Albion Park Rail Bypass

Please find attached a letter containing comments from EnergyAustralia regarding the APR Bypass.

Please find attached our response to the exhibited EIS.

Please find attached the EPA submission regarding the Albion Park Rail Bypass EIS.

please se attached for submission.

please see attached Department of Primary Industries submission

Please see attached letter in response to Albion Park Rail Bypass.

my submission is attached

please see Councils comments attached

We endeavoured to submit the following objection to the EIS Albion Park Rail bypass proposal.

Regards Marian and Rex Tate

I have uploaded my submission as a PDF file.

I have noted that this proposal calls for the cheaper version of the Albion Park off ramp which continues to have the Illawarra Highway traffic diverted THROUGH the town even though the amount of traffic has increased at this point ten fold in the last year due to the additional traffic from Tullamba. This amount of traffic that passes through two school zones and one shopping district will only increase again over the following months and years. This will move your bottle neck by the time construction is completed to the Albion Park exit of your bi-pass.
This shows a dramatic lack of forethought on this issue.
There is a solution that has already been proposed and should be implemented either as a starting point, or in conjunction with other points and that is the connection of the Tullumba round-a-bout across the back of Albion Park to the bi-pass off ramp.
Please reconsider the Rail bi-pass to include this Albion Park bi-pass.
Do a job once, do it properly.

There needs to be a north AND southbound on/off ramp system put somewhere near the Stadium to cater for all traffic around the Ashburton/Burdekin areas (almost everything south of Daintree?) PLUS the southern Albion Park Rail/Oak Flats traffic (basically everything south of Tongarra Rd in Albion Park Rail). That would considerably ease the pressure on the main street and northern end of Albion Park irresepective of whether the Tripoli Way bypass ever actually happens or not. This is especially important with the Calderwood Valley, Tullimbah and Yellow Rock developments adding potentially thousands of cars to what is already a bottleneck on Tongarra Road in Albion Park during peak hour and beyond.

I live at Yallah and actually support the new Albion Park Bypass, however the new Bypass when constructed will put it within 50 metres of my back door. Now I believe this will create a high level of excessive traffic noise, which I am currently free from.

I note from viewing the overview plans that there are no Noise Barriers which would assist in reducing traffic noise for the immediate dwellings and this is my objection.

I feel that there should be some effective noise barriers to support the health and well being of the surrounding residences.

At this stage of the project and having spent the last week touring around Sicily and taking note of the huge investment there in infrastructure, i can't help but be puzzled.
Sicily has just over 6 million population, roughly the same as Sydney yet their government has built bridges and tunnels that put NSW to shame, seriously.
In earlier contact with the project managers of the AP by pass I put forward plausible suggestions in regard to a cut and fill process under the existing runway at the airport. Cost was the prevailing excuse for not considering this alternative as well as on going controll of water levels in the tunnel.

My concerns are:
if we don't get it right now there will be more cost in fixing the problems in the near future.
Valuable dairy land will be lost.
Traffic chaos will eventuate at Albion Park with no consideration to the growth of population.
Tripoli Way needs to be part of the project.
On and off ramps as per original design.
24 hour construction could happen but only where no impact on residents occurs.
Flooding is still a major concern.
Albion Park has waited patiently and deserves best practice in design as well as construction, cost should be the last factor not the first.
Yours sincerely
Jim McCallum

This is a Disgusting & dishonest political hoax being perpetrated on the general motoring & transport section of NSW & the citizens of the City of Shellharbour in particular. Having worked in Design I know The word "Proposal" means NO commitment to do Anything, and that is exactly what this current Liberal NSW Government intends to do, Nothing!! Hundreds of Millions of Dollars will eventually have been spent on Excellent road works & Bridges from Gerringong to Bomaderry some 50km.in total in the Liberal held seats of Kiama & Shoalhaven, while no funding, State or Federal has been committed for the Proposed 9.8km. Alb. Park By Pass 2018/2019, because it falls within a State Labor held seat & the Labor Mayor of The City of Shellharbour,,s jurisdiction, the duplicitous Member for Kiama {aka. the New York Massage Man} has personally declared a dislike for all things Labor & has virtually no communication with them, how can we progress with attitudes like this in play ? I thought parliamentary members were there to serve all citizens & not their own parochial brand of politics. The construction committee should speak to the drivers in the Daily 3 to 4km.traffic Jam & the 10km.+ traffic Jam on Holiday Fridays caused by the only 4 sets of traffic Lights between Waterfall & Nowra, when the construction of the By Pass would eliminate this on going problem. Excuses at their very Best are no substitute for action at it,s very least !! So Get Cracking !!! .

