Updated | State government weighs up whether F6 should be extended through Sutherland Shire
Updated
The state government is weighing up whether the M6 motorway should be extended through Sutherland Shire.
Transport and Roads Minister Andrew Constance appeared to give a strong indication at a media conference on Monday that the motorway, which was previously called the F6, might go no further than Taren Point.
Mr Constance said, "We are doing our homework at the moment, but it makes a lot of sense to actually build that second stage [to Taren Point] and that will be complete".
However, a spokeswoman later issued a further statement, saying the full length of the route, which was reserved in 1951, was still being investigated.
"The NSW Government is investing $30 million towards developing the next stage of the M6," the spokeswoman said.
"This work includes confirming the preferred alignment, the project scope and a final business case.
"This work will consider the full length of the M6 corridor from President Avenue at Kogarah to the Princess Highway at Loftus.
"These pieces of work are required before the NSW Government can consider an investment decision in further stages of the M6."
Mr Constance made his initial comments at a media conference at Brighton-Le-Sands, where a $2.52 billion design and construction contract was announced for stage one of the M6 from WestConnex M8 at Arncliffe and President Avenue, Kogarah.
Work on stage one is due to start in early 2022, with a "probable" completion date of 2025, a year later than originally projected.
Two further stages were originally projected - stage two from Kogarah to Taren Point and stage three from Taren Point to Loftus, where the 1951 road reservation runs through a corner of Royal National Park.
Mr Constance said the government was "going to do our homework and where we are going to build it to" and..."will come back to you".
"There is no doubt to actually get it to the Sutherland Shire is very important," he said.
"I think that ultimately, coupled with the investment we are making in rail, it's going to absolutely improve the reliability of the transport and roads network for everybody in the south."
Mr Constance ruled out the motorway intruding into Royal National Park.
"Ultimately, we are not going to see a motorway in the national park," he said.
In response to another question, he said, "It's really important when we go through this work, when you build a project like that, you are going to obviously cause enormous disruption and we have got to work through that and we will come back to the community with that work done."
Mr Constance said "homework" involved "a whole bunch of things, including looking at where the tunnels will go, the portals, the best way to build it".
Miranda MP Eleni Petinos said she was on the record as campaigning for the M6, but also preserving the open space in her electorate by building the motorway underground as much as possible.
Heathcote MP Lee Evans said he wanted the M6 to go into his electorate.
"The commitment the minister has given is that they are looking at it." he said. "It's taken 71 years to plan this bit...we have been in government for 10 years and we are cracking on with the planning."
Sutherland Shire Council told the state government in 2020 it expected 80 per cent of open space along the route through the shire to be retained, or compensatory open space would be expected.
The council's unanimous stance followed a staff report finding that extending the M6 through the shire would result in "significant losses" of parks and sporting fields even if the motorway is built largely in a tunnel.
The report said, if construction took place above ground, the project would cut a swathe through seven parks and bushland reserves and eight hectares of sporting areas.
"It can be assumed that regardless of construction methodology and the modes of transport provided, that there will be significant losses [of open space] in some locations," the report said.
At the time, Ms Petinos rubbished the report, describing it as "a creative writing exercise".
Ms Petinos said the assessment was "simply speculative" because "there is no chosen route, time line or planning approval for further stages".
The contract for the first stage of the M6 has been awarded to CIMIC Group's CPB Contractors and UGL, in a joint venture with Ghella, which was one of the three finalists for the tender.
The project will create more than 5000 jobs.