Beaches Link and Gore Hill Freeway Connection

Dear Major Projects NSW

I am a local resident of Davidson with a family and children in the area. We moved here and made a life in 2012 because it is was quiet, suburban, backed onto the bush. Plenty of trees, parks and fresh air. The proposal for a tunnel and concerning pollution pumping smoke stacks in and around this area which will effect all the residents health is shocking. I have been told the tunnel will have the car pollution pumped out unfiltered into our beautiful neighbour hood. I don't know how any government could allow this to happen. We don't need nor want tunnels or more roads. Or more high rise buildings. We chose to live here, raise our families here. Surely we have a say in our area. Not enough education or consultation has taken with residents this pollution will effect.

Respiratory illnesses and brain development, what is the true cost?
Better bus services, dedicated bus lanes. Congestion charges to help with keeping car s off the roads is what is needed not more roads and tunnels pumping pollution out causing illnesses to the next generation. Which by the way will cost society more with increased health costs.

Our area is being unrecognisably changed in the habds of the government. The generation that killed the planet. Have you not read about the need for the planet to stop pumping out pollution? Stop pushing more people into over populated and congested areas. Stop creating more pollution please!

Please do not do this to us, or children and our generations to come.

Yours sincerely,

xxxxxxxx
Mother, residents, land owner in the effected constituent, tax payer

I have a major concern about the proposed Beaches Link tunnel.

I live in Seaforth Crescent and from what I can see the tunnel will enter Middle Harbour directly under my property. I have two issues. Firstly the drilling vibration may impact my property. Secondly I work from home and the noise from the construction work in Middle Harbour may be unbearable noise pollution.

Having spent the majority of my life living on the Beaches and having to commute to the City and North Sydney area, this project sounds like an absolute relief. The traffic on Military Road has always been shocking no matter what time of day. My partner and I now live in St Leonard’s but still work in the Northern Beaches and this tunnel would make our commute so much easier. Can’t wait for it to be done!

Magnificent project! We are proud of you and delighted that Sydney finally progresses on this urgent project. It will certainly improve the quality of life of residents and the environment. The traffic is most damaging to all.
Many thanks!
Dieter

The "Beaches" Tunnel is a project created to solely benefit the lower Northern Beaches and Mosman, areas that (A) have chosen to be situated near to Military Road, or at a distance to the city and (B) repeatedly sought exception and isolation from greater Sydney, asking not to have basic public transport.

There are no benefits to the Willoughby area, yet the region is expected to wear 6-7 years of noise, pollution day and night and for many - permanent damage. Homes will unliveable, unsaleable or sold or rented at a huge discount, destroying the lives of many people who can't live in the beaches or Mosman, because they are genuine workers.

Often a 'arterial road' not 'local road' is mentioned. Despite the qualification and nomenclature - Brooke Street is a road where people live, work, sleep. Truck movements day and night will make homes on and near to the road that is not typically carrying this traffic will be entirely unliveable and unsafe.
I object to this project due and request:

(1) The estimated budget of the project. It has been reported to be around A$14bn. This equals multiples of the cost of Northconnex, or even the Sydney to Brisbane Pacific highway. Please justify the traffic numbers / benefit is worth that of 3-4 other major areas of Sydney having greater access. The Northern Beaches has repeatedly requested no public transport/trains or trams and to remain isolated from Sydney. Why does this area, one of the wealthiest in Australia, justify the greatest infrastructure spend in Australia, when they have clearly stated they do not want access to greater Sydney - but regret instead purchasing a property near a major road or with a commute?

(2) The information on the project has quoted impacts such as reduced time "From Mosman to the Fishmarkets" and "Northern Beaches to Sydney Airport". Do these travel routes justify A$14bn? Has traffic been properly assessed, and is the travel from Northern Beaches to Western Sydney a temporary phenomenon due to the build out of traffic?

(3) Please declare the political associations with land and property that will benefit from the project, in the northern beaches and in Mosman. Who they are, what benefits are promised to Gladys and the value gained from the project to these individuals.

In relation to the local area, health and safety:

(1) You are increasing heavy vehicles signfiicantly on a road that is not conventionally carrying this traffic. Coupled with children crossing at merrenburn and other places, cars turning off Brook street into their own driveways or homes, put into a highly dangerous situation due to this build out. This is not normal activity for this road.

