Get 4 months extra on a 2 year plan here: nordvpn.com/builtbeauty. It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee! Hey! Sorry if you noticed this video was a bit more rushed than usual. I’m actually in Melbourne (!) right now with Amy, and I made this really quickly before I got here. I just really wanted to get something out about the WestConnex before I headed off travelling for all of December. It's the fastest I've ever made a video lol. The WestConnex has been in the news a lot lately, after all! There’s not gonna be any more videos for the rest of 2023; this is my last video. I'm travelling for all of December ✈. It’s been a great year for my channel, we’ve gone from 10,000 subscribers to over 34,000 and I’m really really happy about that. Thank you all for your support, it means a lot to me 😊😊 I can assure you that I’m not going anywhere, I’m very keen to return in 2024, I have a lot of video ideas cooking away. So to anyone reading this right now, Merry Christmas, happy New Year, have a great holidays, and I’ll see you next year!
Here in Victoria we use blue instead of green for guidance signs on toll roads. Makes confusion impossible. If your destination is on a green sign it's free and if it's on a blue sign it's tolled.
@@thefitnessinstructor8937I think Vic also uses blue background (with white text) for shopping centres etc. The toll signs use blue background with orange text
Terrible idea, I much prefer the NSW way. The colours are supposed to be for a purpose - green for suburbs, blue for points of interest (e.g. hospitals), brown for tourist spots, etc. Making toll roads a different colour is pointless and confusing. The bright yellow 'TOLL' nsw uses is more than enough.
I don't know anyone who loves Parramatta Road and its existence gives Parramatta a bad name as it's a relic from the days of the West being the center of poverty
Parra Road is beautiful. It’s the persistence of legacy Grand Narrative in post-post-modernist deconstructionist tunnel machine fail. Destroying ‘Urban decay’ is the Gentrifica-toll-nation. Parra Rd is reminder there used to actually be productive use of inner Sydders. Take that old Greek Milkvar from 1950s - better then any Connex
Sydney doesn’t deserve to be so corruptly governed, on all levels. There’s just too much money to be scammed that no one on top can make changes for the greater good.
@@BuildingBeautifully The government we have now only does two things:- 1. Opens projects that were built by the previous government. 2. Has cancelled any projects not already started. Jo Haylen is absolutely bloody useless.
WestConnex is the perfect metaphor for all the governments involved with it; in terms of the planning and design, the "procurement" process, and the resultant traffic clusterf***, even the signage. Peak NSW
Also the philosophy of engineering departments who see a design guideline and will use it uncritically in order to avoid any need to defend their work.
NSW Government is Australia's top government in planning and development are always patch fixes and scoped for for 4 years at a time. Where different dipartments and bodies fail to get their goals aligned, always NSW's left hand doesn't talk to right hand and vice-versa. And long needed developments things only get brought up and seriously debated on lead up to elections. Perfect example Sydney's trains and the never ending election promise of high-speed rail linking major towns like Newcastle to Sydney for commuting. Don't get be started on budgeting and over charging the public on things that should be free. Cost blow of projects like the new tunes are prime example and things like charging the public again for paid things like the M4 motorway.
@@oshochso You are almost right. The NSW Government (the previous one, not the current one that is just cutting the previous government's ribbons at official openings) actually did build big things. What Labor did in the 16 prior years was a joke. All tunnels built were undersized, clearly not fit for purpose and two of them went broke, one went broke twice. Yes, the pinchpoint near the Anzac bridge was a clear under-estimation of traffic flows, however that is somewhat temporary. When the Western Harbour Tunnel opens it will carry route M8, continuing on from the M8 tunnels and 20-30% of the traffic being pushed on to the Anzac Bridge will be diverted to the Western Harbour Tunnel, taking traffic off the Anzac Bridge, Western Distributor and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Additionally, when Sydney Metro West opens in a few years, cars will simply not be used by many people who will take the train to work for the first time. Ahhh, almost forgot, the toll on the M4 is not to cover a road that has been paid off but to cover the cost of widening it from three to four lanes each way, two to five lanes each way at the approaches to the tunnels and the Concord Interchange, and build the extra flyover at Granville.
I think part of the issue is not recognising that the westconnex (and surrounding locations on the signs) are NOT the destinations of the vehicles transiting through it. Don’t tell me “drummoyne” or “city” on the signs, instead: TELL ME *where* I’m going through the maze - “Gladesville Bridge”, or “Westbound M4”.
I honestly think they should go with Melbourne and Brisbane’s approach with colored blue signs for tolls for example with the “To M8 Toll” section being colored blue with the non toll routes being green.
As it turns out, the current light green signs were only used on Freeways until the late 1980’s. Before that, other roads were on a very dark green background. The change over to all light green occurred in the early 1990’s.
People unhappily stuck in traffic should always remember “you are traffic”. People always think the traffic is everyone else. I think the Rozelle interchange should be renamed the Gladys in honour of her contribution to badly designed roads. I would like to see a light rail super-loop along the full length of Parramatta Road and Victoria Road with crossovers along Silverwater Road, Olympic Park and Homebush Bay Drive/ Concord Road. This would support higher densities, connect Sydney University, RPAH, WSU, Top Ryde City etc and convert these roads into something closer to boulevards with urban renewal. This could interconnect with train stations such as West Ryde and Strathfield and new metro stations such as Burwood North, Olympic Park etc
While your light rail plan sounds a bit too ambitious, I agree with the general idea that we need more light rails. Would absolutely support ones on Parra and Victoria Roads.
lol to be fair, I watched some of the emergency meeting and many of the people were just residents who want to get in and out of their street. One poor bloke was told his street will be fully good to go by 2028. He seemed a bit upset.
Before Sydney becomes like Los Angeles or Texan cities with crappy public transport and overuse on cars...we need to ramp up PT frequency everywhere and force drivers to pay additional fees per KM they drive, with exceptions for the following: -People in postcodes more than 1km away from a train station/major bus routes -Families with kids under 12 -Families caring for elderly/disability -People with a disability -People who drive for (NOT TO) work Sydney needs to become a public transport city like tokyo...and NIMBYS and anti TOD people can move to rural Australia
I’m so happy moving back to Sydney after twenty years And couldn’t find a house at Balmain. Instead bought at south coogee 😂😂😂😂 I’m soooooo happy. Thank you. I walk everywhere and even to the Westfield which is a big hike.
oh my god it's just so exciting and makes me so happy when i see something like '1 hour ago' on a building beautifully video. a new video is just incredible i love watching sharath sharing his insane knowledge on civil engineering!!
Hi Sharath, tonight I went to an event organised by Inner West Council where members of the community spoke to Transport for NSW including Howard Collins. It was a very interesting meeting and the council is going to set up an independent advisory board made out of experts in the local community to work on fixing Victoria Road. It was a very interesting meeting and it would’ve been great if you came!
The whole west connex & that interchange at Leichardt are expletive ing nightmares!!!! "Turn left" & there are 2 lefts what are you meant to do with that? Sydney's roads have become an expletive ing nightmare. I wish I had never come back to Sydney
Part of the issue is that in the original design much of the city bound traffic exited at Camperdown. To save money this exist was cancelled and no alternative arrangments were made. Very short sighted. The Rozelle interchange was never going to work and the City of Sydney tried to tell the LNP Government 6 years ago. In addition there is going to be more traffic coming into the system when the extension to Kogarah is completed.
When the Sydney light rail could have been build five times over for the cost of this disaster, there's no arguing that the Rozelle Interchange is one of the biggest wastes of money in recent years. They spent $16 billion to make traffic worse.
The lockdown has scared a lot of people off public transport, Our energy bills are too high due to net zero insanity and the increase in immigration is causing the housing crisis. We have a rail network that has been divided between public and private and are not compatible and a tram that runs up the middle of the CBD that I can walk faster than and bicycle lanes to further hinder traffic flow. If you are carrying tools or are delivery driver going into the city is a nightmare. Why not move the workplaces closer to where people live rather than everyone going into the city?
@@seanworkman431 "a tram that runs up the middle of the CBD that I can walk faster than..." No so much now, but true when the tram was first introduced, thanks to failure of traffic controllers to properly coordinate traffic lights in their favour, prioritising cars instead.
Sharath. Your channel has grown and grown so much and your interest in and perception and knowledge of the subtleties of complex infrastructure projects is incredible. You have a huge future in urban and infrastructure planning. I hope that this is recognised and utilised by the appropriate authorities. I have always had a huge fascination with infrastructure and planning. And only wish that i had access to the level of technology and interface that you have today. Make the most of it. You wont regret it. And keep the project analysis and recommendation going. We need you. Best. Hamish.
The simple fact is that if you build more roads they are simply going to fill up with traffic. The vast majority of that traffic is cars with one person in them which is incredibly inefficient. Imagine how much mass transit could have been built for this price? The only winner out of this is Transurban, and will be for decades.
Your channel deserves so much more attention. The content is top notch and very well presented. I've only been following you for about 6 months after finding the video you had on Peats Ridge Road. All your videos are worth watching. I really wish you all the best of luck with the channel growth. You clearly put a great deal of effort into it.
I suppose I have a bit of a different perspective on toll roads as where I'm from (Vancouver, Canada) toll roads are extremely rare, and I've also been to Japan where there really aren't any expressways that don't have tolls. I think they can be a valuable tool for fighting traffic congestion and automobile use, while also being pretty inconsequential to pay for freight or intercity buses. The key is to really make sure that people dislike driving so much on the alternatives that they're willing to either pay the toll, or do something other than drive. IMO this means that you should toll motorways & high traffic roads, and then make sure that everything that's not in that category does not primarily prioritize traffic flow. Bus lanes, bike lanes, fewer general purpose travel lanes in general all great, traffic signals that change frequently to prioritize pedestrians, etc. Taking back the road space to create alternatives that might be better than driving at all. Of course, it's not good when those tolls aren't going to fund public projects, and instead are just going to private shareholders. So I totally get what you're saying. If it were up to me, TransLink (our local unified transit agency, covers both public transit & major road network) would collect tolls from basically all of our bridges and use them to fund transportation projects in general.
