Department of Environment and Planning
Department of Main Roads
North Sydney Council Inquiry

 

Department of Environment and Planning (p. 20)

The Tunnel proposal runs contrary to The City of Sydney Plan by increasing traffic entering the City, creating pressure to provide additional parking and possibly causing loss of patronage on the public transport system. The Tunnel may also cause pressure for commercial development outside the CBD which is also against the policies of the City of Sydney Plan.

The North Sydney Plan 1986 contains a number of strategic planning objectives relating to traffic and transportation. Together these objectives aim to reduce traffic, improve public transport, and increase pedestrian amenity throughout the municipality.

The Tunnel proposal does not support the objectives of The North Sydney Plan 1986 as it will result in an increase in traffic in the North Sydney CBD and on major collectors feeding into the Warringah Expressway. The Tunnel will also have a detrimental effect on the business area on Military Road and Falcon Street because of the enforcement of freeways.

The Tunnel is likely to cause more traffic in residential areas through the use of shortcuts to the accesses to the Bridge and Tunnel.

Patronage on public transport in North Sydney is likely to suffer as a result of the Tunnel. At present the modal split to North Sydney is about 50 per cent by public transport. This high modal split is in part due to constraints in the contra-peak traffic flow on the Bridge. The Tunnel will improve contra-peak conditions in the short term and will inevitably lead to the loss of public transport patronage. The loss of the transit lane on Military Road may also result in a poorer bus service.

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Department of Main Roads (pp. E7-8)

At present a substantial volume of traffic passes through the City in peak hours because the Cahill Expressway has insufficient capacity for the demand to/from the east and Macquarie Street. The Tunnel will allow this traffic to by-pass the City. Whether or not other traffic growth occurs in the City will be dependent on the extent of commercial development and the availability of parking. These factors are subject to local planning controls, and so is the extent of any development outside the CBD.

Traffic in the North Sydney CBD will not increase as a result of the Tunnel. No access to or from the Tunnel will be available south of Falcon Street. The existing congestion in North Sydney caused by queuing for the Bridge will be significantly reduced.

The Tunnel is likely to reduce the need for extended clearways on the arterial roads approaching the Warringah Freeway, rather than increase the need. If the Tunnel is not built it is expected that Peak periods will spread further, and that clearway hours will need to be extended to later in the morning and earlier in the evening. The Tunnel, on the other hand, is expected to result in shorter and sharper peaks of traffic. More intensive traffic management may be required to achieve the 12 percent extra capacity referred to in Chapter 5.6, but business areas will not be as adversely affected.

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North Sydney Council Inquiry (pp. 10.5-6)

It has been argued, in the EIS and by the then Minister for Roads, Mr Brereton, that the tunnel will act as a by-pass to the CBD. There is certainly some truth in this proposition, but the by-pass provided will simply divert four lanes of traffic from the bridge to the tunnel, leaving four lanes on the bridge heading directly for the CBD.

If the aim of the tunnel were genuinely to divert traffic from the CBD, then it would be necessary to restrict access from the Bradfield Highway to the CBD.

The long-term effect of freeways in inner city areas is widely regarded as not being positive. While it is true that they do increase capacity, any affordable structure usually causes saturation with traffic in peak hours at the next most stringent constraint fairly soon after the new facility is complete. Professor Blunden comments ' it means that at some future time, be it 10 years or 30 years on, conditions will be as they are today and one would face the prospect of yet another crossing...so the question is posed: Why not stop now?'.

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References

Department of Environment and Planning, Proposed Sydney Harbour Tunnel: Environmental Impact Assessment, DEP, 1987.

Department of Main Roads, Sydney Harbour Tunnel: Report on Environmental Impact Assessment, DMR, 1987.

Enersol Consulting Engineers, Sydney Harbour Tunnel Inquiry, Vols I & II, North Sydney Municipal Council, February 1989.