We do not need both an F6 motorway and the Princes Highway through Sutherland Shire but we do need one route without intersections and traffic lights.
An alternative to building the F6 through Miranda, Gymea and Kirrawee and part of the Royal National Park would be to upgrade existing main roads as the motorway and build a tunnel under Kirrawee at the former brick pit.
Such a tunnel could start near Bath Road, go through the former Kirrawee brick pit, under the railway line and President Avenue to re-emerge back on the Princes Highway in the valley southwest of Acacia Road.
This would bypass four traffic lights and intersections at Oak Road, Old Princes Highway, Flora Street and President Avenue.
Subsequent grade separation of the highway at Kingsway-Bath Road and The Boulevarde could remove traffic lights for through traffic and sweep the bend into the Boulevarde. Existing traffic already uses The Boulevarde and Princes Highway; therefore, the impact on properties would be much the same.
South of Kirrawee, the existing Princes Highway could be upgraded to a motorway at far lower cost than building an additional, parallel F6.
A tunnel under Kirrawee and this route for the F6 would separate through traffic, return local roads to local traffic, retain Miranda Park and open major open spaces, provide for the sale and residential infilling of land on the old F6 route, improve access to the Kirrawee industrial area and revitalise retail centres at Kirrawee and Sutherland.
Robert Campbell, Gymea Bay
Editor's note: Where do you stand on the F6?
