A quiet little pocket of 650 homes will be severely impacted by plans to upgrade the road corridor on the Sutherland side of Woronora Bridge.
Thousands of vehicles that travel to Sutherland Oval for weekend fixtures and weekday training will be forced to leave the area along back streets, rather than the main road, The Grand Parade.
Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) proposes to ban east-bound traffic on The Grand Parade crossing Linden Street to the rail line overpass.
Left and right turn movements will be allowed but, to reach the overpass, motorists will have to travel along Oakwood Street or Tamur Street to Leonay Street.
Sutherland west residents are devastated by the proposed change, which they say will "destroy" their neighbourhood of five cul-de-sacs and three cross streets.
Quiet cross streets will become major thoroughfares, with effects on road safety, health and wellbeing and property values, they say.
The proposal will also mean there is only one direct egress point from the area, which is a serious concern in the high risk bushfire zone.
Sutherland Shire Council has called for RMS to reconsider the move and not to conduct further traffic counts until other road works in the Sutherland area are completed.
Several councillors, led by deputy mayor Steve Simpson, were highly critical of the proposal.
Alli Grimison, who was among residents to address the last council meeting, said the narrow back streets were not designed for large volumes of traffic, whereas The Grand Parade could accommodate the flow.
"The very nature of sporting traffic is a heavy inpouring and outpouring of vehicles," she said.
"Add to that, residents' cars, school buses, coaches and the many cars of train commuters whose cars line The Grand Parade daily."
Ms Grimison said RMS promoted the fact motorists would save four minutes in peak period on a one-way trip when the Linden Street upgrade was complete.
"Our neighbourhood stands to lose quality of life and gain increased safety risks and be financially impacted while a commuter on Woronora Bridge benefits from listening to one less song on their car radio," she said.
Residents Rachel Pilati and Tracey Scott appealed to the council "as custodians of local roads" to support them.
They showed councillors photos of the roads in question, contrasting the quiet back streets with the heavy sports day traffic on The Grand Parade.
The residents said they had raised their concerns at community meetings conducted by RMS, but they were "patronised and dismissed" by officials.
Under the upgrade plans released in July, through traffic on the Linden Street corridor will be given priority, with a new lane to be built in each direction and a ban imposed on traffic movements at two side streets.
The RMS report said the Linden Street corridor struggled under the strain of peak hour traffic.
"People traveling between Menai and Sutherland are left sitting in a queue of traffic," the report said.
"The Linden Street corridor is a key east-west connection between Bangor Bypass and Princes Highway.
"It is used by around 6000 motorists and 500 bus passengers an hour in peak periods and is crucial to keeping people moving around the Sutherland Shire and greater Sydney."
RMS is considering feedback, which closed on August 19.
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