Beaches Link and Gore Hill Freeway Connection

To whom it may concern,

I support the Project, with the exception of the spoil haulage times which must be changed in the Submissions Report and CoA.

I can only assume that the restrictions to spoil haulage to standard construction hours has been put in place in order to minimise impacts to the community. I can advise with experience, that these restrictions will actually increase and not reduce impacts on the community which are unexceptable. These restrictions must be removed and made consistent with the majority of other tunnel project in Sydney (i.e a 24/7 window). Failing that, the second best haulage window would be 5am to midnight 7 days per week including public holidays.

The reasons for this are as follows:
1. There is a given amount of spoil that must be removed and disposed of, typically to western Sydney development sites. If the window to remove spoil is restricted, in order to remove the spoil as effieciently as possible, the contractor will need to substantially increase the number of trucks to move the given quantity of spoil to ensure that spoil removal operation does not slow down the excvation of the tunnel (Critical path). The is a perverse environmental and community outcome.

2. This means that the impacts (traffic congestion, rat runs, parking in local streets and road traffic noise) from the trucks during the standard hours will be much higher than than if they are spread over a wider window.

3. The vast majority of the spoil haulage fleets orignate from western Sydney. In order to avoid traffic and to ensure they arrive on time, the drivers will typcally leave western Sydney at around 4:30am. This means from about 5:30am the drivers will be either queing, parking up in illegal parking spots or driving loops of the local roads causing undue impacts on the community. GPS tracking or a traffic management plan will not be a solution to this. The Project is best to simply work with the realities of spoil haulage in Sydney.

4. The vast majority of the spoil disposal locations are in western Sydney and these typically don't open till 7am, which is the same time as the loading. To avoid the tax payer paying more for this project than they need to, trucks should be allowed to be filled from at least 5am as this will allow them to arrive at the disposal location at the 7am opening. The loss of this extra round of spoil delivery will be priced by the contractor if the 7am loading restriction is not relaxed driving up the cost of the Project.

5. Feeding the surge of infrastructure projects in Sydney are the concrete batch plants scattered throughout Sydney. These plants are supplied with aggregate and sand from the central coast and southern highlands from quarries during each day. These heavy vehicles are already on the road causeing impacts, however they typically drive back to the quarry empty. From a traffic congestion and sustainability point of view, it would be a better outcome if these trucks were returning to the quarry filled with tunnel spoil (noting that many quarries need tunnel spoil for rehab). Typically many of these trucks deliver to the batch plants after the PM peak and return to the quarries following this up until about midnight. The Project is best to simply work with the realities of batch plant operations in Sydney and allow for those truck to be filled after the PM peak.

6. To ensure that the Project is delivered as quickly as possible, thus reducing construction fatigue, the hours of spoil generation (Tunnel excvation) needs ot match the spoil removal and haulage. Where these dont match, there WILL be program impacts as storing spoil underground is not efficient and would require an increased in diesel burn due to the need to double handle the mateiral. Not being able to haul spoil after 1pm on Sat, Sundays and Public holidays is crazy. As an example look at the Easter period. Applying these restriction would mean that while the spoil is being produced, it cannot be removed for over 5 days. This won't work and will drive up costs for the tax payer.

Please reach out to some of the leading spoil haulage companies whom will not doubt support my comments.

The Project is best to simply work with the realities of spoil haulage in Sydney.

Happy to receive a phone call or email if any of the above needs to be clarified or explored further.

Regards,
Grant

This project is decades overdue and must start in 2021. It has been promised since early 1970's, then the Neville Wran State Government sold the land for it in 1976.

I support the EIS and especially the 3 lanes each way in the tunnel.

