Moaning to your friends will not get this disaster fixed, here is who to contact for Rozelle Interchange issues
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Contact all of them – it takes two minutes
Be polite, be descriptive about your issue and where you live, request a response and a resolution
Don’t stop – if this is still causing you issues, do not stop making your voice heard
Howard Collins, Transport for NSW Coordinator-General
Howard.Collins@transport.nsw.gov.au
John Graham, Minister for Roads NSW
Submit a form here in one minute:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-for-roads-arts-music-and-night-time-economy-jobs-tourism
02 9230 2430
office@graham.minister.nsw.gov.au
https://www.facebook.com/johngrahamalp/
Minister for Transport NSW
[Currently vacant – NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen has resigned over her use of taxpayer-funded drivers for private trips]
Submit a form here in one minute:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-for-transport
Chris Minns, Premier NSW
Submit a form here in one minute:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/premier-of-nsw/contact-premier
Kobi Shetty State Member for Balmain
kobi@kobishetty.org.au
Kobi’s form to email the Minister – End the Priority for Toll-Road Users (fill this in and sign her petition but please contact Ministers direct too)
Kobi’s petition on Asbestos Contamination Safety Reform – call on the Minister for the Environment to implement urgent reform to prevent asbestos contamination from recycled landscaping products.
Darcy Byrne, Mayor of Inner West Council
Submit the IWC council form – Rozelle Interchange traffic issues
darcy.byrne@innerwest.nsw.gov.au
When stuck in traffic
Call to report a traffic hold up
131700
Ask the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) what they are doing about the asbestos in Rozelle Parklands and around Rozelle
Ask the EPA to take enforcement action and prosecute those responsible for the asbestos in the Rozelle Parklands:
https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/
info@epa.nsw.gov.au
Articles and news of interest
NSW Government response – Inquiry into Impact of Rozelle Interchange
Kobi Shetty MP: “Thank you to the thousands of people who took part in the inquiry process – whether by lodging submissions, signing petitions, or speaking at hearings. The NSW Labor Government has responded to the damning Rozelle Interchange Inquiry Report from earlier this year, and thanks to your dedication, we’ve got some promising results.
Together, we have secured support for key changes including:
An urgent and immediate review of traffic light signalling on local roads in Balmain, Rozelle, and Drummoyne that intersect with Victoria Road to mitigate traffic congestion on local roads.
The implementation of strategies to address rat-running on local roads occurring as a result of the Rozelle Interchange.
A guarantee that no future major road projects will be privatised
Genuine community consultation and engagement between Transport for NSW, local councils and residents working to address ongoing issues and concerns from the interchange.
Additionally, we’ve gained in-principle support for:
Improving active transport links and safety on Victoria Road and along Lilyfield Road and upgrading cycling infrastructure to align with best standards.
Installing more, and safer pedestrian crossings along Victoria Road
Prioritising the expansion of public transport before undertaking new major road projects.
The government has declined to review or make any changes to the dedicated bus lanes and the left turn-only lane on Victoria Road.
Disappointingly, the government has not committed to expanding public transport services including more buses and ferries in our area. I know this is a huge priority for our community and I will continue pushing for increased investment in local public transport, including services the government has already promised such as the West Balmain and Annandale ferries and the restoration of the 445 bus service to Balmain East.”
Rozelle Interchange has taken a toll, but for Sydney transport, the road ahead looks grim
Commuters enduring the aftermath of the Rozelle Interchange opening will hardly be surprised by the scathing report of the parliamentary inquiry published this week, especially its finding that the design prioritised financial gain over community interest.
The report offers 17 recommendations aimed at remedying problems caused by the interchange and learning from its mistakes. While these are mostly sound, they don’t go far enough. Even if the Minns government adopts them all, residents will continue to suffer poorer access to jobs, education and services. Moreover, the government will still be able to commit similar acts of environmental vandalism and misuses of public funds in the future.
The traffic chaos and congestion that erupted in Sydney’s inner west after the opening of a $3.9bn “spaghetti junction” was “unreasonable and unacceptable” given the amount of planning that went into it, an inquiry has found.