Before someone dies, please put in place traffic conditions to ensure local safety, including:
(i) Traffic lights between Slade Street and Grafton Avenue;
(ii) change Flat Rock drive to a 40 or 50 zone, providing residents witht the same safety you believe truck drivers need; and
(iii) install speed cameras on Brooke Street

In the recent January Q&A sessions, your technical lead Tony when questioned on local safety ignored the question and spoke instead of 'site inductions and site safety'. The question is about truck movements on a road where children are crossing and accidents already often occur with the few trucks that are on the road (although many don't get quoted on the RMS website, interestingly). Rear end accidents will be exacerbated by trucks racing down the hill. If you spent any time on Flat Rock, you would see the safety risk at hand. Speaking of 'truck driver inductions' and 'normal safety' does not answer the question nor provide reasonable duty of care to the local community.

(2) You confirmed there will be truck movements at night. Please put in place sound barriers that are permanent and enable the local community to continue living in their homes for the 6-7 years.

(3) Around Anzac Park and Cammeray School, please put in place adequate safety measures. Trucks are being proposed to have parking directly next to where 100s of Anzac Park Primary students cross an already dangerous footpath each day.

(4) Please explain the compensation or review of residents for sound, lost rent, lost sale prices and other destruction to their livelihoods.

(5) Please confirm the diesel fume levels on the local community from the traffic.

(6) Please confirm how you are measuring and reporting on, and if this is in anyway independent, on the asbestos levels of the site?

(7) Finally, please confirm why Willoughby is bearing the full brunt of this project, with no single upside - only risk of pollution, road danger, that could so easily be solved, but is being ignored, even t the consultations.

The community are not numbers on a page. It costs next to nothing to put in a set of lights, a speed camera, slow down Brook street and save lives. It's pretty basic and you believe the truck drivers need it for there safety. So put in place for residents too.

I am a regular bike rider in the area between Crows Nest and Naremburn. I am very concerned that the popular cycleway alongside Gore Hill Freeway in Artarmon, which which provides a safe separated regional connection between Naremburn and Eastwood, is proposed to be closed during the estimated four years of construction betwen Station Street Naremburn and Reserve Road Artarmon. This breaks a major artery used for cycle commuting and transport in the North Shore of Sydney, as well as breaking the local connection between Naremburn and Lane Cove.

The document proposes an alternative route to divert pedestrians and bike riders along Station Street, Francis Street, Lambs Street, Cleg Street and Reserve Road. This is an extremely unsafe route, with already a high volume of heavy vehicles on a hilly road (therefore very unsuitable for cyclists), which will also be used by heavy vehicles during construction, making the route even more unsafe than it already is.

The EIS document downplays both the risk impact of the detour route and the significance of this bicycle path, in particular by implying it is less used than it is (Implies in Chapter 8 (p8-47) that usage is up to 150 pedestrians and cyclists in peak periods whereas this is shown in chart in Appendix E as up to 150 each hour over a number of hours – by far the majority weekday use is by bike riders) and failing to including any consideration of risks to bike riders in the Hazards and Risks section in Chapter 23.

I strongly request that conditions be set on this project to ensure a safe, separated, usable detour route in Artarmon. This should be designed in consultation with Bike North, which is the peak cycle body in the area.

I am also a regular cyclists around the Anzac Bridge area and note that this area also failed to consider the needs of cyclists in an another major arterial route for cycle commuting. 2020 has made it clear how important cycling is for transport in Sydney, as it becomes even clearer how important sustainable socially distanced transport is in this major city. I strongly urge the NSW government to require proper consideration of cycling access throughout any major construction. This has clearly not been considered in this proposal.

I support the beaches link tunnel, provided there is no impact on the mountain bike trails around both Manly Dam, and on the other side of the Wakehurst Parkway, which are currently an integral part of the trail network. If impact cannot be avoided, I urge the government to take into account just how important these trails are to the Sydney’s mountain biking community. There has been a great deal of effort already made in establishing these trails. If that is to be destroyed, then I propose that money be invested in replacing them with similar or better trails in the area. They bring a great amount of joy and health benefits to the entire Sydney area’s mountain bikers of wide-ranging age.

Connect Macquarie Park and North Ryde is a transport management association, working with government, landowners and leading businesses to help Macquarie Park grow, without growing congestion. Our members include major employers including Optus, Foxtel, Downer, Macquarie University and more.

Connect strongly supports Transport for NSW's stated intention in the Future Transport 2056 strategy: "More people traveling by active transport will improve network outcomes overall in addition to delivering positive health, wellbeing and environmental outcomes. Increasing the number of people using active transport for short trips to their local and city centres will require us to look at safe, well connected infrastructure such as bike paths and walking routes."

At a local level, we know from employee testimonies in Macquarie Park and North Ryde that commuting by bicycle is both popular and desirable, that the Epping Road / Gore Hill cycleway is one of the most popular local cycling routes, and that more people would cycle if appropriate conditions were provided.

