City of Sydney Council releases traffic study in response to WestConnex St Peters interchange

The City of Sydney Council has released an independent study on how to best handle increased inner city traffic from the planned WestConnex St Peters Interchange.

The study contains several recommendations including possible road closures in Alexandria and Erskineville.

“These suburbs are already gridlocked and face further impacts from the NSW Government’s destructive WestConnex toll roads project, and the tens of thousands more vehicles it will funnel through the area, particularly given the left turn from Euston Road onto Maddox Street being proposed by Roads and Maritime Services,” said a spokesperson for the Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

Community consultation meetings were held on April 5 and 7 at Alexandria Town Hall so residents could have their say.

“Once community consultation takes place, the plan will need to be endorsed by the Local Pedestrian, Cycling and Traffic Calming Committee, approved by Council, and then requires final approval by the State Government’s Roads and Maritime Services – so we will need to work together to present a strong case,” the spokesperson said.

“We are now developing a final plan in consultation with residents and businesses.”
The release of the report comes after intense debate at the council meeting in March over a notice of motion put forward by Councillor Craig Chung.

Cr Chung’s motion called for more immediate solutions to prevent heavy vehicles from entering Maddox Street Alexandria which has a 3 tonne weight limit.

The motion was defeated after the Clover Moore Independent team voted against it.
Cr Chung expressed his disappointment with the result, pointing out that 300 residents of Alexandria had signed a petition urging the Lord Mayor to take action.

“The street needs to be closed to oversize vehicles, traffic calming devices need to be installed to make it impossible for trucks to enter the street and in the meantime get the rangers to enforce the weight limit on the street,” said Cr Chung.

“This has been notified as an issue since October 2017 and so far nothing has been done by the Lord Mayor. It is not fair to dismiss the concerns of the residents of Maddox Street and doing nothing is not going to solve the problem.”

Cr Chung said he was pleased, however, that a small victory had been won through the release of the Traffic Calming study on March 26 and discussion had begun on the possible closure of Maddox St at Euston Road.

Members of the Clover Moore team argued that a broader outlook was needed to tackle traffic problems in the area and foreshadowed the release of the study.

“This motion was voted down because City staff were already reviewing an independent traffic study, commissioned by the City in 2017, into traffic impacts in Alexandria, Erskineville and St Peters, and preparing for consultation with local residents and businesses with options to protect local streets, including Maddox Street,” the spokesperson for Lord Mayor Moore said.

The spokesperson pointed out that a number of measures had been implemented on Maddox Street since 2016, including installing roundabouts, traffic signals and narrowing the road.

Consultation with the community will continue and people will have the opportunity to give their feedback until June 1.

The study can be viewed at http://www.sydneyyoursay.com.au and there is also an online survey to give feedback.