Enough of the nonsence and go slow, start the tunnel in 2021

The latest tunnel design is appalling and should either be scrapped or completely redesigned.
The timeline provided is completely unrealistic in comparison to other tunnel projects
You have an unrealistically sized smoke stack on the designs.
You have unfiltered smokestacks planned which is unacceptable in any suburban area.
You have moved the unfiltered smokestack closer to schools.
You have included traffic lights which will negatively impact traffic coming from the upper northern beaches.
You have included traffic lights which will negatively impact traffic entering the tunnel and around the top of Sydney road in all directions.
Instead of a neat and unimposing tunnel you are proposing a nine lane road!!! to handle traffic entering and exiting the tunnel.
You have removed the Kitchener street bridge from renders to hide the impact that area will suffer.
You have placed new sports grounds right under the unfiltered smoke stack.
There is no planning for dedicated public transport links.

Instead of having two tunnel entrances: one to service the upper beaches suburbs and one to support the traffic entering from Sydney road you are proposing a 9 lane traffic intersection, complete with traffic lights. This is absolute madness and will not meet a single objective needed for the northern beaches: faster public transport routes to the city and back that minimise the use of private vehicles.

Why is the Wakehurst Parkway only being widened between Seaforth and French’s Forest?.. what about between North Narrabeen and French’s Forest?.???
The Northern end of the Peninsular again forgotten.
Many residents of the Northern end of the Northern Beaches have continually made submissions re the upgrading of the EASTERN end of the Wakehurst Parkway from North Narrabeen toFrenchs Forest. The building of Northern Beaches Hospital included an upgrade of 100 metres of this stretch of road to stop the bottleneck at the hospital. However if anyone at North Narrabeen or further north requires and ambulance in peak hour (or when it rains) the EASTERN end of the Wakehurst Parkway is disfunctional!!

Timing;
* This project is way overdue. It has been kicked along since 1930 and buried with 'review after review'. Tunneling technology has improved . The time to deliver is now
* Manly council delivered the Spit Bridge in 1924. (I'm sure there were dissenters then too) They took out a loan, put on a toll and made it happen.
They left a legacy- and we are still enjoying and using the Spit Bridge 100 years later.
* Who will take the action to get the Beaches Link Tunnel done?

Public Transport;
* B-Line type buses in shared lanes please. (Linking to Metro and CBD hubs)
* (NO dedicated bus lanes as this relegates an expensive lane to minimal use)
* (NO trams, trains or other expensive modes that are difficult to re-route and far more costly)

Capacity:
* 3 lanes each way not 2. What is the cost of the additional lane if we do it now? Only 20% extra I would estimate. It will cost 100% more if we do it later -
* Lets futureproof with 3 lanes each way. (As per Road header and Tunnel Borer picture with 3 lanes)

Routes:
* Most direct and cost effective route that doesn't have a Large Environmental impact. DO not get dragged into longer routes as happened with M7 where many extra km of roadway were built while users want the more direct route.
* Exit/Entry- Mandatory 2 entrances at beaches end on Burnt Bay deviation and Wakehurst Parkway.
* Remedial works needed just for 800m of Condamine st to take away the existing bottleneck from Condamine st to Campbell Parade. Without these works traffic exiting the tunnel will be at a standstill.

Pollution:
We have carried out the relevant checks for pollution and ventilation as we should. However we have not taken into consideration the changes in vehicles using the tunnel. Electric vehicles, buses, hydrogen buses etc are rapidly becoming part of the traffic mix and the remaining petrol and diesel vehicles are becoming FAR less polluting every year. Europe will sell its last new car with an engine in 20 years time - All will be an using alternative to fossil fuels in 20 years. Our Beaches tunnel will take 5 years to 'Review' and Build so by then already a vastly growing proportion of vehicles will not be using fossil fuels and the remainder are very low emissions compared to even a few years ago. This issue is a diminishing problem that will be almost 100% gone in 20 years. This infrastructure will be with us over 100years (Spit bridge is 96 years old and we are all still using that).

Action/Timing:
We have had 90 years of reviews - Now its time to Build

I do not want it to be built.

