Council welcomes $22.5m injection for Parramatta Road
Inner West Council will create a new park, new cycle and Greenway connections and improve streets surrounding Parramatta Road, thanks to a grant of more than $20 million dollars for improvements to Parramatta Road.
The grant funding is from the Parramatta Road Urban Amenity Improvement Program (UAIP), with $1.37 million for master planning and design, and a provisional amount of $21 million for the construction and delivery of the improvement plans.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said that the much-needed renewal would include new open space, new cycle paths, and streetscape improvements.
“Parramatta Road is crying out to be brought back to life,” he said.
“Parramatta Road in the inner west borders some of Sydney’s most active cultural suburbs, which is why I have been championing for it to be a cultural and live music precinct.
“This funding will allow us to deliver improvements that help enliven what is currently a pretty blighted roadway.
“Improvements like these, teamed with a modern global public transport system like the trackless trams (Guided Electric Transit) which Council has been lobbying for, could really save Australia’s oldest arterial road.”
Seven projects have been identified within Inner West Council:
• Greenway connection under Parramatta Road
• Greenway connection under Longport Street
• Public domain improvements to key north-south streets next to Parramatta Road including Rofe Street, Renwick Street, Norton Street, Balmain Road, Catherine Street and Crystal Street
• A new cycle connection along Dot Lane
• Conversion of Petersham Street to a ‘pocket park’
• A new north-south pedestrian and cycle connection along Johnson’s Creek
• Public domain improvement and cycle connection to Pyrmont bridge Road between Parramatta Road and Mallet Street
Council is committed to completing the designs by December 2019. The projects should be completed by 2021, except for the Pyrmont Bridge Road improvements which will finish 2023, due to Westconnex.
The $198 million UAIP is part of the Government’s 30-year plan for the renewal of the Parramatta Road Corridor - which stretches from Granville to Camperdown.