getting its new orbital link, it seemed.
The F3 to Sydney Orbital link Study 2004 Main Report was handed down on 6 May 2004, two years after it was initially due. The report recommended route A-purple, also identifying that a corridor C route may be needed by 2025 due to population growth. The A-purple route was a tunnel directly under Pennant Hills Road, connecting the F3 at Wahroonga with the M2 at West Pennant Hills. The study identified that A-purple performed best as either a tolled or untolled road, however, "under a tolled scenario the benefits of the link and its effectiveness in relieving congestion along Pennant Hills Road would significantly reduce." It reccommended the road be two-lane each way for a tolled road or three-lane each way for an untolled road. It also identified the psychological effects on drivers caused by such a long tunnel. A month after the report was released work began on the Lane Cove Tunnel.
Reaction to the proposed route was generally negative. Hills Motorway, then owners of the M2, made a case for the A-yellow option; as did Transurban, which bought the M2 in 2005. Federal Roads Minister Jim Lloyd agreed to take the A-yellow proposals into account in the A-purple Environmental Impact Study. The NSW Department of Planning's Metropolitan Strategy endorsed the link but also acknowledged the need for a type C corridor in the future. In January 2006, with the M7 orbital freeway just opened, a new company, Masson Wilson Twiney (MWT) was hired to review the SKM and Transurban data. Two months later their interim report was released. It agreed with the SKM findings that A-purple was the best option and that a type C corridor wasn't required based on projections out to 2021.
Twelve months later, there was no change in the status of the road. Finally, on 19 February 2007 Roads Minister Lloyd announced yet another review. This one was to take the MWT interim report into account (where the final report was by this stage is unclear) and review the F3 to M7 corridor selection methodology and process. This review was undertaken by the Hon Mahla Pearlman AO, former Chief Judge of the NSW Land and Environment Court who poured over all the collected data from SKM, MWT and Transurban for seven months. A month into her work, the Lane Cove Tunnel opened. Her Review of the F3 to M7 Corridor Selection contained three major findings. First, that the SKM data was valid. Second, that transport changes since the SKM study did not affect the validity of that study. Finally, that there was no reason to alter the SKM study findings, in particular the preferred A-purple option and a view to a future type C corridor.
At this point with three studies under their belts, conducted over the course of seven years, the NSW and Federal Governments had their answer. SKM recommended the A-purple link, the MWT report agreed and the Pearlman report validated them both. Ironclad confidence.
Then the RTA stepped in. This Sydney Morning Herald article dated 26 April 2008 claims the RTA wants to 'double-check [the highway's] viability'. A spokesman for the new Labor Federal Government summed it up, "It is not necessarily about adjusting the route but to ensure this project is still necessary...The view is it is needed, but we want to double-check it is still actually a worthwhile project."
Indeed.