In its final report, after a months-long inquiry into the Rozelle interchange, a parliamentary committee also found a “concerning lack of clarity and transparency” between the government and Transurban.
Secret warnings were given about Rozelle traffic chaos three years ago. They were ignored
The previous Coalition government was warned at least as far back as late 2021 about the risk that a spaghetti junction in Sydney’s inner west would cause two-kilometre-long queues, delays during morning peaks and rat-running by motorists trying to avoid congestion.
Confidential briefing documents by Transport for NSW spelt out the need for measures to avoid forecast congestion that were not adopted, including moveable lanes on the Anzac Bridge and widening part of the Western Distributor motorway by the time the Rozelle interchange opened in late 2023. The opening of the junction triggered traffic chaos.
NSW knew Rozelle Interchange would create more traffic – AFR
The NSW government knew as early 2014 that the Rozelle Interchange’s design would result in surrounding areas being “overloaded with traffic”, and yet still proceeded to maximise profits with the sale of the asset to Transurban, a NSW parliamentary inquiry has heard.
“It was my view that the final design was an attempt to maximise the value of the motorway when it was put out for sale because it had a larger number of toll trips than some of the previous options,” former RTA chief executive Paul Forward told the inquiry on Friday.
“The RTA was very, very clear that you should not be putting more traffic into the CBD. This puts more traffic into this, it’s not what we want.”
Since the Rozelle Interchange opened, motorists using Victoria Road and other local streets have endured major delays while vehicles exiting the Rozelle Interchange from the spaghetti junction have passed through the Anzac Bridge significantly quicker during morning peaks.
Traffic on Transurban’s WestConnex toll road has surged since the opening of Sydney’s controversial Rozelle Interchange late last year – and use of the underground tunnels has soared almost 10 per cent over the past 12 months.
Mr Forward, with three other RTA former executives, told the inquiry that they had recommended to the NSW government that it opt for a different option. It had received 15 options in total.
But after they provided their recommendations in 2014, they were removed from the Rozelle Interchange process in 2015.
“We were edged out. They didn’t like the advice we had given,” he said.
Wed 18 April – 9am – gridlock along Victoria Road, Robert Street and Mullens Street
‘How did they get it so wrong?’: Rozelle interchange still a debacle
A proposal to slow down tolled traffic from Transurban’s WestConnex motorway heading into Sydney’s CBD was “taken off the table” in January, a parliamentary inquiry has been told, on the apparent advice of safety concerns.
Politicians, councils and business chambers on Wednesday called for more changes to the controversial Rozelle interchange, which cost taxpayers $3.9 billion, to ease the congestion spilling onto local roads.
Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne said the interchange had been a debacle and that he wanted the committee to consider “surgical interventions” to fix the interchange rather than just mitigations like changing traffic lights.
“We’ve still got tens of thousands of people across the region who are not able to get to work each morning because this motorway interchange is not functioning,” Mr Byrne told the upper house hearing, which was chaired by Greens MP Cate Faehrmann.
Mr Byrne said Transurban, operator of the WestConnex toll road connecting with the interchange, had benefited from the congestion “because everyone’s being pressured and directed into the tunnels that they’re making money out of”.
City of Sydney: Government must take urgent action to address the impacts of the Rozelle Interchange
Next week, the hearings for the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry on the impact of the Rozelle Interchange begin. The Government must take urgent action to address the impacts of the Rozelle Interchange – a result of the disastrous WestConnex network.
The impacts of the Rozelle Interchange extend far beyond its physical boundary to local streets in surrounding neighbourhoods: creating traffic congestion, delays to buses, other services and delivery vehicles, noise, and pollution causing serious health risks.
NSW Government infrastructure planning should put people first by creating more space for walking and riding with good public transport connections.
I encourage you to look at the City’s submission to the Inquiry – which calls for the NSW Government to:
- Stop planning, funding and building new motorways and arterials in inner Sydney, and increase funding for walking, cycling and public transport.
- Transform Broadway into a green avenue with large trees, wide footpaths, a separated cycleway, and a light rail connection to the city centre.
