WestConnex EIS inadequate, insufficient, and flawed – despite free ear plugs

Wednesday 25 October 2017

Inner West Council has produced an extensive list of demands that will ameliorate the impacts of Stage 3 of WestConnex on local residents – and will certainly go much further that the ear plugs being issued to residents by the road builders.

Council’s assessment of the State Government’s Environmental Impact Statement for Stage 3 of WestConnex is that the project is fundamentally flawed and that the Rozelle Interchange may never be built.

Independent engineering experts have expressed serious doubts that the interchange can be constructed in the form proposed.

“The Government’s failure to find a single conforming tenderer to build the interchange reinforces this view,” said Mayor of Inner West Council Darcy Byrne.

“And independent consultants BECA have told Council that the Government’s estimates of tolling revenues are fanciful and bogus. No wonder the Government has been so desperate to sell off the Sydney Motorway Corporation before the project actually opens!

“Our Council is rightly opposed to this reckless and wasteful project.

“We are putting forward new and detailed proposals to reduce the devastating impacts of WestConnex, if it does proceed,” Mayor Byrne said.

Council’s submission on the EIS includes demands for:

• Filtration of all ventilation stacks, as well as in-tunnel filtration
• A new curfew on construction works from contractors and utility companies
• A ban on heavy vehicles on local roads
• Full funding of all traffic calming and amelioration expenditure in streets identified by Council that will be affected by additional traffic and ‘rat runs’ from WestConnex

Some of Council’s other concerns identified in the EIS include:

• Marginal travel time benefits, with an estimated average vehicle speed of 26.36kph – approximately 7.5kph slower than today’s network-wide average
• No public transport and demand management initiatives that could achieve similar congestion reductions/travel time savings
• The ‘toll sensitivity’ analysis (the price at which motorists will avoid a toll road) is based on unrealistic assumptions