Agreed, toll roads can have their benefits. Trouble is I don’t think Sydney does enough to try force people onto tolls or onto public transport. I hope they do some traffic calming, bike lanes, light rail etc to Parra Road to try encourage cars onto the WestConnex or onto public transposta.
@@ytlurker220 That is the case generally in major cities in Japan - if you want to drive and get somewhere quickly, especially when it's busy, there's going to be a toll involved. There are a lot of other options other than driving and this helps encourage that, which itself reduces traffic for anyone who after all that still needs to be on the road
As someone who lives in the Blue mountains and needs to drive in for work it's been a fantastic addition. The drive has shortened by 30+ minutes! It's brilliant! City West link and Parramatta Rd sucked Now they need to build more pt!!!
We're doing the same thing here in Victoria, building massive new freeways for freight purpose. The problem is, the freeways are massively overbuilt. Both the West Gate Tunnel and North East Link consist of 2 new 6-lane freeways PLUS doubling the number of lanes on the freeways they connect to. That is absolutely unnecessary for freight alone.
it's not massively overbuilt, it's built for the future, so that they don't end up with a debacle like Sydney's M5 east tunnel - where it was built with just 2 lanes each direction and 10 years later they realise it's maxed out in capacity and traffic gridlock everyday during peak hour.
freight and 'moving trucks off local street' is just an excuse to build more car dependent infrastructure which gets clogged by commuters. If it was for freight, then cars would be banned and it would only be trucks, but they started running out of excuses to build more roads because it turns out more roads doesnt reduce traffic.
@@nightowldickson Both that and the Eastern Distributor were carparks from day one. We need the Bradfield mentality, he built things in the 1920s that still work today.
Hi Sharath. Enjoy the holiday season! Can’t wait for what next year will bring in terms of content. Thanks for bringing these amazing videos to us this year and covering my favourite topic; transport.
The same thing with Forest Road and Stoney Creek Road. Since opening the M8 and now tolling the M5 East the traffic on these roads have never been worse.
The way I found out this was open was by driving across the ANZAC bridge towards Annandale while coming home from visiting some friends on the North Shore, and very suddenly finding myself transported to a completely different part of Sydney 🙃 The signs on the ANZAC Bridge were _not_ clear that the lanes to get to Annandale were different, despite it being a common turn off point!
Im so glad I stumbled onto this page. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading all the comments/ replies. I don’t drive,never have,never will. One thing that occurred to me is that we seem to be heading for “ super cities”,and the whole 15 minute cities thing,where u live and work and play in close proximity. I feel over time we will be manipulated into that. It’ll simply become too expensive to drive or commute via public transport. Travel time is always factored into our day.We’ve always considered both options when looking where to live. ( as one drives,although is now captain commute,and one relies on public transport) personally ,it’s always about the money and return to “ shareholders”. The powers that be will merrily do what they please, we just need to work around them. I agree there should be more stops re the parramatta light rail ,but that would mean all the developers can’t advertise a short trip to city and therefore “ lose” value on all these dwellings being thrown up. Honestly if I drove to work, it’d be a matter of principle to avoid paying yet another corporate conglomerate far too much money.the average family budget just cannot handle the cost. I’d also like to say to the tradies, I agree, lugging tools around on public transport? And since moving west and using public transport to city, I’ve seen many tradies working on high rise areas travelling in groups to enable a pile of tool boxes ,hard hats,high vis,boots,lunches etc to be taken to sites. My other half is impressed with a capped weekly public transport cost( especially with fuel prices) and has commented on enjoying his time to just relax. We love where we now live,with a lot of building still to happen,so realise population will rise a lot. Trying to resist the whole nimby thing but that’s just a human trait. I think drivers should be more concerned about being forced onto electric vehicles ( which are worse for the environment and much more costly) with banks soon to refuse loans for “ old cars” and insurers also getting their pound of flesh- forcing many to attempt to get work in their locality. We’ve also had a couple friends change from cars to scooters or motorcycles, although it makes me cringe for their safety. This one person per four seater upwards car thing is a worry. Also a few neighbours only have to go into their office twice a week,so there is a few numbers there that aren’t using roads every day. I’ve caught public transport for 40 odd years now in Sydney in three very different areas and overall it’s a good system. The parramatta road thing is a great idea …..in a perfect world. I’d love to see it come to fruition. ATM we are really looking forward to the metro and exploring how to change over and link up. Just a few rambling thoughts.
Dense housing on Parra Rd will just add more traffic to a place with too much traffic and do little to bring vibrance to immediate businesses. Saw it around Marrickville station and Norton Street in Leichhardt. The area around Canterbury Station is still awful even with a bunch of massive apartments built on to it. I understand the people around Parra Rd not wanting huge developments, for a start, it stops the area being what attracted people there in the first place. Look around Mascot Station, it's a complete fkn nightmare. Green Square was overdeveloped and chokes the hell out of the already problematic Botany Rd. We need to build out, not up. These old surburbs are being destroyed by overdevelopment. When everything is wall-to-wall apartments, there is no identity.
My theory on the Introduction of the M5 Tunnel's new toll, is to ensure that commuters would actually use, and therefore pay the M8 Tunnel Toll, instead of taking the M5 Tunnel and General Holmes Drive for free. Most city destinations takes just as long taking the M5 as it does the M8. The M8 barely gets any traffic as it is now. It is always nearly empty, even when General Holmes Drive is completely blocked up. And for urban renewal, if they really wanted to encourage it, the tolls would be a lot less, which would move traffic onto the toll way, rather than just provide a quick route for people that are willing to sell their kidneys to afford the tolls.
It's worth mentioning the Western Harbour Tunnel when open in 2027 will eliminate the need for traffic going to North Shore from using Anzac Bridge and the Harbour Bridge, thus reducing traffic there. Also, once the St Peters interchange is complete, it will be possible to travel from Parramatta to Sydney Airport just under 30 minutes, which is less time than driving from Parramatta to Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek.
The first exit from Western Harbour Tunnel Expressway will be Cammeray Miller St. OK for upper North Shore but lower North Shore incl North Sydney will still have better exit from Harbour Bridge to North Sydney Pacific Hwy or Kirribilli. Mosman and Northern Beaches might also be better via Bridge. They have already removed Expressway exit to Falcon Street turning west, (Taxi driver told me passenger going from eastern suburbs to Mosman had to go north to Cammeray then south on Miller to Falcon St to Military Rd.)
When the Sydney harbour tunnel opened traffic across the harbour increased by 40%. Population growth was only 4%. This new tunnel won’t do anything to ease congestion.
@buildingbeautifully the road has changed who is getting the worse traffic it has basically removed the traffic on the city west link (Parramatta Road to Rozelle) and is a nonstop run since it opened. It used to be a stop and crawl, it was faster to walk on the bay.
The road signage around these major toll roads is appalling, moreso when there have been no toll-free grace periods for drivers to recover from costly mistakes. I've been caught trying to avoid the entrances to M4 (at each end) at night when they opened. Poor lighting and blockage of crucial signs by heavy trucks made these very difficult to negotiate. As Prof Ann Williamson from UNSW has suggested - they need to be testing these roads with drivers unfamiliar with the area. There's still no sign from Gardners Rd / Bourke St to direct westbound traffic around the St Peters interchange.
The Taverners Hill light rail was a real find for me when I found it walking up Parramatta Rd towards Old Canterbury Rd. I like the quaintness of the stop. A light rail interchange at Taverners Hill along Parramatta Rd would make sense as there is a stairway up from Parramatta Rd to the current L1 light rail stop.
Great video. I only wish they would build a tunnel for a3 king georges or a6 north south direction to finish the loop around sydney. M7 and m1 is the only north south highway with 30km width of no highways in between. Most of the congestion is now for north south direction in this zone. Whereas east west direction already have m4 m5 and m2 placed around 10km from each other
I live in Balmain I am now trapped as a prisoner in by suburb until 10am everyday (luckily I take the ferry, ferry traffic having trebled in the last 2 weeks). The distance from Balmain to the city is about 3kms, and now takes 45-60mins....... I would take Parramatta rd every day over Victoria rd even on its worst day in history this is beyond a joke. The failure at Rozelle/Balmain WAS deliberate...... around 50,000 people live across Balmain, Balmain East, Birchgrove and Rozelle, forcing all of us and all the busses that were already travelling up Victoria Rd (these were never ever going through the free tunnel) into ONE lane to get onto Anzac bridge through a traffic light was WELL KNOWN TO FAIL, we have been crucified to the alter of transurban. 8 years of local pain to make life better for Parramatta, it now takes less time to get from Parramatta to the city than from Balmain 300m from the Anzac Bridge. We are told over time we will give up trying to use the roads........ and this is the solution for the government both Labor and Liberal, that will serve us right for voting green....... They have no intention to make this liveable we are to be sacrificed for Transurban.
True. Appeasing those living further out but cause pain to those who live close by. It’s disgraceful. Like the metro west. Parramatta council wanted fewer stops so they could get into the city a few minutes quicker. More stations could’ve been built. One between Glebe and Five Dock (good locale would’ve been Rozelle/Lilyfield vicinity) would’ve been very beneficial but noooooo, an extra 2 minutes travel time for western residents is a no no! This city is so corrupt.
Dude, I feel you. I’m in Drummoyne and it’s the same deal. Locked in most hours of the day. There’s this golden zone of 10am-2pm and then it’s madness again. Plus those giant exhaust fumes stacks they’ve put up and put greenery around them as if that somehow hides the fact they’re spewing carbon monoxide into our backyards at night. You’re so lucky to have a ferry. The Birkenhead Ferry (closest to me) was decommissioned. Can’t reach the other Drummoyne Ferry because of traffic. The irony.