- Stop diverting and encouraging drivers to use arterial roads like Parramatta and Victoria roads, Harris Street in Pyrmont and King Street in the city.
- Restore Glebe Island Bridge as a walking and cycling connection between Rozelle and the city centre.
Up to 4000 new homes at risk: The knock-on effect of Rozelle interchange chaos
A large Sydney council is demanding that the state’s transport agency stop funnelling vehicles onto Parramatta and Victoria roads, as well as local streets, in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion caused by the Rozelle interchange.
City of Sydney has lambasted Transport for NSW for the traffic modelling it used for the interchange at Rozelle for the WestConnex motorway in Sydney’s inner west, arguing that planning for the multibillion-dollar junction was based on “flawed, outdated approaches”.
The council, which has opposed WestConnex since its inception last decade, said Parramatta and Victoria roads, as well as streets in Pyrmont, one of Sydney’s most densely populated suburbs, were being used as “traffic relief valves” for the new motorway junction.
“Continued use of Harris Street and Pyrmont Bridge Road as relief valves for the Rozelle interchange puts at risk the 23,000 jobs and up to 4000 new homes in Pyrmont,” it said, because mitigation measures “jeopardise rezoning and development investment in Pyrmont”.
An end to measures that divert drivers onto local streets are among a range of changes the City of Sydney and other councils are demanding from Transport for NSW. Their pleas are outlined in submissions to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the interchange, which will hold its first hearing on April 10.
Inner West Council has echoed City of Sydney’s demands that the transport agency stop using “predict and provide” traffic modelling, which they argue is flawed and is likely to lead to investments in poorly planned and designed projects. The “predict and provide” modelling is based on forecasting future demand and then building transport projects to meet it.
LJ Loch and her husband cannot get out of their street in the morning — in fact, they sometimes find it hard to make it out of their garage.
They live in the inner west Sydney suburb of Rozelle, on a small residential street which used to be quiet.
But since November last year when the Rozelle Interchange — which funnels cars to tolled motorways — opened, the street has been overwhelmed by motorists using local roads.
Rozelle Interchange fix ‘has created rat runs in the suburbs’
Gladesville and Drummoyne locals say gridlock is worsening in their suburbs following changes to improve traffic flow through the notorious Rozelle Interchange, with drivers using local streets as “rat runs” to dodge congestion.
However, Transport for NSW officials insist journey times have improved and residents should consider alternative routes or starting journeys earlier or later.
Locals living north of the interchange attended Drummoyne’s Oxford Hotel on Monday night to present their complaints to transport officials, arguing the changes to traffic light phasing around Rozelle in early February have transformed their section of Victoria Road into a carpark.
Dale Bailey was among more than 120 people who crammed into the pub to voice his concerns directly to Transport for NSW.
“I’ve been travelling to Royal North Shore Hospital from Five Dock for 21 years [for work], usually a pretty good run … now the traffic is backed up past Hunters Hill,” he said. “That used to happen two or three times a year when there was a major accident or an event. It’s happening every day now.”
Bailey said he believed traffic light timing was the main cause of the congestion at Gladesville. He said it was only done “to make Rozelle not look so bad,” to cheers and applause from the crowd.
‘Commercial negotiation’ behind Rozelle Interchange traffic meters
The operational agreement behind “ramp meters” that slow down cars passing through Sydney’s controversial $4 billion Rozelle Interchange cannot be made public because it involved “significant commercial negotiation”, AFR Weekend has been told.
The opening of the Rozelle Interchange, a network of underground toll roads, in November created fury among Sydney motorists because free above-ground roads leading into Sydney’s city centre via the Anzac Bridge were changed, creating dreadful traffic congestion.
Motorists were surprised to find that public roads from several directions leading on to the bridge (which has four lanes east-bound) are forced to merge into just two lanes and that “ramp meters” – lights that flash between red and green – had been installed to slow down traffic.
By comparison, cars exiting on to the bridge from Transurban’s WestConnex toll road get immediate access to two lanes and are not slowed down by any ramp meters.