To that end, Connect objects to the proposed detour for people walking and cycling along the Gore Hill freeway in Artarmon, which forms part of a continuous route from North Sydney to Macquarie Park and beyond.

The EIS states that the cycleway will be closed between Station Street and Artarmon during construction, which will be for several years. The proposed diversion will take people who are walking and cycling along a circuitous route, through a heavily-trafficked light industrial area which has high road speeds and challenging topography. When compared to the current and existing level of service, the proposed diversion is entirely unsatisfactory. Diverting people walking and cycling along this route cannot truthfully be said to be of "minor impact", as the EIS does.

Working in a busy and growing district like Macquarie Park, Connect fully understands the need for progress and the challenges of managing construction impacts. However, we also understand the importance of supporting growth by increasing the number of people using public and active transport. If a diversion at the Gore Hill freeway is unavoidable, Connect would support a temporary path which offers the same level of service to the current facility (i.e. traffic free, low speed environment)

We would encourage the provision for people walking and cycling on the Gore Hill shared use path to be revisited, and a safer, more satisfactory alternative planned.

This project will remove access to a portion of the separated cycleway between Lane Cove and Naremburn. The access will be removed for 4 years. The proposed alternative route is dangerous and hilly. It is not an acceptable solution.

I regularly ride this cycleway between Lane Cove and Naremburn for both recreation and commuting into my office in the CBD. Removing this cycleway will have a major impact on my ability to cycle in the lower north shore.

As a female rider and a relatively slow rider, the proposed alternative route is unacceptable and dangerous. I will not use it.

If you must build this project, you MUST ensure a safe, separated, usable detour route in Artarmon designed in consultation with local cyclists and bike user groups such as Bike North.

20.92 hectares of land that needs to be clear in order to finish this project. I object to not only the clearing of land but the lack of information in the EIS and a complete lack of substantial environmental protection measures against soil erosion and pollution. Sites that have been nominated for construction represent some of the last non-fractured wildlife corridors in Sydney. This project is a huge threat to biodiversity, waterways and land on the northern beaches. This project also has questionable motives around fuelling development. Offsetting had not been clearly outlined in the EIS either.

I strongly support the logic and approach of the Beaches Link tunnel and freeway connection as a robust and far sighted solution to providing infrastructure that will enhance the lives and economy of Sydney and NSW.

The Wakehurst Parkway is an extraordinary diversity of plants and wildlife. This development seeks to destroy an exceptional natural environment and create a atrocity of damage. It is unwanted and totally abhorrent to this area.

The representatives from the Beaches Link project have said that there is a possibility that houses in Hope Street Seaforth may be impacted due to vibration, albeit a low possibility. For people whose main asset in life for which they have worked could be damaged, even if a low possibility is simply not acceptable. The Government should agree to full compensation to the current values of properties in the event of (1) physical damage, and (2), a reduction in the market value of properties due to the construction of major infrastructure with smoke stacks bordering their homes.

Based on discussions with experts, the risk of damage to houses similar to what was seen with the WestConnex project is likely. These concerns and discussions about compensation have never been adequately addressed.

Vibration can be experienced up to 300 metres from the tunnelling based on research from the WestConnex project. How does the Government plan to address these concerns and the impact on the future of the people in Hope Street and other affected areas?

One reason I object to the project is the increased pollution that will be caused from the construction on Wakehurst Parkway will be polluting Manly Dam, a national park that is used by many people throughout the year. Another reason for my objection is that construction along burnt bridge creek will be taking out threatened species’s habitat like the fairy penguins as well as sea horses and sea turtles in Middle Harbour and wildlife along the Wakehurst Parkway.

My submission is to object to the positioning of the temporary mooring facility (as detailed in Figure 6-26). The proposed location is a major marine thoroughfare for motor boats, sailing boats, rowers, fisherman and kayakers. The proposed location will provide a significant impost on the users of this waterway for an extended period of time. Given the size of the mooring, it represents a major marine hazard, especially in poor light and I worry there will be a serious accident or worse still a fatality. Finally the proposed location is the most weather adverse point in the area regarding the prevailing winds, either NNE or S/SW, which can gust up to 50-60 km/h.

