Residents acknowledge that with the Federal and State elections on the horizon that transport has to be a major election issue.
For too long it is likely that RMS have crowded out the voices of transport experts, which is why we sit in a traffic nightmare every day. ‘‘We don’t have enough alternatives that a growing contemporary global city needs’’ said Bob Greenhill .
Modern cities realised decades ago that more roads simply cause more traffic, so instead invest in public transport systems, which allows the more efficient movement of commuters.
In NSW, the Berejiklian Government issued a Cabinet directive to ignore public transport, which subverted the normal planning processes.
This has denied the public a genuine analysis of how to best invest our public funds into transport infrastructure. Improvements to our rail line are estimated to reduce the Wollongong to Central passenger journey from 90 minutes to about one hour for as much as $10 billion less than the cost of the F6 toll road and far more effective in getting cars off the road.
The F6 toll road represents a not only a lost opportunity to invest in more efficient public transport, the damage to our urban and natural environment from freeways is massive.
Our beautiful wetlands, ‘‘the lungs of suburbia and a critical oasis for stress relief in an increasing concrete jungle.’’ — gone. Four hundred and forty nine trees in the wetlands and President Avenue areas — gone. The trees will take decades to replace and regrow. Our endangered ecological communities and endangered fauna who call our wetland home- gone.
Unfiltered exhaust stacks, located near schools, parks, pre-schools and homes spew out tonnes of exhaust pollution, diesel particulates and other toxins. This is dangerous for our children’s developing lungs.
No local resident will want to take their children or grand children to play in Bicentennial Park, Rockdale when the stack is located across the road from the park.
We face almost five years of 24/7 construction right near homes and schools. Communities already affected by WestConnex elsewhere in Sydney have suffered from forced undervalued acquisitions, damaged homes, destroyed parks, disrupted sleep, safety violations, toxic fumes, shattered and closed businesses, ineffective consultation or information.
Local residential streets will still be choked with rat run traffic as drivers attempt to avoid expensive tolls.
The recent Parliamentary Inquiry into WestConnex slammed it as a project gone rogue, and that the planning, delivery, financing and lack of transparency has caused significant negative impacts on so many communities.
Amongst the many findings was a call for all exhaust stacks to be filtered. The NSW Government have made it clear that they won’t filter toll tunnel exhaust stacks due to cost cutting.
These issues are not acceptable to any community. It’s clear the Coalition have turned their backs on families. We look to Labor to stop ignoring the laundry list of problems, and cancel the F6. It’s time that both Federal and State Governments, and the Federal and State Opposition, acknowledge that transport, and how we move about in Sydney, is a key issue today in our community.
The Department of Planning, in recent years, has approved increased densities in many Sydney suburbs. The Shire and St George areas are no exception. How can our current roads and rail system cope with this increased population?
This increased traffic will find its way to the F6, which will be nothing other than a parking lot for most of the time. The impact on our local area will be huge.
The community has no intention of letting Government ‘‘run us over’’ in relation to the above issues.
Anne Field , Bob Greenhill John Paxos
Moorefield Estate F6 Committee