For all of those complaining about the Beaches tunnel;
Where else in Australia would you put up with a city the size of around Newcastle (population), where you only have 3 extremely bad and dangerous entrances /exits;
1. A drawbridge
2. A goat track winding down a hill (Mona Vale Rd)
3. A two lane road that floods (the parkway)

With the amount of development that has occurred in the peninsula over the past 10 years and population increase, by the time this tunnel is finally built traffic will have ground to a halt.
It is one of the slowest roadways in the city, as there are no alternative routes, due to its geographic location and the amount of waterways and forests that surround it.
It is not needed in 8 years, it is needed now

For all of the people living within the now comfortable confines of the CBA / Surry Hills / Paddington areas, who may not drive or even visit the Northern Beaches, before the Eastern Distributor was built, Crown and Burke Streets were 4 lane freeways being the only way to get to the airport. Just imagine if the ED was not built and the whole inner city area was one giant rat run trying to get to and from the airport.. well just welcome to the Northern Beaches today.
The same could be said of all of the freeways and tollways within Sydney.. imagine still trying to get to the Blue Mountains and Penrith by the Great Western Highway or Canberra via the Hume Hwy, or the North Coast via the Pacific Hwy.. I am old enough to remember that these were the only way to go to those locations and it was a long tedious journey.
Once the tunnel from the Anzac Bridge to the airport, is completed, along with the Western tunnel and Beaches Tunnel, it will free up massive amounts of space on the overused ED.
It makes no sense for all of the Beaches traffic to be routed through the Lower Northshore and a drawbridge!
The Northern Beaches will continue to become more of a destination for both Australians and International visitors, but not if the traffic continues to be choked up.
However there is one very important piece missing from this puzzle; at the intersection of the Wakehurst Parkway and Warringah Rd there should either be a flyover or tunnel, like Mona Vale Rd and the Pacific Hwy, plus the continuation of a 4 lane highway to North Narrabeen, that doesn't flood or have dangerous intersections but proper on and off ramps. It is unforgivable to build the main hospital for the Northern Beaches, take away the other two main ones on the beaches and have the main road to it being one that floods.. what happens when someone dies because of this?
If this was a swing area, which it is starting to become, then this debate and project would have been completed decades ago. Let’s not postpone it to the next election or I can assure the Premier that there are many young voters in her electorate who voted for her due to her promises on this project in this term of her office.. disappoint them and they will surely disappoint you at the ballot box.

Confirmation required that clearance of tunnel will be 5.1m as per other recent tunnels constructed in Sydney.
In relation to tunneling methods, it should be noted the depth will be much deeper than NorthConnex which is the deepest road tunnel in Australia. As a result that project had a longer tunneling time frame than planned which the contractor attributed to this depth. Given this history, it would be wise to further consider a TBM, while noting the deficiencies, has been used successfully on road tunnels in Brisbane and currently in Melbourne on the West Gate tunnel.

It's about time the government address the significant issues in the corridor between the Northern Beaches and the city via Spit Rd and Military Rd. It is ridiculous that one must stop at multiple traffic lights and fight non clearway roads in 2022.

I support this project. It is important that we establish an alternative link from the Northern Beaches to the city and beyond. The surface roads are over worked and over congested and due to the ridiculous attitudes of local business owners and resident the government is hamstrung in the improvements they can make to Spit Road and Military Road (such as adequate clearways).

I really do not understand, why the Government is wasting billions of dollars for a Road Tunnel.
The tunnel would only get a reprieve from traffic for a couple of year, cost us a lot in tolls, destroys habitats, and gives us big smokestacks.

What will happen with an accident in the tunnel?

Better solution:
We extend Metro West to the Northern Beaches. That enables us to be much faster in the City than with a new Road Tunnel. Building better public transport would take more cars of the road!

Take a B-Line bus from Dee Why:
It will take over an hour because of the bottle neck on the harbour bridge. From the southern end of the bridge to get to Wynyard takes 10-15mins alone in the morning. A metro would eliminate this problem as well.

If we had a metro, with possible stops in:
- Dee Why,
- Brookvale Oval/Mall,
- Manly Vale/Seaforth,
- Northbridge,
- Royal Northshore Hospital,
- and then to the Metro West.

This would let us to be in the city in 15-20 minutes!
It would help to lower global warming, as we get people out of their cars.


Build public transport and not more roads. This ridiculous.
Put in a Metro where you can read a book, talk with someone, or use your computer.