@@clara4942 irony now is that those living literally next to the Rozelle power station, less than 2kms from the CBD and almost under the Anzac bridge, now have been forced to catch the busses coming out of the city, to ride the 3kms back to Balmain East to catch the ferry as this is faster than the busses which are cheaper and closer to the CBD (so now they are paying $9 each way instead of $2.50 on the bus alone). This is the brilliance of a state government who could not care less about an electorate that votes green (ferry patronage has trebled in the last few weeks as we EVAPORATE ourselves from the traffic for the good of Transurban). Bugger for you on the ferry services, given they charge so much you think they could put this into play all the way up the harbour, it still is the nicest all be it our equivelant of travelling on Concorde to get to the city. $6.50 to go literally about 500m for me, but still better than a 1 hour bus ride to go 5kms to keep MINNS happy.
the government might have sold the roads to transurban so they didnt end up with 'debt', but transurban is expected to bring in 70 bill in revenue by the time that contract is up and theyre getting that much because theyre charging a fortune to use the roads, which people are complaining about, and how is the government easing those complaints? by paying transurban a portion of the toll cost themselves so that users have a capped price
Uh Huh.... And Transurban also has to maintain all the tunnels in a safe condition for the whole period the toll concession lasts for. Here's a hint - that ain't free and if tollways weren't user-pays, you'd be paying anyway through higher taxes.
@@vintageradio3404 youre right maintenance expenses do have to come out of that 70 bill revenue, however that maintenance cost is about 15million dollars over the entire projects lifetime also we're already paying anyway through higher tax, because transurban has increased toll prices so much, the government is using tax money to subsidize the cost for people if the government entirely owned it still the tolls would either be much lower, or that 70 billion would be going back into government spending instead of some company
@@vincentgrinn2665 $15m over the life of the toll concession? You are dreaming. Transurban probably wishes you were right but you are nowhere near the truth. $15m per annum wouldn't cover the cost of wages alone. If the Government owned WestConnex the toll would probably be higher. They once did own it and the toll wasn't raised or lowered when the Transurban-led consortium bought in. The toll on the Government-owned Sydney Harbour Bridge is around $4.00 and the Bridge was paid off in 1989.
This is a brilliant upgrade. Only took me 43 mins to drive from Castlereagh to Darling Harbour on Saturday morning! And I don’t care about the poor yuppies in Balmain haha
Hey man, thanks for the video. Could you make a video on the exit from M8 at St Peters. There is only one exit from M8 main tunnel for both Euston Road and Gardeners Road. However, the overhead signage at the exit says Gardeners Road only - no mention of Euston Road exit. If a motorist misses this exit, thinking there is another exit for Euston Road, he/she will end up in Wiley Park. I wrote to WestConnex pointing this out. Their response in a nutshell shell was - get used to it or use the Plan Your Journey tool!!
This government has already dealt its hand on infrastructure for this term. There will be no new capital works relating to transport until the next Coalition government is elected.
Parramatta Road is not a destination, it is a conduit. Bus lanes haven't relieved any congestion along Parramatta road and clogging it up with rail lines and stations would be counter-productive, it would simply impede traffic flow even more. There are just too many intersections with traffic lights along Parramatta road, that is the greatest impediment to traffic flow. The cure for congestion is to address the problems of intersections, traffic lights don't solve any of the problems of traffic flow, they are just a crude traffic management device.
I travel from Beverly Hills to Botany and back for work. Catching public transport (a train then a bus) takes at least an hour each way and was costing $50 a week 7 years ago when I stopped using it. Traveling by car takes 30 minutes each way and costs me $50 a fortnight even with the current high fuel prices. I used to take the M5 East but now refuse since they started charging a toll for a road that was once free. Going via Stoney Creek Rd may take 10 or 15 minutes longer tham using the tunnel but saving $11 in tolls each day makes it worth it.
I am so glad I don't have to drive in Sydney traffic during pick times anymore. (Retired). It's always been a nightmare and the more roads they build the worse it gets.
I really like the Committee for Sydney’s recommendation for a new LR line on Parra road. I reckon it should start at circular quay but go to central via Elizabeth Street or College/Macquarie Streets provide some better PT access to the eastern side of the CBD. Either way, a LR would be awesome
yeah I literally had the similar thoughts about the proposed map he showed of the Parramatta Rd LR. It should've been sent along a different corridor in the city than George Street as that would mean three branches because of L2, & L3. Tho I guess that detail wasn't the focus and that diagram is just a draft. I'm sure they would refine it more if they were to build it
@@ollie2074 agreed! The other potential option is up Kent St (as per the original plans for the LR in the city) and have it connect to Barangaroo, or back to circular quay via the rocks. Although this would probably be less likely as it’d make it fairly long line.
Wow making traffic worse in Sydney than it already was. that is an achievement in itself. Hopefully long term with the new projects it gets better. I like taking the train when i am Sydney, airport to the opera house for a beer in 40 minutes is always a win. Great video mate!!!
Westconnex is stunning. Amazing achievement and it’s fantastic for all in western Sydney. I think it’s hilarious that people in Parramatta can get to the city quicker than those in Rozelle. It also isn’t the last last piece. The western harbour tunnel when complete will solve whatever the issue is in Rozelle.
Public transport now along Victoria now is so bad now. I now get off the Bus just after Gladesville Bridge and walk to the ferry to the city as it is now way quicker, than traversing Rozelle
As someone living near the M6 construction, this is so worrying. I’d love you to cover why the NorthConnex area has heavy fines for trucks NOT using it but there aren’t similar fines in the areas around the M8 and there are no proposals for truck fines for the M6 when it opens.
@@ibanezlaney Except that no-one builds station wagons now which are suitable for trade work. All the cars you mention will fit quite well into a standard sized traffic lane. Why the hatred?
The signage coming from the airport side to get off at Ashfield etc is basically non existent. And I had know idea what was going on the cross Parramatta Rd onto Fredrick street, what a mess.
The most confusing thing about the signage, to me, is that the A40 still follows the surface street. It's an A-road! If you want people to use the tunnel, route the A-road through the tunnel! (Last I checked, NorthConnex had the same problem… and not just because it's got a similar dumb name.)
Sharath! I just came back from China and Hong Kong… yes public transport there is very developed, I would call Beijing metro complicated (as a Laowai). Hong Kong is great, make sure to catch the Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central, iconic. Get an Esim instead of relying on a VPN. VPNS now barely work in China, an unlimited 10 day Esim was only $35 or so, nothing blocked. But, you could also really enjoy a smartphone break as well while being there.
Transurban usually have a clause that nothing like heavy rail or light rail can be built in competition with its toll roads. The toll roads would probably be given priority to use other feeder roads over the pre-existing local roads. I'd be buying shares in Transurban too like the minister did
westconnex provides value. Every day I save 30-60 mins of my time travelling to sites all over Sydney, and when Gateway opens it gives me another 20 mins. Its questionable why it costs so much, where money goes, who gets cosy multimillion pension from it and so on, but at least it works and saves. And what gives me all these boulevards, pushbike paths and hypotetical trams on Parramatta rd? What to do there at all? How I get one cent or one minute from them? No way. Refuse.
I've come to the conclusion that there is a deliberate campaign among traffic sign designers to put up unhelpful, vague and positioned way-to-late signs, if my experience in Adelaide is anything.
@@JohnFromAccounting Hello John When you add up the total costs of roadworks, tunnels, planning, resumptions, salaries, maintenance etc etc., it would be more than the costs of the schemes to set, administer, collect and manage fare collections. The immediate benefits would be an reduction of traffic, air pollution, accidents etc etc. Transurban and fuel companies may try to thwart it for obvious reasons but the positives will far outweigh the negatives. Maybe an aspiring traffic management student could do a thesis on the topic? Cheers
Costs me over $150 a week in tolls to visit my ageing parents out west. If I don’t use tolls it’s up to a 1.5-2 hr journey depending on clusterfrack traffic and merging botttlenecks. And we pay 30% tax. Thanks Sydney.
So, the Iron Cove tunnel takes out a few sets of lights, going under Rozelle, coming out at the Anzac Bridge. Drivers aren't using it, because they either couldn't be bothered changing their behaviour, are scared of where the speed camera is hidden in there, are scared of being tolled (which yes, it isn't actually tolled, but people don't understand that) or they're going to the Rozelle/Balmain/Lilyfield area, and need to use Victoria Rd. Simple solution - make one lane under the tunnel in each direction a bus lane for the express busses that go into and out of the city. From the stop at Birkenhead Point, express busses get into one of the right hand lanes, (being given preference over cars stopped at the lights just before the bus stop - ie - cars get held back at the lights slightly longer if a bus has tripped a sensor at the lights, enabling busses stopping and taking off again at the Birkenhead Point stop time to go from the left lane across to the bus lane which goes through the tunnel). The other direction - coming out of the city - would be easier, as express busses could just jump into the far left lane coming over the Anzac Bridge, into the tunnel, then out at Drummoyne. Surely one of the boffins must have thought of something like this in the planning stages?!....
Having been forced to go from South to North up Parramatta road before the tunnels existed, i couldn't understand how it was so bad vs Melbourne. And then the random tunnels i took that were flooded and copied the roads next to it. Just the whole city needs to be ripped up and started again. And remove tolls. The rot started with Jeff Kennett, the CityLink that was only meant to be a 25 year contract iirc. Conveniently was extended when they widened it. Just like the rest of the freeways attached were. It's so frustrating.
All Victoria road traffic heading to Anzac Bridge are now using Roselle tunnel only to find grid lock traffic in tunnel due to lane merge pinch points at exit tunnel. 4 lanes to 2 to 1 and posted unreadable low speed limit adding to congestion. Answer is not work or drive in city of Sydney. Clearly Clover Moore rather see you walk and have you kiss her toes.