While traffic delays around the interchange have eased over the past month after changes to public roads, motorist anger over the design of the interchange has forced a parliamentary inquiry. The use of ramp meters contributed to severe delays on surrounding roads after the Rozelle Interchange opened.
As well as examining the cost and design of the interchange, the inquiry will investigate the “prioritisation of traffic from toll roads including WestConnex over local traffic”.
AFR Weekend has obtained a partial copy of the “ramp metering agreement” that was signed in November 2023 between a WestConnex trust managed by the Transurban consortium and Transport for NSW from the state government via freedom of information laws.
The agreement was signed to document the operation and management of ramp meters, which were installed by the transport agency, at the intersection of local roads and the interchange.
New Transport NSW page confirms that it is quicker to walk on Tue and Thu
Transport for NSW has identified a ‘tradie peak’ around 7am, particularly on the City West Link, and a later commuter peak that is busiest between 8.15am and 8.30am on Victoria Road and City West Link.
Inside the room where controllers are battling to fix the Rozelle chaos
Motorists are being held back at traffic lights on Victoria Road in Drummoyne to avoid creating major traffic jams on the Anzac Bridge and congestion rippling across the road network in Sydney’s inner west, transport officials say.
Almost three months after the Rozelle Interchange’s opening led to severe congestion, the state government is releasing travel time data for key arterial roads so commuters can plan trips and, where they can, avoid a “tradie peak” at 7am, followed by the main peak at about 8.15am.
Motorists have complained that phasing of traffic lights along Victoria Road is leading to CBD-bound vehicles banking up to the Gladesville Bridge from the Iron Cove Bridge during the morning peak. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are typically the busiest days.
Inside the nerve centre for Sydney’s road network early on Thursday, transport officials explained the complex balance involved in pulling levers which can have a major bearing on motorists’ trips.
Transport Management Centre executive Craig Moran said traffic lights were phased along Victoria Road to avoid a bigger problem of the Anzac Bridge becoming gridlocked.
“It’s like pouring water into a funnel. There’s only so much you can get out the other end. The more you tip in, the more congested, and it flows out,” he said. “If we get to a point where we jam Anzac Bridge … then it just immediately goes back through the whole network.”
NSW parliamentary inquiry to investigate ‘what went wrong’ with Sydney’s Rozelle Interchange
The trouble-plagued Rozelle Interchange in Sydney’s inner west is set to get the blowtorch treatment with a New South Wales Upper House inquiry being announced into what has gone wrong.
In an interview with the ABC last week Premier Chris Minns apologised to motorists stuck in traffic because of massive road project and said there was no quick fix.
“This is probably not what every motorist wants to hear, but we’re just going to keep making changes,” he told the ABC.
“There’s reasons, but there’s no excuses.”
It was faster to walk along Victoria Road on Tuesday morning
So heavy showers across the city were foreboding for our CBD-bound trip on Tuesday along Victoria Road, which has supplanted Parramatta Road as an arterial route to avoid during the morning grind. Victoria Road has been worst hit by the opening of the Rozelle interchange late last year.
Tuesday was considered the biggest test of Victoria Road following the reopening of schools and people returning to work after summer holidays.
After we drove smoothly over the eastern side of the Gladesville Bridge at 7.43am, a conga line of red brake lights spanning three lanes of traffic loomed ahead in Drummoyne.
Our stop-start shuffle through traffic lights towards the CBD skyline had begun.
We joined other motorists in a complete standstill for periods of 30 seconds or more on a road which has a 60km/h speed limit. At each intersection, another line of vehicles funnelled onto Victoria Road, adding to the traffic.
Rozelle Interchange woes to continue for months
Traffic snarls caused by the new Rozelle Interchange are likely to continue for months, NSW Roads Minister John Graham has conceded, admitting tweaks designed to ease congestion above the $3.9 billion spaghetti junction had only moved the problem further afield.
As commuters begin returning to the roads in force this week, the Roads Minister on Sunday was blunt about the problems plaguing Sydney’s most troublesome transport hub.