I live in Balgowlah and I object to the unfiltered exhaust stack being placed so close to houses, Balgowlah boys and Seaforth public schools.

I object to the Beaches Link and Gore Hill Freeway Connection proposal because the health impact assessment has failed to recognise the health risks associated with the increases in road traffic noise exposure, therefore there is no guarantee that the proposed safeguards will ensure the objectives of the World Health Organisation are achieved. The attached details the deficiencies in the health impact assessment and noise & vibration technical working paper.

I am writing to you to raise my concerns and opposition to the Northern Beaches Tunnel. I am very concerned about the impact
the tunnel plans will have on my, my neighbouring communities and Sydney as a whole.

I am opposed to the proposed road tunnel and it’s route. My reasons for opposing the
route are:
1. The route covers the highest density of schools and pre-schools, hospitals and nursing
homes in Sydney where green space and amenity is already under considerable strain. We
dont want a road tunnel constructed which will be detrimental to our quality of life and
which will compete with several other coinciding major projects in the area.

2. Tunnelling will be completed in and around predominantly historic residential areas and
will subject homes to tremors, cracking, noise and sleepless nights during 24/7 construction
over a long period due to drilling, drawdown and truck movements.

3. Air pollution from construction puts our community’s health at risk. Fine dust particles
will enter the air, both in and around construction sites and transport corridors. Homes
around the construction sites will be exposed to silica dust (WHO Carcenogen), sporting
teams playing adjacent will breathe it in and local school communities will encounter this dust.
Hundreds of heavy vehicles will also move to and from dive sites spreading
carcinogenic diesel fumes across our communities, playing fields and natural environments.
This is a considerable health risk given dive sites are in valleys surrounded by sports fields
and residences.
4. Noise pollution will be a 24/7 problem. Trucks, drilling, ground work and preparation
activities will mean noise along and around the construction corridor. Noise travels. It will
impact residents, students and local businesses. It affects sleep, concentration, stress levels
and health. There are thousands of children living along the tunnel route who will be
impacted.

5. Road safety is a major concern, especially for our young children and the elderly. At least
70 trucks an hour will travel along residential streets from multiple dive sites across the
area, putting children at risk. Given the age of the area and the density it is unreasonable to
suggest this volume of trucks.

6. Sports and community recreation will suffer. Sports grounds have been targeted for
construction sites and will make them unusable. Where construction is planned for next to
sports grounds and parks, we will be affected by noise and air pollution and they will not be
safe to use for the duration of construction.

7. Precious bushland which supports endangered and native species and holds significant
indigenous value is at risk. The bushland and habitats around Wakehurst Parkway and at
Flat Rock Gully is particularly significant and will be destroyed due to clearing, run off, noise,
dust and contamination. Of particular concern is the idea that an old tip site (Flat Rock)
containing asbestos and heavy metals would be opened up in the heart of a residential and
recreational area – this is inconceivable and should not occur at any cost.

8. Flat Rock Gully is a significant water catchment area and runs down to Tunks Park and
Middle Harbour. Middle harbour is a sensitive marine ecosystem and mangrove area and
will be dredged. Both the noise along the echo chamber of Middle Harbour and the
contamination of the harbour via dredging and turbidity is objectionable.

7. The proposed design does not move the stacks away from schools, there are dozens of
child care centres and preschools also impacted. The health impacts on our young children
from unfiltered stacks in unacceptable. Doctors from the Children’s Hospital as well as
researchers from the World Health Organisation have repeatedly warned us about the
health impacts of increased pollution from roads. The WestConnex Inquiry found that stacks
should be filtered and tunnels built overseas have treated air. It is unacceptable that we are
proposing to build inferior infrastructure which poses a risk to our health.

8. Properties stand to significantly devalue. The reasons are many and varied including
construction noise, pollution concerns, dust, smoke stacks, the presence of tunnels
underneath homes and increased traffic and parking issues. Banks will re-classifying our
homes risk in terms of borrowing - in areas with high mortgages this puts families at
considerable financial risk.