Independent Truck Drivers often steer clear of using motorways because they're quite costly, some smaller companies prohibit drivers going on them unless they have to. For instance, traveling from Eastern Creek to Botany (M7,M5,M5 East) can cost a truck about $50 each way, just on tolls. It would be more practical if trucks were charged a flat weekly rate to access motorways
Forest Road and Stoney Creek Road has been completely packed since the introduction of the M5 Tunnel Toll (which in my opinion is to make the M8 competitive). When I drive into uni (I cannot commute 4 hours a day sometimes, so driving which takes about 2 hours return is an alternate and quicker option)
@@jamesrichardson645just made a similar comment. I’d love to understand why trucks are fined for NOT using the NorthConnex but no fines exist for trucks evading the M8, M5 and (soon to be) M6 tolls.
@@pholliez Politics, getting trucks off of pennant hills road was an election promise it was done to help win an election and nothing more. Unless the people affected by trucks avoiding the M5, M8 and soon to be M6 get pissed off enough that internal polling data shows people would be willing to switch parties in order to get it addressed, it simply wont happen.
@mike-williams any private owner just removes the speed limiters. They make driving more difficult than it needs to be. It prevents them from safely overtake other trucks, or speeding slightly at the bottom of a hill to keep momentum.
There are little hint signs in the CBD indicating directions to the Harbour Bridge and ANZAC Bridge so it's not unprecedented to have "Hey ANZAC Bridge over here" signage. And of course reinstating the inexplicable removal of Ryde as a primary destination is an obvious thing to do. I'm unclear as to why the A40 route designation must stay on the surface and cannot be moved to the Iron Cove Link tunnel - that would simplify signage and avoid the "For" terminology... just attach A40 to all directional signage to/from ANZAC and Iron Cove bridges.
My understanding was that the NSW government signed some document (a non-compete clause of sorts) that doesnt allow for competing public transport along parramatta road (e.g. somrthing that provides an alternative to travelling via tolled roads)
What people don’t understand however is that a lot of people who drive from the outer west (Penrith, Blacktown, etc) on the M4 take the Church St exit, taking them onto Parramatta road to avoid paying the M4 toll. Another reason why congestion on Parramatta road can be so severe.
The North Connex tunnel to join the M1 (at Hornsby) to the M2 (at Pennant Hills) to ease traffic on Pennant Hills Road has been successful. It has taken all the trucks off Pennant Hills Road and eliminated the 20kph crawl. Not every new motorway is a disaster.. Equally, the light rail in the CBD has not been a success. (How many years late, and how many businesses made bankrupt because of closed-off streets?)
The tolls are a massive issue, just in Sydney in general. Multiple tolls quickly add up. To drive from, say, Northwest Syd to the CBD (M7. M2, LCT, Bridge) on-peak is something like $22+. One way. Add in a return trip and parking and you could be easily over $100. While I get motorways, particularly with tunnels, cost big money to build and maintain, they also needs patronage in order to be viable and to justify their existence .. making tolls too expensive will just cripple revenue from the start. Better to charge, say, 10,000 cars $1 each versus 5,000 cars $2 each, for example. Another massive issue: The inner west. The people there are .. special. I was in an inner west FB community group a long time ago and they were vehemently against Westconnex. They were all "the money should be spent on public transport". They have the paradigm of living ~10min from the city. They had zero concept that the road was built for people beyond the inner west, not people in the inner west itself, and that public transport isn't suitable for everyone (eg tradies). Absolute braindead idiots. Meanwhile, Northconnex, realistically the Pennant Hills Rd bypass, was built with, to my knowledge, zero controversy, because the locals simply aren't dumb. Also: Residential along Parra road? Ehh... Even if Parra road is transformed, it's always going to be a main arterial road and .. who wants to live next to that? They'd be demolishing all of those decrepit buildings anyway. While I'd perhaps advocate for widening the road slightly, but I'd also think they should be using much of the space currently occupied by buildings to create green spaces, and maybe even cycle lanes/paths etc. Having Parra Rd be a light rail corridor is an interesting proposal. Create a bit of a buffer between the road/area and any resi developments. Also, you have to consider flight paths, as planes fly low over the inner west. Finally: Why can people see the obvious problem with funnelling 10 lanes into 4 .. but not the equally obvious and fundamentally equivalent problem of wanting to grow Australia's population, particularly via immigration, 10 times faster than we can build houses?
Weirdly, the city bound tunnel entrance at Haberfield - start of City West link - doesn't mention the tunnel goes to Anzac Bridge/City. Sign only says Airport/Port Botany. How many cars are getting on the City West link instead of using the tunnel?
I have my Google set to avoid toll roads. As someone who travels through Sydney to get somewhere else the $30 in told just isn't worth the 30 minutes I save.
I agree that better transport systems can be introduced onto Parramatta Road, but given the known capacity of the road if another light rail is constructed on the road it will take away way more of the capacity of cars. If no physical modifications are to be made on the Road itself, this will mean either the light rail or major traffic on Parramatta Road (excluding those accessing the streets connecting the Road) will need to go over or under the ground. While not everyone has a car, when the roads are being designed they should've considered where would cars park if they need to access the shops and housings along the Road. Construction of light rail sounds great but the width of the road cannot be expanded easily, especially when taking into account of "historical buildings" which cannot be demolished. Not all "historical" things are worth to stay when they are being evaluated against societal benefits and needs. Simply keep the more significant ones and demolish the rest. That might be another solution to expand the capacity of the Road. At the end, it's not just the designers that need to keep on innovating, but also the ways of thinking by the government and the people. Don't always stick onto one system when that system is plagued with hundreds of issues which are difficult to patch up. Think and try another way, and we shall be better connected together.
I don’t know why they do snap openings. There should be a clear date and on-road signage in the weeks ahead preparing drivers. eg. “Iron Cove to Anzac bridge opens 26 Nov. Toll free.” It’s good to have online available animations but you can’t beat the reach of signage to the actual road users. Often lost in the discussion but happy to see included here is one of the “why-was-it-built?” reasons and that is freight. Every productivity report for decades on Sydney has called for better movement around the city and out of the city for freight out of the airport and port botany. Costing the economy x to y billions. Will be interesting to also see the impact the new western Sydney airport has here, although the city continues to grow and it may just absorb the benefits for the growth.
The warning signage you mentioned was in place, both on overhead electronic signs and on portable roadside signs. The problem is, people do not read them.
It’s super important to consider the future of Parramatta Road and Victoria Road before answering the question. Creating a pedestrian boulevard and dismantling a stroad requires the tunnels that have been built so far.
converting it to a pedestrian boulevard requires people to use those tunnels which they wont do if its tolled. Tolls have consistently resulted in lower then expected capacity on express ways. If we remove the stroad traffic will just redirect on to surrounding streets. It's long passed time we stopped allowing tolls, they make everything worse.
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Hey! Sorry if you noticed this video was a bit more rushed than usual. I’m actually in Melbourne (!) right now with Amy, and I made this really quickly before I got here. I just really wanted to get something out about the WestConnex before I headed off travelling for all of December. It's the fastest I've ever made a video lol. The WestConnex has been in the news a lot lately, after all!
There’s not gonna be any more videos for the rest of 2023; this is my last video. I'm travelling for all of December ✈. It’s been a great year for my channel, we’ve gone from 10,000 subscribers to over 34,000 and I’m really really happy about that. Thank you all for your support, it means a lot to me 😊😊
I can assure you that I’m not going anywhere, I’m very keen to return in 2024, I have a lot of video ideas cooking away. So to anyone reading this right now, Merry Christmas, happy New Year, have a great holidays, and I’ll see you next year!
Here in Victoria we use blue instead of green for guidance signs on toll roads. Makes confusion impossible. If your destination is on a green sign it's free and if it's on a blue sign it's tolled.
Same in Brisbane
@@samsam21amb and Toowoomba.
in nsw blue signs denote commerical areas, centres of towns etc
@@thefitnessinstructor8937I think Vic also uses blue background (with white text) for shopping centres etc. The toll signs use blue background with orange text
Terrible idea, I much prefer the NSW way. The colours are supposed to be for a purpose - green for suburbs, blue for points of interest (e.g. hospitals), brown for tourist spots, etc. Making toll roads a different colour is pointless and confusing. The bright yellow 'TOLL' nsw uses is more than enough.
Thanks for the shoutout! As a professional Parramatta Road hater I got literal chills when you said "there remains one problem: Parramatta Road"
Ay you're that eggy bloke that was kicked out of a train station, right?
Parramatta Road is great for offroading when you don't want to leave the city.
@@notaplic8158I want an update on his response so commenting
I don't know anyone who loves Parramatta Road and its existence gives Parramatta a bad name as it's a relic from the days of the West being the center of poverty
Parra Road is beautiful. It’s the persistence of legacy Grand Narrative in post-post-modernist deconstructionist tunnel machine fail. Destroying ‘Urban decay’ is the Gentrifica-toll-nation. Parra Rd is reminder there used to actually be productive use of inner Sydders. Take that old Greek Milkvar from 1950s - better then any Connex
Sydney doesn’t deserve to be so corruptly governed, on all levels. There’s just too much money to be scammed that no one on top can make changes for the greater good.
With our gdp for Sydney making us basically a top 20 country per capita, the cronyism and corruption is staggering
Agreed. We need a government that stops thinking about short-term gain instead of long-term.
The state Liberal party took it to a whole new level.
@@BuildingBeautifully The government we have now only does two things:-
1. Opens projects that were built by the previous government.
2. Has cancelled any projects not already started.
Jo Haylen is absolutely bloody useless.
WestConnex is the perfect metaphor for all the governments involved with it; in terms of the planning and design, the "procurement" process, and the resultant traffic clusterf***, even the signage. Peak NSW
Also the philosophy of engineering departments who see a design guideline and will use it uncritically in order to avoid any need to defend their work.
Peak Liberal party govenment.
