Sydney’s Western Harbor Tunnel and Warringah Highway could be a ‘bloody disaster’ for traffic, investigation finds

A former senior transport official has warned that Sydney’s Western Harbor Tunnel and Warringah Highway projects will be a “bloody disaster” for traffic.

Civil engineer Les Wielinga, former chief executive of the now-defunct Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), made the fiery comments at a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into the failed Rozelle interchange.

The Western Harbor Tunnel, which is under construction, will allow drivers traveling between the inner west and the north coast to avoid the CBD.

The tunnel entrances and exits will be located at the Ernest Street junction in Cammeray and near the Falcon Street junction in North Sydney.

“It’s going to be a bloody disaster,” Wielinga told the upper house committee on Friday.

Paul Forward, another former RTA chief executive, told the inquiry he was concerned about the design of the project.

“The question for the committee is clearly: ‘Is another Rozelle trade about to happen?'” Forward said.

Sydney’s Western Harbor Tunnel is currently under construction.(Supplied: Transport for New South Wales)

“There are now three freeways going out to this short area, and while I recognize there are some exit points, some exit ramps, all of those freeways now go to the Lane Cove Tunnel,” he said.

“A lot of lanes go to two lanes in the Lane Cove Tunnel. Sound familiar?”

Since its opening in late November, the Rozelle crossing has created significant traffic problems in the inner west.

A bottleneck formed by the merging of traffic from the M4, Victoria Road and City West Link is causing major congestion on the Anzac Bridge during the morning rush hour.

The Rozelle Interchange will eventually connect to the Western Harbor Tunnel.

Excavations began north of the port in November and work is expected to last five years.

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has previously said opening the tunnel in 2028 would improve traffic flows on the Anzac Bridge.

But Wielinga warned that connecting the tunnel to the Rozelle crossing would “blow up the whole damn thing.”

“You think you’re in trouble now? Wait,” he said.

“If you don’t move this damn intersection soon, you’ll have a lot more to deal with, I can tell you.”

Congestion was detected 10 years ago, according to research

The congestion caused by the Rozelle interchange was predicted almost a decade before it opened, according to research.

The RTA finalized the first business case for the WestConnex tunnel project in June 2013, with the help of road designers from around the world.

Forward said the initial concept did not include the Rozelle exchange.

“What the best road designers in the world recommended was very different from what has been built today,” he said.

In the initial design of the project, the main tunnel that now takes motorists towards the Rozelle junction passed under Petersham.

An intersection was designed at Camperdown to facilitate traffic towards the Anzac Bridge.

In 2014, an expert review group was formed to evaluate these plans.

Forward said it was at this point that TfNSW bureaucrats began to question the connectivity provided by the design.

The inquiry was told the congestion was predicted almost a decade before the Rozelle junction opened.(
ABC News: Keana Naughton
)

Former RTA traffic director Chris Ford told the investigation that 15 alternative designs were modeled.

Ford said the modeling found another highway leading to the Anzac Bridge would cause congestion.

“The problems we see today were very clearly laid out in the 2014 model,” he said.

In November 2015, after Messrs Forward and Ford were sacked, TfNSW updated the WestConnex business case to include the tunnel to Anzac Bridge, despite congestion concerns raised by the model.

In 2016, Transport for NSW updated the business case for the second time, removing the Camperdown intersection and creating a tunnel linking the Iron Cove Bridge to the Anzac Bridge.

Thanks to these changes, the number of lanes in the eastbound and westbound tunnels increased from three to four, and the Rozelle Interchange was born.

An Auditor General report into these changes published in 2021 found that “TfNSW documented, but did not publish, the rationale for the design changes.”

Design changed to increase toll revenue, research finds

In 2018, the New South Wales government sold its 51 per cent stake in Sydney Motorway Corporation, the body responsible for operating WestConnex, to Transurban for $9 billion.

Forward said the final design would generate a greater number of toll trips than previous options.

Labor MP Bob Nanva asked the Forward whether the government was “fattening the pig to sell” by changing the design to increase the number of toll trips.

“In my opinion, the final design was an attempt to maximize the value of the highway when it was put up for sale,” Forward said.

“I suspect it was the financiers who pushed, because it was more valuable to sell the asset if it had more traffic.”

Today was the third and final day of the hearing.

The committee is due to report its findings in June.

Aware 3 hours agoFriday, May 3, 2024 at 6:11, updated 2 hours agoFriday, May 3, 2024 at 6:39

St John Shopon

Us News Update

Sydney’s Western Harbor Tunnel and Warringah Highway could be a ‘bloody disaster’ for traffic, investigation finds