9. There has been no business case released for these projects so there is no transparency
with regard to their justification and no ability for the community to publicly scrutinise the
allocation of public funds. A stated benefit of 15% reduction of traffic on Military Rd, which
planners say will be absorbed within 2 years, is an extremely poor return on investment for
our communities. Alternative sustainable public transport solutions have not been
presented to the community.

10. A road tunnel is a climate change contributor and the location significantly threatens
biodiversity via land clearing, hard surfaces/heat, diesel emissions from construction
vehicles, run off contamination, water pollution and ultimately an increase in carbon
emissions via increased reliance on cars (and roads which produce pollutants regardless of
the fuel source)

Based on the concerns raised, the only option is to stop the tunnels and consider alternate
routes and public transport options. In the interest of transparency and proper community
consultation an alternative options analysis and the business case should be presented to
the community as a minimum. Federal support for the projects is unacceptable until this has
been done. In fact, we would ask that our federal member represent our best interest and
the best interests of Sydney in addressing the above well researched concerns with the
State Government and insist on the Worlds Best Practice planning and transport solutions.

Loss of public amenity during construction and once complete. More traffic being pushed onto the Warringah Freeway during peak periods into already stand still traffic without the benefit of slowing the feed in via the Spit . Unfiltered exhaust stacks near schools and outdoor areas is unacceptable. 24/7 construction in densely populated areas for years is also unacceptable. Only acting as a feeder to a Westconnex that does not have high enough vehicle numbers to meet the projections is a terrible justification for this project.

I object to both the handling of feedback by the premier (and political beneficiary of this project) but moreover I object that this project benefits Mosman and Balgowlah residents, but Naremburn residents that are disadvantaged are in no way compensated for their loss of income and wealth and there are glaring safety issues from the proposed volumes of trucks.

This could be remedied simply, by;
• reducing Flatrock Drive to a 50 zone long term,
• putting in a bus service and bus lane on brook street going both ways after the project is complete (that stops on brook street)
• putting in a set of traffic lights that span Grafton avenue to Slade street,
• offering double glazing to residents on grafton/brook street and installing a sound shield down the eastern and western side of flatrock
• upgrade to Willoughby leisure centre (rather than the face lift) and
• Changing of zoning for houses on the east side of Brook Street.

It appears that the prime purpose of this project is to reduce congestion on several roads such as Military Road, Spit Road, Wakehurst Parkway, Eastern Valley Road, by diverting traffic away from those roads onto the new facility. Has consideration been given to an alternate project of extending the Metro rail line from Victoria Cross to Brookvale via Neutral Bay Junction; Cremorne Junction; Spit Junction; Seaforth or Balgowlah, Brookvale, possibly extending this Metro to Dee Why and Narrabeen ? Such a project could encourage individuals to leave their car at home when commuting during peak periods.

Crown Lands has the following comments for this proposal:-

Any affected Crown land or roads in the area will need to be compulsorily acquired under the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991.

I live in Pyalla Street closest the Flat Rock Drive temporary construction site.
The proposed construction entry on and off Flat Rock Drive via a signalised intersection will disrupt key traffic flows into and out of the city.
An entry and exit off Small Street would be more appropriate giving trucks access to Willoughby Road and then similarly onto the Warringah Freeway.

I have recently reviewed the details of the Northern Beaches tunnel information. I would like to specifically comment on the Gore Hill exit proposal at Reserve Road Artarmon.
I have significant concerns for the level of traffic the Reserve Road exit will generate in the Artarmon community area. We already have significant through-put between Artarmon and Mowbray road on street infrastructure that is not capable of handling excess traffic. Elizabeth Street is already a choke point with traffic looking to get to Chatswood or Willoughby and my concern is that an increase in traffic onto what are residential streets will see further deterioration of the current traffic situation which is already less than ideal.
Whilst I understand the need to provide access to Royal North Shore Hospital and the Artarmon industrial area to the new road infrastructure, I would strongly encourage you to look at ways of respecting the community aspect of reserve road around Thompson Park in Artarmon and discourage commuting through the Artarmon retail precinct towards Chatswood.