NSW Government is Australia's top government in planning and development are always patch fixes and scoped for for 4 years at a time. Where different dipartments and bodies fail to get their goals aligned, always NSW's left hand doesn't talk to right hand and vice-versa. And long needed developments things only get brought up and seriously debated on lead up to elections. Perfect example Sydney's trains and the never ending election promise of high-speed rail linking major towns like Newcastle to Sydney for commuting. Don't get be started on budgeting and over charging the public on things that should be free. Cost blow of projects like the new tunes are prime example and things like charging the public again for paid things like the M4 motorway.
@@oshochso You are almost right. The NSW Government (the previous one, not the current one that is just cutting the previous government's ribbons at official openings) actually did build big things. What Labor did in the 16 prior years was a joke. All tunnels built were undersized, clearly not fit for purpose and two of them went broke, one went broke twice.
Yes, the pinchpoint near the Anzac bridge was a clear under-estimation of traffic flows, however that is somewhat temporary. When the Western Harbour Tunnel opens it will carry route M8, continuing on from the M8 tunnels and 20-30% of the traffic being pushed on to the Anzac Bridge will be diverted to the Western Harbour Tunnel, taking traffic off the Anzac Bridge, Western Distributor and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Additionally, when Sydney Metro West opens in a few years, cars will simply not be used by many people who will take the train to work for the first time.
Ahhh, almost forgot, the toll on the M4 is not to cover a road that has been paid off but to cover the cost of widening it from three to four lanes each way, two to five lanes each way at the approaches to the tunnels and the Concord Interchange, and build the extra flyover at Granville.
I got my driver's licence in 1963. Paramatta Road was like that then.
I think part of the issue is not recognising that the westconnex (and surrounding locations on the signs) are NOT the destinations of the vehicles transiting through it. Don’t tell me “drummoyne” or “city” on the signs, instead: TELL ME *where* I’m going through the maze - “Gladesville Bridge”, or “Westbound M4”.
But wah, how will the investors make their money if we weren’t confusing drivers into taking longer tolled routes instead of the most logical ones?
The only credible news source on public infrastructure i trust.
I honestly think they should go with Melbourne and Brisbane’s approach with colored blue signs for tolls for example with the “To M8 Toll” section being colored blue with the non toll routes being green.
As it turns out, the current light green signs were only used on Freeways until the late 1980’s. Before that, other roads were on a very dark green background. The change over to all light green occurred in the early 1990’s.
i dunno, already seems pretty clear that the toll is only for the M8. you cant fix stupid.
@@gregessex1851which is great but most people on here including me were either young or not born in the early 90s.
@@Low760 hence the reason to mention that piece of history
Now now, can’t do anything that might affect private road profits
People unhappily stuck in traffic should always remember “you are traffic”. People always think the traffic is everyone else.
I think the Rozelle interchange should be renamed the Gladys in honour of her contribution to badly designed roads.
I would like to see a light rail super-loop along the full length of Parramatta Road and Victoria Road with crossovers along Silverwater Road, Olympic Park and Homebush Bay Drive/ Concord Road. This would support higher densities, connect Sydney University, RPAH, WSU, Top Ryde City etc and convert these roads into something closer to boulevards with urban renewal. This could interconnect with train stations such as West Ryde and Strathfield and new metro stations such as Burwood North, Olympic Park etc
While your light rail plan sounds a bit too ambitious, I agree with the general idea that we need more light rails. Would absolutely support ones on Parra and Victoria Roads.
Get out of your car. I'm far from a fan of either Shitney Trains / Buses but they're better than sitting in a car in traffic.
lol to be fair, I watched some of the emergency meeting and many of the people were just residents who want to get in and out of their street. One poor bloke was told his street will be fully good to go by 2028. He seemed a bit upset.
Before Sydney becomes like Los Angeles or Texan cities with crappy public transport and overuse on cars...we need to ramp up PT frequency everywhere and force drivers to pay additional fees per KM they drive, with exceptions for the following:
-People in postcodes more than 1km away from a train station/major bus routes
-Families with kids under 12
-Families caring for elderly/disability
-People with a disability
-People who drive for (NOT TO) work
Sydney needs to become a public transport city like tokyo...and NIMBYS and anti TOD people can move to rural Australia
I’m so happy moving back to Sydney after twenty years
And couldn’t find a house at Balmain. Instead bought at south coogee 😂😂😂😂 I’m soooooo happy. Thank you.
I walk everywhere and even to the Westfield which is a big hike.
I genuinely admire how much you care about your city and how you put forward ideas on how to improve it instead of just complaining.
oh my god it's just so exciting and makes me so happy when i see something like '1 hour ago' on a building beautifully video. a new video is just incredible i love watching sharath sharing his insane knowledge on civil engineering!!
It's insane alright.
Aww 😊
Hi Sharath, tonight I went to an event organised by Inner West Council where members of the community spoke to Transport for NSW including Howard Collins. It was a very interesting meeting and the council is going to set up an independent advisory board made out of experts in the local community to work on fixing Victoria Road. It was a very interesting meeting and it would’ve been great if you came!
Howard is a great person but the best puppet for any transport privatisation project, thanks Gladys.
The whole west connex & that interchange at Leichardt are expletive ing nightmares!!!! "Turn left" & there are 2 lefts what are you meant to do with that? Sydney's roads have become an expletive ing nightmare. I wish I had never come back to Sydney
@@isaiah513623 two lefts -don’t make a right.
Oof couldn’t be there as I’m travelling right now. Keep me posted though as I’d love to be involved in the future!
As always very independently biased panel I am sure
Part of the issue is that in the original design much of the city bound traffic exited at Camperdown. To save money this exist was cancelled and no alternative arrangments were made. Very short sighted. The Rozelle interchange was never going to work and the City of Sydney tried to tell the LNP Government 6 years ago.
In addition there is going to be more traffic coming into the system when the extension to Kogarah is completed.
Having 10 lanes go down to just 4 on the Anzac Bridge never made sense and we all knew this years ago. And so here we are now 🙄
When the Sydney light rail could have been build five times over for the cost of this disaster, there's no arguing that the Rozelle Interchange is one of the biggest wastes of money in recent years. They spent $16 billion to make traffic worse.
But their donors got funded so win win!
The lockdown has scared a lot of people off public transport, Our energy bills are too high due to net zero insanity and the increase in immigration is causing the housing crisis. We have a rail network that has been divided between public and private and are not compatible and a tram that runs up the middle of the CBD that I can walk faster than and bicycle lanes to further hinder traffic flow. If you are carrying tools or are delivery driver going into the city is a nightmare.
Why not move the workplaces closer to where people live rather than everyone going into the city?
I thought the 3 stages equalled $30B?
@@HenryKlausEsq. Corruption has no budget
@@seanworkman431 "a tram that runs up the middle of the CBD that I can walk faster than..." No so much now, but true when the tram was first introduced, thanks to failure of traffic controllers to properly coordinate traffic lights in their favour, prioritising cars instead.
Sharath. Your channel has grown and grown so much and your interest in and perception and knowledge of the subtleties of complex infrastructure projects is incredible. You have a huge future in urban and infrastructure planning. I hope that this is recognised and utilised by the appropriate authorities. I have always had a huge fascination with infrastructure and planning. And only wish that i had access to the level of technology and interface that you have today. Make the most of it. You wont regret it. And keep the project analysis and recommendation going. We need you. Best. Hamish.
The simple fact is that if you build more roads they are simply going to fill up with traffic. The vast majority of that traffic is cars with one person in them which is incredibly inefficient. Imagine how much mass transit could have been built for this price? The only winner out of this is Transurban, and will be for decades.
For the cost of the Rozelle interchange they could have made the Sydney light rail five times over.
It'll be at least nice if part of the project included "de-stroading" Parra Road including either upgrading bus lanes or installing new light rail.
Think of all the people who prefer to be stuck in traffic rather than peak hour train/bus crowd crush.
@@hi9580you do know why they are stuck on traffic right…
Yes, people going to work, how dare they.
Your channel deserves so much more attention. The content is top notch and very well presented. I've only been following you for about 6 months after finding the video you had on Peats Ridge Road. All your videos are worth watching. I really wish you all the best of luck with the channel growth. You clearly put a great deal of effort into it.
I released that video a year ago believe it or not! Thank you so much for your support, and keep watching!
I suppose I have a bit of a different perspective on toll roads as where I'm from (Vancouver, Canada) toll roads are extremely rare, and I've also been to Japan where there really aren't any expressways that don't have tolls. I think they can be a valuable tool for fighting traffic congestion and automobile use, while also being pretty inconsequential to pay for freight or intercity buses. The key is to really make sure that people dislike driving so much on the alternatives that they're willing to either pay the toll, or do something other than drive.
IMO this means that you should toll motorways & high traffic roads, and then make sure that everything that's not in that category does not primarily prioritize traffic flow. Bus lanes, bike lanes, fewer general purpose travel lanes in general all great, traffic signals that change frequently to prioritize pedestrians, etc. Taking back the road space to create alternatives that might be better than driving at all.
Of course, it's not good when those tolls aren't going to fund public projects, and instead are just going to private shareholders. So I totally get what you're saying. If it were up to me, TransLink (our local unified transit agency, covers both public transit & major road network) would collect tolls from basically all of our bridges and use them to fund transportation projects in general.
Problem is when toll roads are the only fast and reliable option. Sydney's entire orbital expressway network is tolled.
Agreed, toll roads can have their benefits. Trouble is I don’t think Sydney does enough to try force people onto tolls or onto public transport. I hope they do some traffic calming, bike lanes, light rail etc to Parra Road to try encourage cars onto the WestConnex or onto public transposta.
@@ytlurker220 That is the case generally in major cities in Japan - if you want to drive and get somewhere quickly, especially when it's busy, there's going to be a toll involved. There are a lot of other options other than driving and this helps encourage that, which itself reduces traffic for anyone who after all that still needs to be on the road
As someone who lives in the Blue mountains and needs to drive in for work it's been a fantastic addition. The drive has shortened by 30+ minutes! It's brilliant!