‘Worse than before Christmas’: Further tweaks to be made to Rozelle interchange as gridlock returns
Transport officials have been forced into making further adjustments to ease traffic congestion in Sydney’s inner west after the NSW roads minister conceded tweaks made to the troubled Rozelle interchange had transferred the gridlock further up Victoria Road.
Morning radio was alight with angry callers on Thursday morning as Victoria Road was at a standstill and city-bound traffic crawled along the Anzac Bridge in back-to-school traffic.
‘Calm before another storm’: The missed opportunities to quell Rozelle chaos
Slowing traffic in parts of the Rozelle interchange to reduce congestion on nearby roads in Sydney’s inner west has been taken off the table, sparking concerns the state government has squandered an opportunity to make changes during the summer break.
Motorists are set to endure a return of heavy traffic on Victoria Road and other key routes near the $3.9 billion underground spaghetti junction as more people return to work after holidays. The first major test is expected on Tuesday, while traffic is likely to grow throughout the week as schools reopen.
Thursday 18 January 2024 – schools are not back but the gridlock is!
Rozelle parklands: NSW government was told about possible asbestos seven days before acting
There was a seven-day delay between the New South Wales transport authority being alerted about possible asbestos contamination at a major Sydney park and testing that revealed the dangerous substance was present in recycled mulch.
Rozelle parklands has been closed for at least six weeks after a clean-up notice was issued by the state’s environmental watchdog when testing found bonded asbestos at 14 locations.
Guardian Australia can reveal the alarm was first raised with Transport for NSW on 2 January in an email from a member of the public.
Concern was raised again on 8 January before the government agency called in experts to begin investigations at the park on 9 January.
Sydney’s Rozelle parklands to remain shut for at least six weeks due to asbestos contamination
An asbestos-contaminated park in Sydney’s inner west will remain closed for at least six weeks while all of the recycled mulch on the site is removed and replaced following an order from the New South Wales environmental watchdog.
The construction boss who runs the company that supplied garden mulch containing asbestos to Sydney’s Rozelle parklands says an explanation for the contamination will “come out in due course” as the environmental watchdog continues its investigation.
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) was on Monday analysing samples from in and around Rozelle parklands after testing found bonded asbestos in 14 locations in mulch.
Three additional sites near Sydney’s Rozelle Parklands shut after more asbestos found
More asbestos has been found in recycled mulch at sites close to the Rozelle Parklands in Sydney’s inner west, where a newly opened playground was closed earlier in the week.
Traces of bonded asbestos have now been found in three landscaped garden beds adjacent to the road and active transport paths around the junction of the Anzac Bridge, Victoria Road and City West Link, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) said in a statement.
The newly-identified sites were landscaped at the same time as the Rozelle Parklands.
The toxic material was first discovered by a child earlier this week. Since then, more than 85 samples from the parklands and surrounding sites have been analysed, with a total of 13 positive results showing traces of the material.
“Three small sites related to the Rozelle Interchange Project are being closed off to the public today [Saturday] after further samples of recycled mulch returned a positive result for bonded asbestos,” TfNSW said.
SMH: More asbestos found at Rozelle Parklands
Asbestos has been found in three more samples of garden mulch taken from the Rozelle Parklands, forcing transport authorities to take urgent measures to remove contaminated material from across the site.
Also article from The Guardian.
Asbestos in Rozelle Parklands
A small amount of asbestos says Transport for NSW before they carry out testing of the rest of the mulch. If further testing is to be carried out, can you say it is “small” amount?
Why is asbestos dangerous? Cancer Council: “Asbestos is extremely fibrous and the tiny fibres are easily breathed in where they can become trapped in the lungs. Being exposed to asbestos increases the risk of developing cancers of the lung, ovary and larynx as well as mesothelioma (cancer of the lining of the lung). These cancers often develop decades after exposure to asbestos.”
SMH: Park above Rozelle Interchange closed after asbestos discovered near playground
Rozelle Parklands, the new green space that sits on top of the Rozelle Interchange, has been shut just three weeks after it opened after samples of asbestos were discovered in the garden mulch.
Samples of the highly carcinogenic material, that causes mesothelioma, were discovered in the mulch near the children’s playground, Transport for NSW and Inner West Council said.