My wife and I object to the bypass because we are concerned about how it will effect the businesses in the Haywards Bay area.
Is there going to be signage on the northern and southern approach to Haywards Bay to notify drivers that fuel and food can be purchased in this area?
We are part owners of Hungry Jacks and the Shell Service Centre. There does not seem to be any consideration made for any of the businesses in this area.

Oak Flats Interchange. I "FEAR" that traffic exiting from North and / or South bound Exits of the Princes Motorway, entering the Oak Flats Interchange (at times) may have a traffic build up impact, that could lead back onto the Motorway itself. Should this occur, may lead to potential traffic incidents or accidents. Thus, planning / construction etc. needs to ensure "NIL" accidents from traffic build up back onto the Motorway and this "MUST" be avoided now, before construction begins (refer TV advertising)....

The proposal as shown in the project documents has great merit, however if as forecast in the Illawarra Mercury that the northern access wont be built in the initial construction, this will be a gross injustice to the people of Dapto. For years we have done without a southern access to the expressway and now we may not get one even though it is being extended. This will mean people going from Dapto up to Robertson will have to go all the way throughAlbion Park Rail and then turn back up Tongarra Rd. There is also a safety matter as an ambulance travelling from Dapto to an accident on the expressway will have at least 10 min added to its journey. If you want to save money at least put a southern "on" ramp at Yallah without the two round abouts so people going south can still go on the expressway.
Compared to what's been delivered at Berry and Gerringong that's not asking much.

As far as i can tell there is now even less area for water to escape from west of the bypass into Lake Illawarra and out to sea. the bar of the Albion Park Hotel will disappear under at least 300mm of flood water before the end of this century

I am very pleased that on/off ramps have now been provided to Albion Park CBD and Tongarra Rd. I know this is the Albion Park Rail Bypass and this is the focus for the RMS but I believe that this project can't be treated separately to the traffic problems at Albion Park. There is an opportunity now to improve traffic flow through Albion Park on the state government Illawarra highway.

Albion Park and the Illawarra Highway is the access to the southern highlands, plus with sales at Calderwood Valley exceeding expectations there is every chance that the traffic through Albion Park will increase quicker than planned and create a bottleneck on the Illawarra Highway. The highway also has to cater for growing traffic volume from the three (3) high schools, three (3) primary schools and ten (10) Preschools/kindergartens.

The RMS Traffic and Assessment Report Vol 1 P172 issue 3 (WCC) states that the CBD intersection will fail by 2020 without Tripoli Way.

The RMS have always stated that their objective was not to fix flooding in Albion Park just not make it any worse. Albion Park residents major concern is the frequency with which we get flood bound after storms and yet after hundreds of millions of dollars spent, they will be still flood bound. There seems to be some inaccuracies in the RMS report, Vol 1 p158 (SCC) reports that Taylor Rd only floods for 30mins, which is not what residents see when the roads close for days at a time. There is a justifiable need to act now.

I believe now is the ideal time to factor in access ramps on/off the Bypass to be flood proof. Even if this means sourcing additional funding for the projects.

Concerns

1. Flooding, every year Albion Park becomes flood bound during rain periods. With the Bypass coming there needs to protection from known flood issues when developing the following areas;
a. Within the CBD, is often cut off at Taylor Rd, at the culvert along the Illawarra Highway and along Tongarra Rd
b. At the on/off ramps, the 1 in 2, 5, 10-year periods do not clearly clarify the flood risk to residents. Homes are 1 in 100 why are these roads so much less?
c. On the new East/West link it regularly floods on the low ground east of Woollybutt Drive but what are the plans for this? Are they 1 in 2, 5, 10, or 100-year periods?

2. Tripoli Way needs to be built and media reports that Shellharbour City Council will go ahead with this work. It was reported by RMS staff that areas lost at the Croome Rd sporting complex due to the Bypass would be replaced. However, there are reports that the RMS are expecting Shellharbour City Council to rebuild the Croome Rd sporting complex which would impact on funding for Tripoli Way. Could this be clarified please?

3. Agricultural land loss. The farmland on the flood plain is prime agricultural land and the dairy is a major supplier of milk to Australian families. There is a lot of negative comments about the loss of so much this land. The RMS flood study originally planned for a 4m x 8m underpass for the cattle and farmers to move under the Bypass from one paddock to another. The current plan is for a 3m x 3 m underpass which will cause land scouring if they can get the cattle to pass through the proposed underpass, and it is not flooded from the rain.

Through social media it can be seen that the Albion Park community wants the government to find the funds to rectify the growing traffic concerns in Albion Park that will have the additional benefit of alleviating the flooding problems.

We are all concerned that the plan design is being pushed by funding shortfalls rather than best practice.