City West link and Parramatta Rd sucked
Now they need to build more pt!!!
We're doing the same thing here in Victoria, building massive new freeways for freight purpose. The problem is, the freeways are massively overbuilt. Both the West Gate Tunnel and North East Link consist of 2 new 6-lane freeways PLUS doubling the number of lanes on the freeways they connect to. That is absolutely unnecessary for freight alone.
it's not massively overbuilt, it's built for the future, so that they don't end up with a debacle like Sydney's M5 east tunnel - where it was built with just 2 lanes each direction and 10 years later they realise it's maxed out in capacity and traffic gridlock everyday during peak hour.
freight and 'moving trucks off local street' is just an excuse to build more car dependent infrastructure which gets clogged by commuters. If it was for freight, then cars would be banned and it would only be trucks, but they started running out of excuses to build more roads because it turns out more roads doesnt reduce traffic.
@@nightowldickson research induced traffic demand
@@nightowldickson Both that and the Eastern Distributor were carparks from day one. We need the Bradfield mentality, he built things in the 1920s that still work today.
Hi Sharath. Enjoy the holiday season! Can’t wait for what next year will bring in terms of content. Thanks for bringing these amazing videos to us this year and covering my favourite topic; transport.
Thanks mate, and keep watching!
The same thing with Forest Road and Stoney Creek Road. Since opening the M8 and now tolling the M5 East the traffic on these roads have never been worse.
Thanks for always using your channel to try and help improve Sydney!
The way I found out this was open was by driving across the ANZAC bridge towards Annandale while coming home from visiting some friends on the North Shore, and very suddenly finding myself transported to a completely different part of Sydney 🙃 The signs on the ANZAC Bridge were _not_ clear that the lanes to get to Annandale were different, despite it being a common turn off point!
Best is to get off at the fishmarket glebe exit just before anzac bridge for annandale
Those sign suggestions are really good
Wait till an over-height truck tries his luck in the new interchange 😂
WestConnex tunnels are higher than the older ones.
Im so glad I stumbled onto this page. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading all the comments/ replies. I don’t drive,never have,never will. One thing that occurred to me is that we seem to be heading for “ super cities”,and the whole 15 minute cities thing,where u live and work and play in close proximity. I feel over time we will be manipulated into that. It’ll simply become too expensive to drive or commute via public transport. Travel time is always factored into our day.We’ve always considered both options when looking where to live. ( as one drives,although is now captain commute,and one relies on public transport) personally ,it’s always about the money and return to “ shareholders”. The powers that be will merrily do what they please, we just need to work around them. I agree there should be more stops re the parramatta light rail ,but that would mean all the developers can’t advertise a short trip to city and therefore “ lose” value on all these dwellings being thrown up. Honestly if I drove to work, it’d be a matter of principle to avoid paying yet another corporate conglomerate far too much money.the average family budget just cannot handle the cost. I’d also like to say to the tradies, I agree, lugging tools around on public transport? And since moving west and using public transport to city, I’ve seen many tradies working on high rise areas travelling in groups to enable a pile of tool boxes ,hard hats,high vis,boots,lunches etc to be taken to sites. My other half is impressed with a capped weekly public transport cost( especially with fuel prices) and has commented on enjoying his time to just relax. We love where we now live,with a lot of building still to happen,so realise population will rise a lot. Trying to resist the whole nimby thing but that’s just a human trait. I think drivers should be more concerned about being forced onto electric vehicles ( which are worse for the environment and much more costly) with banks soon to refuse loans for “ old cars” and insurers also getting their pound of flesh- forcing many to attempt to get work in their locality. We’ve also had a couple friends change from cars to scooters or motorcycles, although it makes me cringe for their safety. This one person per four seater upwards car thing is a worry. Also a few neighbours only have to go into their office twice a week,so there is a few numbers there that aren’t using roads every day. I’ve caught public transport for 40 odd years now in Sydney in three very different areas and overall it’s a good system. The parramatta road thing is a great idea …..in a perfect world. I’d love to see it come to fruition. ATM we are really looking forward to the metro and exploring how to change over and link up. Just a few rambling thoughts.
Dense housing on Parra Rd will just add more traffic to a place with too much traffic and do little to bring vibrance to immediate businesses. Saw it around Marrickville station and Norton Street in Leichhardt. The area around Canterbury Station is still awful even with a bunch of massive apartments built on to it.
I understand the people around Parra Rd not wanting huge developments, for a start, it stops the area being what attracted people there in the first place. Look around Mascot Station, it's a complete fkn nightmare. Green Square was overdeveloped and chokes the hell out of the already problematic Botany Rd.
We need to build out, not up. These old surburbs are being destroyed by overdevelopment. When everything is wall-to-wall apartments, there is no identity.
You should do a video about the new plans for Rosehill Racecourse, apparently they're closing it down & building housing, which is great I think!
My theory on the Introduction of the M5 Tunnel's new toll, is to ensure that commuters would actually use, and therefore pay the M8 Tunnel Toll, instead of taking the M5 Tunnel and General Holmes Drive for free. Most city destinations takes just as long taking the M5 as it does the M8. The M8 barely gets any traffic as it is now. It is always nearly empty, even when General Holmes Drive is completely blocked up.
And for urban renewal, if they really wanted to encourage it, the tolls would be a lot less, which would move traffic onto the toll way, rather than just provide a quick route for people that are willing to sell their kidneys to afford the tolls.
It's worth mentioning the Western Harbour Tunnel when open in 2027 will eliminate the need for traffic going to North Shore from using Anzac Bridge and the Harbour Bridge, thus reducing traffic there.
Also, once the St Peters interchange is complete, it will be possible to travel from Parramatta to Sydney Airport just under 30 minutes, which is less time than driving from Parramatta to Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek.
Just one more road bro, then we fix traffic, just one more road.
thus reducing traffic there.???
fun fact 'traffic' will ALWAYS fill the new void...always
The first exit from Western Harbour Tunnel Expressway will be Cammeray Miller St. OK for upper North Shore but lower North Shore incl North Sydney will still have better exit from Harbour Bridge to North Sydney Pacific Hwy or Kirribilli. Mosman and Northern Beaches might also be better via Bridge.
They have already removed Expressway exit to Falcon Street turning west,
(Taxi driver told me passenger going from eastern suburbs to Mosman had to go north to Cammeray then south on Miller to Falcon St to Military Rd.)
When the Sydney harbour tunnel opened traffic across the harbour increased by 40%. Population growth was only 4%.
This new tunnel won’t do anything to ease congestion.
more roads literally attract more cars, leading to more traffic, i can already see all the flashing 40 signs on that road in the future
As long as tolls exist, people are going to go out of their way to avoid them. I, myself, absolutely refuse to pay a toll.
4:09 I accept your apology for making me pause the video lol
@buildingbeautifully the road has changed who is getting the worse traffic it has basically removed the traffic on the city west link (Parramatta Road to Rozelle) and is a nonstop run since it opened. It used to be a stop and crawl, it was faster to walk on the bay.
The road signage around these major toll roads is appalling, moreso when there have been no toll-free grace periods for drivers to recover from costly mistakes.
I've been caught trying to avoid the entrances to M4 (at each end) at night when they opened. Poor lighting and blockage of crucial signs by heavy trucks made these very difficult to negotiate. As Prof Ann Williamson from UNSW has suggested - they need to be testing these roads with drivers unfamiliar with the area.
There's still no sign from Gardners Rd / Bourke St to direct westbound traffic around the St Peters interchange.
Maaaate, absolutely lost my mind when you said, "I think the engineers picked up a book called 'how to build a motorway - NOT'." Great content chief.
Here in South Australia we don't have traffic jams or tolls...but don't come here we're fine without you.
The Taverners Hill light rail was a real find for me when I found it walking up Parramatta Rd towards Old Canterbury Rd. I like the quaintness of the stop. A light rail interchange at Taverners Hill along Parramatta Rd would make sense as there is a stairway up from Parramatta Rd to the current L1 light rail stop.
Great video. I only wish they would build a tunnel for a3 king georges or a6 north south direction to finish the loop around sydney. M7 and m1 is the only north south highway with 30km width of no highways in between. Most of the congestion is now for north south direction in this zone. Whereas east west direction already have m4 m5 and m2 placed around 10km from each other
I live in Balmain I am now trapped as a prisoner in by suburb until 10am everyday (luckily I take the ferry, ferry traffic having trebled in the last 2 weeks). The distance from Balmain to the city is about 3kms, and now takes 45-60mins....... I would take Parramatta rd every day over Victoria rd even on its worst day in history this is beyond a joke. The failure at Rozelle/Balmain WAS deliberate...... around 50,000 people live across Balmain, Balmain East, Birchgrove and Rozelle, forcing all of us and all the busses that were already travelling up Victoria Rd (these were never ever going through the free tunnel) into ONE lane to get onto Anzac bridge through a traffic light was WELL KNOWN TO FAIL, we have been crucified to the alter of transurban. 8 years of local pain to make life better for Parramatta, it now takes less time to get from Parramatta to the city than from Balmain 300m from the Anzac Bridge. We are told over time we will give up trying to use the roads........ and this is the solution for the government both Labor and Liberal, that will serve us right for voting green....... They have no intention to make this liveable we are to be sacrificed for Transurban.
True. Appeasing those living further out but cause pain to those who live close by. It’s disgraceful.
Like the metro west. Parramatta council wanted fewer stops so they could get into the city a few minutes quicker. More stations could’ve been built. One between Glebe and Five Dock (good locale would’ve been Rozelle/Lilyfield vicinity) would’ve been very beneficial but noooooo, an extra 2 minutes travel time for western residents is a no no!
This city is so corrupt.