Also article from ABC.
SMH: The Rozelle interchange has trapped locals in Balmain. They want a way out
Road congestion in Sydney’s inner west caused by a new motorway junction at Rozelle has triggered pleas for the Labor government to keep an election promise to boost ferry services and give locals an alternative to driving.
Residents in Balmain, Rozelle and other inner west suburbs have been temporarily spared during the summer holidays from traffic jams on arterial routes and local roads caused by the $3.9 billion Rozelle interchange.
AFR: Rozelle road designs kept from public view
Sydney’s controversial Rozelle Interchange was never reviewed by Infrastructure Australia and detailed designs of connecting free roads were not shown to councils or local communities before it opened in late last month, creating traffic chaos.
Adam Copp, chief executive of Infrastructure Australia, told AFR Weekend the advisory agency did not see the final plans for the $3.9 billion interchange, which was designed and built by the former NSW government, before it was constructed.
The opening of the underground interchange caused havoc above ground after public road lanes onto Sydney’s Anzac Bridge, which leads to the CBD, were merged to allow space for tolled lanes connecting with the WestConnex motorway.
AFR: How Australia’s ‘massive traffic muck-up’ stalled Sydney
Back in 2015, when former prime minister Tony Abbott stuck a shovel in the ground to celebrate dirt churning on Sydney’s WestConnex motorway, he said motorists would be “singing in their cars” when the 33-kilometre toll road was finished.
“They will be rejoicing, they will be singing in their cars, frankly, because their cars will be moving,” said Mr Abbott, who committed $1.5 billion for the project in 2013 – before WestConnex’s business case had been publicly published or reviewed.
But over the past two weeks, there has been far more shouting than singing after the $3.9 billion Rozelle interchange, a crucial entry and exit link to the underground motorway near the heart of Sydney’s CBD, opened and immediately stranded thousands of cars in traffic jams.
AFR: ‘I’m staring at a car park’: Rozelle chaos delivers hit to retailers
More than two weeks after Sydney’s $3.9 billion Rozelle Interchange opened and triggered a wave of congestion and car park-like traffic jams across parts of Sydney’s inner west, retailer Jonathan Fletcher is still waiting for trading conditions to return to normal.
The shop owner and his staff at Running Science, on Darling Street in Rozelle, first picked up on the changed road conditions two Sundays ago, when they noticed the persistent bleating of car horns outside the premises.
“I looked out, and I was staring at a car park,” Mr Fletcher said. “And you think that it’ll get fixed in a couple of days, but it’s still a problem.”
9 News – Frustrations grow over Sydney’s new Rozelle interchange
AFR: Rozelle interchange ‘diabolical’ as workers pay the price
It previously took banking executive Angela MacMillan 15 minutes to drive from her home in Rozelle to the CBD, but that has blown out to an hour. She has been forced to put her daughter into before-school care to make sure she gets to work on time.
She’s also staggered start times for her team, so they can avoid sitting in traffic.
SMH: The ‘Rozehell’ interchange – a spaghetti junction that doesn’t pasta test
How many more things can go wrong in Sydney’s transport? We’ve had ferries, trains, buses, trams … now Rozelle’s spaghetti junction. Letter writers and commenters were not amused by the wasteful use of public money, and the hours they spent trapped in traffic, on the newly-opened “Rozehell” interchange.
SMH: ‘I just gave up’: Residents vent anger over Rozelle traffic chaos at fiery meeting
One of the state’s top transport bureaucrats has faced a barrage of complaints from residents who have endured nearly two weeks of gridlock since the bungled opening of the Rozelle interchange.
Transport for NSW Coordinator-General Howard Collins fronted a crowd of more than 250 people at a fiery public meeting at Balmain Town Hall in Sydney’s inner west on Thursday night.
Also articles from The Guardian, Sky News, ABC and Nine.
SMH: The Rozelle Interchange is working exactly as planned
The traffic modelling report for the Rozelle Interchange clearly predicted it would significantly reduce traffic flow on Victoria Road and City West Link. As such, Transport for NSW both expected and intended the traffic queues witnessed since last week’s subdued opening.
