Victoria Road rip off of Rozelle community
9 August 2022
Darcy Byrne, Inner West Mayor
Despite years of promises from the former NSW Government that Victoria Road would be transformed for the better at the completion of WestConnex Stage 3, it has now been revealed that there was not a single dollar allocated in the State Budget for public domain improvements there.
Inner West Council last night resolved to demand answers about why long promised funding has not been delivered.
The Council is also calling for the immediate release of all traffic modelling about what the traffic volumes will be on Victoria Road when WestConnex opens, with fears that the former government's claims that traffic would be reduced by half may have also been a lie as well.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said the treatment of the Rozelle community by politicians in Macquarie Street and Transport for NSW is a disgrace.
“For years the former government promised the Rozelle community that Victoria Road was going to be transformed when WestConnex was completed. To now discover that they never allocated a single dollar to improve public amenity on Victoria Road is a real kick in the guts for the people of Rozelle,” Byrne said.
“They promised us a Parisian boulevard and have left us with an industrial wasteland.
“It is outrageous that politicians, who have now sailed off into the sunset, lied so blatantly to our community, which has suffered massive disruption from WestConnex construction and deserves fair treatment and compensation.
“Worse still, Transport for NSW have still not provided any data or traffic modelling to show that the promised 50% reduction in traffic volumes in the Victoria Road corridor will eventuate.
“We are worried that instead of reduced traffic all we will have is a tunnel to a traffic jam on Victoria Road and the ANZAC Bridge.
“This lack of transparency from the transport agency, just months before the reconfigured Victoria Road is due to open, is atrocious and inept.
“We demand that Transport for NSW come clean about what conditions in Victoria Road will be when the project opens and that the funding we were repeatedly promised be found.”
In the absence of any plans or community consultation from Transport for NSW on the future of Victoria Road, Inner West Council has developed a draft Rozelle Town Centre Masterplan with options for how Victoria Road and Darling Street could be beautified.
These concepts are based on the promised traffic reductions and funding for public domain improvements being delivered by the State Government.
ENDS
For media enquiries please contact Jonny Browne, Jonny.Browne@innerwest.nsw.gov.au