Trucks working on major construction sites in parts of Sydney’s inner west will be directed to stay off the City West Link during morning peak to help reduce chronic congestion on key arterial routes since the opening of the Rozelle interchange.
Commuters endured their third straight day of major traffic delays on Victoria Road and the City West Link following the opening of the spaghetti junction for WestConnex at Rozelle. The congestion also caused 30-minute delays to buses using the arterial routes on Wednesday morning.
Roads Minister John Graham said trucks working on government construction projects at Rozelle such as a Metro West station would be diverted from the City West Link between 7am and 9.30am.
“One of the things that has made things worse, particularly over the recent couple of days, is there has also been significant construction truck movements at the same time as the morning peak,” he said. “They’ve been mixing it with commuter traffic in peak hour.”
Graham said there was “nothing off the table” in terms of solutions to the gridlock during the morning peak. He noted that suggestions had been made about significant changes to the City West Link and other parts of the nearby road network but did not elaborate on them.
However, he ruled out instituting a toll-free period for the Rozelle interchange, which motoring group NRMA has argued could help familiarise motorists with the new spaghetti junction.
Roads Minister John Graham fronts reporters on Wednesday afternoon.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Graham said travel times on the City West Link between Haberfield and the Anzac Bridge had dropped to an average of 44 minutes from 59 minutes during the morning peak, which he acknowledged was “still a long wait”.
“We do expect it to continue to improve over coming days and weeks,” he said.
A merge point for motorists travelling from Victoria Road onto the Anzac Bridge, and two lanes merging into one on the City West Link, have been blamed for much of the congestion.
Asked whether lane changes would be considered, Transport for NSW Secretary Josh Murray said a 66 per cent increase in motorists using the toll-free Iron Cove Link would improve traffic flows but “we will not take anything off the table to manage the road network”.
Murray said authorities were considering better phasing of traffic lights to ease congestion.
“Signage is being improved. We’ve got variable message boards in more locations along Victoria Road and that seems to be working,” he said.
Balmain Greens MP Kobi Shetty said tailbacks on the City West Link extended to Leichhardt North on Wednesday morning, while motorists using Victoria Road and local roads in Balmain, Rozelle and Lilyfield continued to face major delays.
“Local buses are also getting caught up in the congestion,” she said.
Cars and buses were brought to a crawl on local roads in Balmain on Wednesday morning.
She was concerned that the traffic congestion was resulting in more motorists attempting “rat-runs” on local roads to try to avoid the tail backs.
“The government really needs to be proactive and look at all possible options. We can’t afford to wait for the Western Harbour Tunnel to open in five years,” she said.
“The community has been hit so hard over the last four years from construction disruption. It is not acceptable for people to be trapped in their local suburb.”
Rozelle resident Julian Peterson said he chose to work from home in the early morning because of the delays travelling to the Sydney CBD on Wednesday morning.
“This is driving people mad. Some people are leaving at 7am to try to beat it and others are finding it quite stressful,” he said.
“The buses were packed, and they were all stacked up on Victoria Road at rush hour – it was no better being on a bus. It doesn’t seem to be improving, which is the worry.”
Opposition roads spokeswoman Natalie Ward said there was a lack of accountability for the “botched opening” of the Rozelle interchange, which the roads minister needed to fix now.
“Sydney is one incident on the Anzac Bridge away from traffic coming to standstill,” she said.
A spokesperson for Transport Minister Jo Haylen said she would work with the roads minister to ensure that bus services on Victoria Road could adapt to the changed traffic conditions.
“We expect that the new dedicated bus lane along Victoria Road will deliver better bus services for passengers as drivers adapt to the new traffic conditions,” he said.
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