I suggest locating the mooring facility in Sailors Bay opposite the Northbridge Sailing Club along the Castlecrag side (from the Beverley Blacklock Reserve westerly back towards Mowbray Point). There are a number of reasons:
- there are no properties with water access along this stretch, meaning residents are not inconvenienced
- this section of middle harbour is not a major thoroughfare and gets much less traffic than the proposed site improving safety
- relocating the mooring to this area preserves the main middle harbour strip for twilight sailing (weekly), rowing (daily) and the abundance of fishing and recreational craft
- the mooring can be effectively land locked along one side and physically secured to the shore improving safety in high winds

I object to this project and the WHT as it is too expensive both in terms of cost and of the restrictions placed on folk living in the Willoughby NSW electorate

Point 1 access to Miller and Brooke street ramps

This is being cut off traffic using the Harbour tunnel and will likely result in additional traffic congestion on Willoughby Road, as well as a lot of inconvenience to folk travelling to Northbridge, Castlecrag, East Roseville and Killarney Heights.



Point 2
The following bus services which I in the past have relied on to get around Sydney and ran via Willoughby Road have already been withdrawn restricting my movements further and adding to many trips I make on a weekly basis by forcing me to make one or more transfers and use two or more buses to make the trip. In particular the 257, on which you need to allow an additional 30 minutes to make the transfer (to bus has a 20-minute frequency of 20 minutes and can run up to 10 minutes late). The 257 took me to Balmoral Beach where parking is very expensive and for example as I write this on Jan 26 involves parking as far away as Military Road an walking up and down a giant hill to get to the beach. I live near the netball courts at Willoughby and even the President of the association has a daughter who regularly used the 257 to go to netball, and cannot believe, given the weekly parking and traffic disaster that occurs when as many 25 netball courts change over on a winter Saturday, that the government would think it is a good idea to withdraw this service and require anyone who then does not switch to car transport to allow an extra hour to make the bus changes in Crows Nest for a game that goes for around 55 minutes. As a resident of this area I have found the netball traffic very concerning and once had a car parked across my guarage when I needed to rush my daughter to hospital. The removal of this bus service will only make matters far worse.
Even if this is not being done because they are expecting that buses on Willoughby Rd will not be a good idea in future as it will become the traffic jam that encourages folk to use the beaches link, clearly that is what is going to happen and these road tunnels appear to be the cause of the chaos we can expect here in future years.


Point 3. The NSW transport minister tells us I will be able to use the WHT to drive to my work at Olympic Park, saving 20 minutes, and indeed I have already seen an advertisement for Wesconnex at Lidcombe Railway station. However I do not have carparking at work and the streets of Lidcombe near my office are usually parked out at the time I arrive there. Clearly Transport NSW has completely lost the plot by building so many toll tunnels without that “connect sydney” by car and service places where parking is expensive and difficult to find. I have no expectation that folk going to the Beaches on the Beaches link will be easily able to find parking there when they arrive.
4. Another restriction of folk living around the Willoughby leisure center is access to a great walking track through flat rock gully over a cleverly engineered clay and bolder construction at the edge of what used to be the Willoughby tip. A great achievement of Willoughby Council is about to be dug up to create a dive site for the BL tunnel construction.
5. At the consultation session I attended recently they admitted that extra traffic is expected on the gore hill freeway between the Pacific Highway and the east bound entrance to the Beaches link. They are planning to remove the T2 lane on the Gore Hill freeway which will extend travel times for carpoolers and Bus service from Lane cove. By conincedence or intended effect this will discourage car pooling and encourage more single occupant motor cars onto the roads, but either way this will be good news for toll revenue on all the toll booths this lane currently leads to.
6. I frequently go to Macquarie Park/ Macquarie University and Lane cove (for band practice), on my bicycle. The project will restrict these movements as they intend to close these movements by closing the excellent and popular separated shared bike/walking path along the Gore Hill freeway that I use for these trips. They did make a promise to reinstate it like for like at the end of the project however don’t appear to yet have worked out how they are going to do this as it would appear the need the space occupied by this path for the BL project, particularly in the underpass of the North Shore train line.
7. I also object to the flawed consultation process that now continues based on the one recently completed for the WHT. For example despite providing evidence to the contrary my latest in my latest communications with the WHT team they continue to insist that the consultations have gone well, including with Willoughby Council. Judging by this extract from the council minutes nothing could be further from the truth.