Dude, I feel you. I’m in Drummoyne and it’s the same deal. Locked in most hours of the day. There’s this golden zone of 10am-2pm and then it’s madness again. Plus those giant exhaust fumes stacks they’ve put up and put greenery around them as if that somehow hides the fact they’re spewing carbon monoxide into our backyards at night. You’re so lucky to have a ferry. The Birkenhead Ferry (closest to me) was decommissioned. Can’t reach the other Drummoyne Ferry because of traffic. The irony.
@@clara4942 irony now is that those living literally next to the Rozelle power station, less than 2kms from the CBD and almost under the Anzac bridge, now have been forced to catch the busses coming out of the city, to ride the 3kms back to Balmain East to catch the ferry as this is faster than the busses which are cheaper and closer to the CBD (so now they are paying $9 each way instead of $2.50 on the bus alone). This is the brilliance of a state government who could not care less about an electorate that votes green (ferry patronage has trebled in the last few weeks as we EVAPORATE ourselves from the traffic for the good of Transurban). Bugger for you on the ferry services, given they charge so much you think they could put this into play all the way up the harbour, it still is the nicest all be it our equivelant of travelling on Concorde to get to the city. $6.50 to go literally about 500m for me, but still better than a 1 hour bus ride to go 5kms to keep MINNS happy.
@@clara4942 good point regarding the Birkenhead Point ferry. Why not re-introduce this service? Major shopping centre there too.
a light rail on paramatta road would be incredible
Incredibly stupid.
Hope you have a good holiday Sharath you’ve worked hard in the past year.
Don't forget to invite your better half along for the holidays. Good source of credit and someone to share adventures with.
the government might have sold the roads to transurban so they didnt end up with 'debt', but transurban is expected to bring in 70 bill in revenue by the time that contract is up
and theyre getting that much because theyre charging a fortune to use the roads, which people are complaining about, and how is the government easing those complaints? by paying transurban a portion of the toll cost themselves so that users have a capped price
Uh Huh.... And Transurban also has to maintain all the tunnels in a safe condition for the whole period the toll concession lasts for. Here's a hint - that ain't free and if tollways weren't user-pays, you'd be paying anyway through higher taxes.
@@vintageradio3404 youre right maintenance expenses do have to come out of that 70 bill revenue, however that maintenance cost is about 15million dollars over the entire projects lifetime
also we're already paying anyway through higher tax, because transurban has increased toll prices so much, the government is using tax money to subsidize the cost for people
if the government entirely owned it still the tolls would either be much lower, or that 70 billion would be going back into government spending instead of some company
@@vincentgrinn2665 $15m over the life of the toll concession? You are dreaming. Transurban probably wishes you were right but you are nowhere near the truth. $15m per annum wouldn't cover the cost of wages alone.
If the Government owned WestConnex the toll would probably be higher. They once did own it and the toll wasn't raised or lowered when the Transurban-led consortium bought in. The toll on the Government-owned Sydney Harbour Bridge is around $4.00 and the Bridge was paid off in 1989.
Was waiting for your video about this interchange
Excellent, thank you for the information 👍
How many years of free public transport would $16B pay for?
As someone who's lived on Parramatta Road for 20 years, this is more than profound.
This is a brilliant upgrade. Only took me 43 mins to drive from Castlereagh to Darling Harbour on Saturday morning!
And I don’t care about the poor yuppies in Balmain haha
if something has "connex" in its name then it's pretty much destined for failure
Should have a hyphen in it's name, as they are great big CON!
Hey man, thanks for the video. Could you make a video on the exit from M8 at St Peters. There is only one exit from M8 main tunnel for both Euston Road and Gardeners Road. However, the overhead signage at the exit says Gardeners Road only - no mention of Euston Road exit. If a motorist misses this exit, thinking there is another exit for Euston Road, he/she will end up in Wiley Park.
I wrote to WestConnex pointing this out. Their response in a nutshell shell was - get used to it or use the Plan Your Journey tool!!
Imagine waking up tomorrow to see the Sydney Morning Herald's headline: 'Minns Unveils Plan for Parramatta Light Rail.' How good!
This government has already dealt its hand on infrastructure for this term. There will be no new capital works relating to transport until the next Coalition government is elected.
Everyone will know this as "spaghetti junction" from here on out.
I guarantee it.
I love how on Parra road they put in bus lanes not by making the road wider but by making the lanes smaller 😂
Parramatta Road is not a destination, it is a conduit. Bus lanes haven't relieved any congestion along Parramatta road and clogging it up with rail lines and stations would be counter-productive, it would simply impede traffic flow even more. There are just too many intersections with traffic lights along Parramatta road, that is the greatest impediment to traffic flow. The cure for congestion is to address the problems of intersections, traffic lights don't solve any of the problems of traffic flow, they are just a crude traffic management device.
I travel from Beverly Hills to Botany and back for work. Catching public transport (a train then a bus) takes at least an hour each way and was costing $50 a week 7 years ago when I stopped using it. Traveling by car takes 30 minutes each way and costs me $50 a fortnight even with the current high fuel prices. I used to take the M5 East but now refuse since they started charging a toll for a road that was once free. Going via Stoney Creek Rd may take 10 or 15 minutes longer tham using the tunnel but saving $11 in tolls each day makes it worth it.
I am so glad I don't have to drive in Sydney traffic during pick times anymore. (Retired). It's always been a nightmare and the more roads they build the worse it gets.
I think I drove there the other weekend and the signs, said I was going over the Anzac bridge but it was the tunnel lanes.
Thank you for taking the time to explain what paid journalists appear to be unable to do so :-)
I really like the Committee for Sydney’s recommendation for a new LR line on Parra road. I reckon it should start at circular quay but go to central via Elizabeth Street or College/Macquarie Streets provide some better PT access to the eastern side of the CBD.
Either way, a LR would be awesome
yeah I literally had the similar thoughts about the proposed map he showed of the Parramatta Rd LR. It should've been sent along a different corridor in the city than George Street as that would mean three branches because of L2, & L3. Tho I guess that detail wasn't the focus and that diagram is just a draft. I'm sure they would refine it more if they were to build it
@@ollie2074 agreed! The other potential option is up Kent St (as per the original plans for the LR in the city) and have it connect to Barangaroo, or back to circular quay via the rocks. Although this would probably be less likely as it’d make it fairly long line.
Parra Rd light rail is a win-win even for Transurban! on other note: NordVPN unfortunately does not work in China :(
Wow making traffic worse in Sydney than it already was. that is an achievement in itself. Hopefully long term with the new projects it gets better. I like taking the train when i am Sydney, airport to the opera house for a beer in 40 minutes is always a win. Great video mate!!!
Westconnex is stunning. Amazing achievement and it’s fantastic for all in western Sydney. I think it’s hilarious that people in Parramatta can get to the city quicker than those in Rozelle. It also isn’t the last last piece. The western harbour tunnel when complete will solve whatever the issue is in Rozelle.
been waiting for you take on this
Public transport now along Victoria now is so bad now. I now get off the Bus just after Gladesville Bridge and walk to the ferry to the city as it is now way quicker, than traversing Rozelle
As someone living near the M6 construction, this is so worrying. I’d love you to cover why the NorthConnex area has heavy fines for trucks NOT using it but there aren’t similar fines in the areas around the M8 and there are no proposals for truck fines for the M6 when it opens.
Probably size and weight limits given the 5.1m and also chemical trucks etc can't go in tunnels.
@@ibanezlaney Except that no-one builds station wagons now which are suitable for trade work. All the cars you mention will fit quite well into a standard sized traffic lane. Why the hatred?
The signage coming from the airport side to get off at Ashfield etc is basically non existent. And I had know idea what was going on the cross Parramatta Rd onto Fredrick street, what a mess.
The most confusing thing about the signage, to me, is that the A40 still follows the surface street. It's an A-road! If you want people to use the tunnel, route the A-road through the tunnel! (Last I checked, NorthConnex had the same problem… and not just because it's got a similar dumb name.)
NorthConnex should have been designated M7, as most of the trucks that use it are travelling from Brisbane to Melbourne and vice versa.
Sharath! I just came back from China and Hong Kong… yes public transport there is very developed, I would call Beijing metro complicated (as a Laowai).
Hong Kong is great, make sure to catch the Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central, iconic.
Get an Esim instead of relying on a VPN. VPNS now barely work in China, an unlimited 10 day Esim was only $35 or so, nothing blocked. But, you could also really enjoy a smartphone break as well while being there.
Transurban usually have a clause that nothing like heavy rail or light rail can be built in competition with its toll roads.
The toll roads would probably be given priority to use other feeder roads over the pre-existing local roads.
I'd be buying shares in Transurban too like the minister did
The road signs in Sydney have always been hard to understand.
westconnex provides value. Every day I save 30-60 mins of my time travelling to sites all over Sydney, and when Gateway opens it gives me another 20 mins. Its questionable why it costs so much, where money goes, who gets cosy multimillion pension from it and so on, but at least it works and saves.
And what gives me all these boulevards, pushbike paths and hypotetical trams on Parramatta rd? What to do there at all? How I get one cent or one minute from them? No way. Refuse.
Agreed
I've come to the conclusion that there is a deliberate campaign among traffic sign designers to put up unhelpful, vague and positioned way-to-late signs, if my experience in Adelaide is anything.
For traffic congested roads, why don’t we get rid of more intersections to reduce the number of lights?
Excellent vid as always, well explained.
I have said many times before and I will say it again: Abolish public transport charges!
Why? It's not free to operate. Instead, we should be taxing motorists significantly more.
@@JohnFromAccounting
Hello John
When you add up the total costs of roadworks, tunnels, planning, resumptions, salaries, maintenance etc etc., it would be more than the costs of the schemes to set, administer, collect and manage fare collections.
The immediate benefits would be an reduction of traffic, air pollution, accidents etc etc.
Transurban and fuel companies may try to thwart it for obvious reasons but the positives will far outweigh the negatives.