It should be remembered that the government spent $4 billion building this interchange primarily to funnel traffic in and out of the for-profit WestConnex toll road. To allow new traffic from WestConnex to flow unhindered onto the Anzac Bridge’s four eastbound lanes, traffic approaching the bridge from Victoria Road and City West Link had to be throttled. The government achieved this by merging multiple lanes and programming the traffic lights to drip-feed vehicles onto the bridge.
AFR: $3.9b traffic jam as toll-paying WestConnex motorists get right of way
The NSW government is limiting traffic from public roads in favour of motorists using the private WestConnex at a $3.9 billion interchange in Sydney’s inner west under a deal struck with Transurban last month.
Some market analysts also believe Transurban, the operator of the road, will have a separate, guaranteed right to two of the four lanes across the Anzac Bridge, an important link from the west into the Sydney CBD. However, neither the ASX-listed toll road operator nor the government would confirm what was in the agreements regulating the busy interchange.
SMH: Here in Rozelle, we can see the CBD, we just can’t get there
It’s been a huge week in Rozelle. Since Monday morning’s peak hour, there’s only been one topic of conversation among the locals. How do we actually leave our inner-west suburb and reach the city?
One of the great advantages of living in Rozelle and neighbouring Balmain is that it’s only three kilometres from the CBD. I can jump on a bus on Victoria Road and be in town in 10 minutes. But for the past four days, I’ve been like a prisoner on Alcatraz. I can see my destination, but I just can’t get there.
SMH: ‘It’s a forever problem’: Experts say Rozelle hell is here to stay
Motorists are enduring hour-long trips over a stretch of Victoria Road through inner-city Sydney suburbs during the morning peak amid warnings there is no simple fix to gridlock caused by the opening of the Rozelle interchange.
Drivers face the prospect of more delayed journeys on arterial routes and local roads over the next two weeks because they are typically the busiest time of the year on Sydney’s road network.
SMH: Road test: We took a traffic expert through Rozelle junction, and he wasn’t impressed
Craig McLaren does traffic planning and road safety audits for a living. He can’t understand why the many mistakes at Rozelle weren’t picked up earlier.
It’s early Friday afternoon when the Herald meets McLaren, a road and traffic expert and director of McLaren Traffic Engineering, for a tour of the new Rozelle interchange. He has been avoiding it until now – though as a Sutherland Shire resident, that’s been easy.
We’re specifically interested in the parts that caused havoc during morning peak hour in the Westconnex tunnel’s first week of operation, delaying motorists and bus passengers alike.
Rozelle Interchange design issues will be a problem for Sydney’s future, experts say
Traffic experts say congestion delays on the Rozelle Interchange will be an ongoing problem for Sydney’s future despite the NSW government’s commitment to fix it.
Motorists have been plagued by traffic issues and “confusing” signage following the opening of the country’s most complicated underground interchange just over a week ago.
Roads Minister John Graham acknowledged the “real frustrations” being felt by drivers on Monday morning.
The Australian: Rozelle Interchange is ground zero for NSW’s infrastructure ills
The lines snaking from the western suburbs start well before 5am, with tradies mostly trying to get into city sites and beyond over to the east.
Then later from the northern leafy suburbs like Gladesville, the cars are queued right back through to the bridge that bears the same name, with city commuters seeing their daily morning run savagely blown out.
This all happens when Sydney is running at well below capacity, with offices running at half steam as city workers stay at home on most days.
Welcome to Sydney’s infrastructure nightmare. What was meant to be a marvel of engineering and the city’s can-do attitude has rapidly morphed into a white-hot anger.
7 News – Shameful Display & a woeful week
Rebel Wilson has called on the New South Wales government to fix one of Sydney’s most notorious intersections, after she was forced to sit at traffic lights for 30 minutes.
The LA-based Australian actor, who recently returned home to direct her upcoming film The Deb, took to Instagram Stories on Tuesday morning to rant about the dire traffic at the newly-opened Westconnex Rozelle Interchange in the inner-west.
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