(please see attachment for complete objection including extracts and screen shots)

1. A Beaches Link will increase Traffic volumes into the city and north sydney on weekdays and into the northern beaches on weekends. But parking is not available at these destinations for the additional cars. Parking space is in council jurisdiction and councils in the Sydney CBD, North Sydney and Northern Beaches are working to decrease car commuting, not to increase it. Creating multiple parking stations for many hundreds of additional cars is contrary to council policy and is environmentally unsound.
2. The combined effects of working from home and the popularity of B-Line bus services on traffic volumes have significantly reduced the need for a beaches link.
3. Access to the Beaches Link relies on residential feeder roads such as Kitchener Street, Woodland Street and Wanganella Street that are already choked with traffic during the morning peak hours. The Beaches Link will significantly increase traffic volume. This just moves the traffic delay from the Spit Bridge and Military Road into the streets of Balgowlah. There is no provision in the plans to remediate this issue.
4. The morning prevailing breezes from the west down the natural valley will blow car exhaust emissions from the proposed exhaust vents across Balgowlah, Fairlight and Manly. The positioning of the vents adjacent to primary schools and preschools will expose children to these exhausts all day, every school day from age 3 to age 12.
5. The noise from heavy trucks moving spoil from the tunnel will disturb the quiet environment for local preschool and primary school students, businesses, shift-workers and home-bound workers in Balgowlah, Seaforth and Manly Vale.

The combination of the Beaches Link and Western Harbour Tunnel projects will dump a lot of extra traffic in Cammeray.
I am concerned that Lytton St Cammeray, which is where I live, will become a short cut used for westbound Ernest St traffic to turn left into Lytton St and then proceed to south through Lytton St and turn left (east) into Falcon St. Will result in what is now a reasonably quiet street becoming noisy and congested. Pedestrian traffic in this area is high, especially from the new primary school.
I have seen no modelling in the EIS that covers this.
It appears that strategy is to wait till project opens and then (maybe) address the problem then. I have no faith this.
I request that westbound traffic turning left from Ernest into Lytton St. be blocked and instead use Miller street, which is the main road in this area.

Dear Belinda,
Please find Heritage NSW Aboriginal Cultural Heritage comments attached.
Kind regards
Rebecca Yit

This project and NSW Government communication around it that I have seen so far sparks the following requests:

Please make sure that:
1. Any active travel (shared bicycle+pedestrian, or either) path alongside roads where traffic is allowed to go faster than 60 km/h is separated from motorised traffic by a physical barrier of at least 1m high to protect cyclists and pedestrians (I note that artist's impressions sometimes do not show such a barrier e.g. along Wakehurst Parkway, an 80 km/h road)

2. Any poles for traffic signs (or other purposes) are NOT placed in any active travel path, blocking cyclists or pedestrians. This is often current practice and is extremely dangerous. These poles are badly visible, especially at night or in wet weather. It will take time to remove all current poles blocking active travel paths, but in the meantime this project can help avoid exacerbating the problem. An alternative opportunity must always be sought for a pole to be placed, e.g. further to the side, using a horizontal arm, mounting directly in adjacent rock, etc. To help solve this issue it would help if any Road Safety Audit done by NSW Government is transparent and available for public review.

3. During construction any (NSW Government or Contractor) truck or car is NOT parked across an active travel path, blocking cyclists and/or pedestrians, and that seriously impactful consequences are defined for contractors or NSW Government drivers who do anyway and are reported. Unfortunately this is often current practice and needs to stop.

4. Active travel traffic lights are avoided by using underpasses and overpasses. Internationally we see beautiful examples of active travel roundabouts as overpass of a roads intersection with traffic lights. This will allow active travellers to be active and keep going, avoiding unnecessary waiting times. Where traffic lights for active travellers are unavoidable, the software algorithm can keep these lights green unless unsafe, rather than the current practice where they are red by default. Note that this current practice encourages active travellers to ignore traffic lights, which contributes negatively to overall road safety.

5. End-to-end connectivity is used as a design principle for any active travel path. This will avoid signs like "end of bike path" (read: good luck from here), or active travellers having to cross lanes of traffic, which is very unsafe practice.

This project seems an excellent opportunity for NSW Government (along with any other new road infrastructure projects) to express ample vision of encouraging people to move actively (bicycle or foot) or by public transport (train or light rail, or without rails there are still trackless trams and buses). In cities across the world we see that travelling by car en-masse is not sustainable, that widening roads is not a visionary solution to a congestion problem but merely a delay of an imminent problem. We all need to do whatever we can with ever growing populations to help change the public paradigm from using the car by default to only using the car when no (active travel/public transport) alternatives are viable. Note that further developments of e-bikes will also make Sydney with all its hills an attractive cycling city to many. Infrastructure wise it needs to be obvious to everyone in a car that travelling actively or by public transport would have been a better choice, setting people up to switch (to active travel or public transport) when the penny has dropped for them. That means the above 5 requests as well as e.g. dedicated public transport lanes. The point is not whether they are needed today, the point to make is that choosing active travel or public transport is encouraged by the NSW Government; not only from a transport perspective but also from a public health perspective and a social sustainability perspective. We all know that Sydney is still addicted to car usage and is behind compared to many other global cities, but now is the time to catch up.