Maybe an aspiring traffic management student could do a thesis on the topic?
Cheers
Costs me over $150 a week in tolls to visit my ageing parents out west. If I don’t use tolls it’s up to a 1.5-2 hr journey depending on clusterfrack traffic and merging botttlenecks. And we pay 30% tax. Thanks Sydney.
So, the Iron Cove tunnel takes out a few sets of lights, going under Rozelle, coming out at the Anzac Bridge. Drivers aren't using it, because they either couldn't be bothered changing their behaviour, are scared of where the speed camera is hidden in there, are scared of being tolled (which yes, it isn't actually tolled, but people don't understand that) or they're going to the Rozelle/Balmain/Lilyfield area, and need to use Victoria Rd. Simple solution - make one lane under the tunnel in each direction a bus lane for the express busses that go into and out of the city. From the stop at Birkenhead Point, express busses get into one of the right hand lanes, (being given preference over cars stopped at the lights just before the bus stop - ie - cars get held back at the lights slightly longer if a bus has tripped a sensor at the lights, enabling busses stopping and taking off again at the Birkenhead Point stop time to go from the left lane across to the bus lane which goes through the tunnel). The other direction - coming out of the city - would be easier, as express busses could just jump into the far left lane coming over the Anzac Bridge, into the tunnel, then out at Drummoyne. Surely one of the boffins must have thought of something like this in the planning stages?!....
You're gonna love the Hong Kong MRT. Enjoy your trip.
Having been forced to go from South to North up Parramatta road before the tunnels existed, i couldn't understand how it was so bad vs Melbourne. And then the random tunnels i took that were flooded and copied the roads next to it. Just the whole city needs to be ripped up and started again. And remove tolls. The rot started with Jeff Kennett, the CityLink that was only meant to be a 25 year contract iirc. Conveniently was extended when they widened it. Just like the rest of the freeways attached were. It's so frustrating.
All Victoria road traffic heading to Anzac Bridge are now using Roselle tunnel only to find grid lock traffic in tunnel due to lane merge pinch points at exit tunnel. 4 lanes to 2 to 1 and posted unreadable low speed limit adding to congestion. Answer is not work or drive in city of Sydney. Clearly Clover Moore rather see you walk and have you kiss her toes.
In Victoria, all toll road signage is blue. This way its extremely easy to tell which routes are free and tolled.
Independent Truck Drivers often steer clear of using motorways because they're quite costly, some smaller companies prohibit drivers going on them unless they have to. For instance, traveling from Eastern Creek to Botany (M7,M5,M5 East) can cost a truck about $50 each way, just on tolls. It would be more practical if trucks were charged a flat weekly rate to access motorways
Forest Road and Stoney Creek Road has been completely packed since the introduction of the M5 Tunnel Toll (which in my opinion is to make the M8 competitive). When I drive into uni (I cannot commute 4 hours a day sometimes, so driving which takes about 2 hours return is an alternate and quicker option)
@@jamesrichardson645just made a similar comment. I’d love to understand why trucks are fined for NOT using the NorthConnex but no fines exist for trucks evading the M8, M5 and (soon to be) M6 tolls.
@@pholliez I don't understand how large supposedly speed-limited trucks get away with travelling above posted limits on so many roads around Sydney.
@@pholliez Politics, getting trucks off of pennant hills road was an election promise it was done to help win an election and nothing more. Unless the people affected by trucks avoiding the M5, M8 and soon to be M6 get pissed off enough that internal polling data shows people would be willing to switch parties in order to get it addressed, it simply wont happen.
@mike-williams any private owner just removes the speed limiters. They make driving more difficult than it needs to be. It prevents them from safely overtake other trucks, or speeding slightly at the bottom of a hill to keep momentum.
There are little hint signs in the CBD indicating directions to the Harbour Bridge and ANZAC Bridge so it's not unprecedented to have "Hey ANZAC Bridge over here" signage. And of course reinstating the inexplicable removal of Ryde as a primary destination is an obvious thing to do. I'm unclear as to why the A40 route designation must stay on the surface and cannot be moved to the Iron Cove Link tunnel - that would simplify signage and avoid the "For" terminology... just attach A40 to all directional signage to/from ANZAC and Iron Cove bridges.
My understanding was that the NSW government signed some document (a non-compete clause of sorts) that doesnt allow for competing public transport along parramatta road (e.g. somrthing that provides an alternative to travelling via tolled roads)
I was supporting westconnex until they started to make tunnels to nowhere.
What people don’t understand however is that a lot of people who drive from the outer west (Penrith, Blacktown, etc) on the M4 take the Church St exit, taking them onto Parramatta road to avoid paying the M4 toll. Another reason why congestion on Parramatta road can be so severe.
The North Connex tunnel to join the M1 (at Hornsby) to the M2 (at Pennant Hills) to ease traffic on Pennant Hills Road has been successful.
It has taken all the trucks off Pennant Hills Road and eliminated the 20kph crawl.
Not every new motorway is a disaster..
Equally, the light rail in the CBD has not been a success. (How many years late, and how many businesses made bankrupt because of closed-off streets?)
Can you please do a video about the Town Hall Plaza
Awesome content, very informative, 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
The tolls are a massive issue, just in Sydney in general. Multiple tolls quickly add up. To drive from, say, Northwest Syd to the CBD (M7. M2, LCT, Bridge) on-peak is something like $22+. One way. Add in a return trip and parking and you could be easily over $100. While I get motorways, particularly with tunnels, cost big money to build and maintain, they also needs patronage in order to be viable and to justify their existence .. making tolls too expensive will just cripple revenue from the start. Better to charge, say, 10,000 cars $1 each versus 5,000 cars $2 each, for example.
Another massive issue: The inner west. The people there are .. special. I was in an inner west FB community group a long time ago and they were vehemently against Westconnex. They were all "the money should be spent on public transport". They have the paradigm of living ~10min from the city. They had zero concept that the road was built for people beyond the inner west, not people in the inner west itself, and that public transport isn't suitable for everyone (eg tradies). Absolute braindead idiots. Meanwhile, Northconnex, realistically the Pennant Hills Rd bypass, was built with, to my knowledge, zero controversy, because the locals simply aren't dumb.
Also: Residential along Parra road? Ehh... Even if Parra road is transformed, it's always going to be a main arterial road and .. who wants to live next to that? They'd be demolishing all of those decrepit buildings anyway. While I'd perhaps advocate for widening the road slightly, but I'd also think they should be using much of the space currently occupied by buildings to create green spaces, and maybe even cycle lanes/paths etc. Having Parra Rd be a light rail corridor is an interesting proposal. Create a bit of a buffer between the road/area and any resi developments. Also, you have to consider flight paths, as planes fly low over the inner west.
Finally: Why can people see the obvious problem with funnelling 10 lanes into 4 .. but not the equally obvious and fundamentally equivalent problem of wanting to grow Australia's population, particularly via immigration, 10 times faster than we can build houses?
Weirdly, the city bound tunnel entrance at Haberfield - start of City West link - doesn't mention the tunnel goes to Anzac Bridge/City. Sign only says Airport/Port Botany. How many cars are getting on the City West link instead of using the tunnel?
I have my Google set to avoid toll roads. As someone who travels through Sydney to get somewhere else the $30 in told just isn't worth the 30 minutes I save.
I take the train.
I was eagerly awaiting waiting for this video! Was the free iron cove link worth it?
I don’t understand it! I’ve never been inconvenienced by traffic in that stretch of road!
I agree that better transport systems can be introduced onto Parramatta Road, but given the known capacity of the road if another light rail is constructed on the road it will take away way more of the capacity of cars. If no physical modifications are to be made on the Road itself, this will mean either the light rail or major traffic on Parramatta Road (excluding those accessing the streets connecting the Road) will need to go over or under the ground.
While not everyone has a car, when the roads are being designed they should've considered where would cars park if they need to access the shops and housings along the Road. Construction of light rail sounds great but the width of the road cannot be expanded easily, especially when taking into account of "historical buildings" which cannot be demolished.
Not all "historical" things are worth to stay when they are being evaluated against societal benefits and needs. Simply keep the more significant ones and demolish the rest. That might be another solution to expand the capacity of the Road.
At the end, it's not just the designers that need to keep on innovating, but also the ways of thinking by the government and the people. Don't always stick onto one system when that system is plagued with hundreds of issues which are difficult to patch up. Think and try another way, and we shall be better connected together.
I don’t know why they do snap openings. There should be a clear date and on-road signage in the weeks ahead preparing drivers. eg. “Iron Cove to Anzac bridge opens 26 Nov. Toll free.” It’s good to have online available animations but you can’t beat the reach of signage to the actual road users.
Often lost in the discussion but happy to see included here is one of the “why-was-it-built?” reasons and that is freight. Every productivity report for decades on Sydney has called for better movement around the city and out of the city for freight out of the airport and port botany. Costing the economy x to y billions.
Will be interesting to also see the impact the new western Sydney airport has here, although the city continues to grow and it may just absorb the benefits for the growth.
The warning signage you mentioned was in place, both on overhead electronic signs and on portable roadside signs. The problem is, people do not read them.
It’s super important to consider the future of Parramatta Road and Victoria Road before answering the question. Creating a pedestrian boulevard and dismantling a stroad requires the tunnels that have been built so far.
converting it to a pedestrian boulevard requires people to use those tunnels which they wont do if its tolled. Tolls have consistently resulted in lower then expected capacity on express ways. If we remove the stroad traffic will just redirect on to surrounding streets.
It's long passed time we stopped allowing tolls, they make everything worse.
It's crazy a simple thing like signage was got so wrong
I'm surprised that they didn't follow the example and used a different colour scheme for the toll section of road paths.
Isn't the only real issue here is that people Don't want to pay tolls, it's a communication problem not a traffic problem
I'd be happy to pay tolls if they were reasonable, and went to actually building the toll road, not to investors.