MOD 2 - The Crescent overpass and active transport links

Please see attached

Attention: Director, Transport Assessments Planning Services
Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney, NSW 2001

RE: Application number SSI 7485

I oppose this modification as it breaks the terms of conditions of consent given for this project. It clearly prioritises motorists and profits over pedestrians - and in an inner city suburb in the 21st century, is clearly an offence. The safety of our children are at stake. The culture of our community is under threat.

The new proposals do the following:

1. Threatens the safety of our local children.
* The environmental impact statement predicts increased traffic along Johnston Street. There are already many near misses at the crossing near Annandale North Public School as children enter or leave the school.
* Removing the pedestrian crossing at the Crescent to Jubilee Park forces children and pedestrians to now cross 4 roads in order to get to Jubilee Park. With increased traffic on Johnston Street, this is an accident waiting to happen.

2. Cuts off Annandale residents and school children from access to Jubilee Park and Tramshed area
* Our children, particularly the children attending Annandale North Public School, have no sports field. Traditionally they walk en-mass to Jubilee Park to participate in sports. By cutting off the pedestrian crossing at the Crescent you are forcing the children to now cross 4 increasingly busy roads in order to enter Jubilee Park.
* By removing the right hand turn at Johnston Street, the passage to the local shopping centre (Tramsheds) is now removed. This will increase traffic into the rest of Annandale reducing the liveability and safety of Annandale Streets.
* It is also difficult to see how people in the North of Annandale can access Jubilee Park from the Rozelle tram stop.

3. Reduces public transport options to the City
* Traditionally the fastest way to the CBD from the Northern end of Annandale is to walk to Victoria Road bus stop and catch a direct bus to the CBD. This avenue will now be disrupted or removed with a 6 storey high overpass no resident can be expected to walk.
* The 433 bus stop at Buruwan has been moved a considerable distance down the Crescent
* The bus stop at corner of Lilyfield Road on Victoria Road has been removed.

4. Makes it more difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to access the City via the Anzac Bridge
* The 6 storey high overpass is ridiculous and shows no respect for local residents - particularly the less fit, disabled or aged amongst us.

5. Creates an environmental eyesore
* The Crescent and Western Distributer intersection was meant to be underground. This proposal is exact opposite of this and is against the spirit of the original proposal.
* the community Mural is a local heritage feature and will be blocked and ruined by the increase road movements.

6. Reduces the liveability of the area of Annandale.
* In this day and age, how can an engineer and a politician possibly think this is an improvement in design. It clearly puts the motorists and the contractor's profit as priority. It clearly ignores the safety of our suburb and the culture. It clearly ignores the environment and the noise and air pollution created by pushing all these cars into one area in the city. We can already hear the increased noise from the city west link as a result of the clearing of land allowing it to reverberate across the valley.

Before any approvals are given, John Hollands and the NSW government must do the following:

1. Create safe, simple access to Jubilee Park from Johnston Street with only one pedestrian crossing.
2. Create safe, simple access to the new Green Space from Rozelle Bay tram station
3. Create easy, low rise pedestrian access to Anzac Bridge
4. Create increased Bus Routes directly from Annandale over the Anzac Bridge and consider a ferry from Jubilee Park to Circular Quay, North Sydney and Barangaroo
5. Maintain the right hand turn from Johnston Street to the Crescent
6. Must put most works underground and not create a visual eyesore
7. Fix the traffic safety around Annandale North Public School - particularly at school times.
8. Save as many trees as possible by pushing roads underground and replant more trees to replace those removed to combat the pollution from the exhaust stacks
9. Must NOT put motorists and John Holland's profits before the needs of pedestrians and locals.
10. Must provide noise abatement solutions for all of Annandale residents

Thank you for your consideration.

1. Remove the overpass.
We object to the proposed overpass option. It has limited improvements to vehicle waiting time, but these are outweighed by significant visual and pedestrian connectivity impacts.

It did not adequately address the far greater urban design outcomes of options 1 and 2 ( at grade and overpass options).

It blocks views of the water from the relocated green bridge.

The proposal bottlenecks the majority of vehicle movements turning right to Victoria Road and the Anzac bridge from three lanes down to one lane with likely traffic impacts up Johnston street and The Crescent.

It doesn’t allow a right hand turn into James Craig road.’ From The Crescent heading city bound.

The overpass has significant visual and urban impacts. It has forced the relocation of the green bridge west of The Crescent requiring a pedestrian crossing of four traffic lights.

It has added another elevated pedestrian crossing from the same starting point in the new Goods yard parklands. This crossing is longer than it needs to be due to extra height required to get over the new vehicle overpass. These changes have greatly added to the visual impact and clutter.

The overpass should be replaced with an at grade intersection as per the EIS or a short 120m tunnel option with a single land bridge option.

Change the overpass to a short (less than 120m) tunnel under the city West link with slot trench approaches rather than the proposed overpass. This underpass needs to be designed to also facilitate the single pedestrian crossing at Johnston’s Street. An underpass provides the best visual and urban outcomes. It allows the retention of the green bridge in a location to best connect the parklands together.

2. Improve pedestrian connectivity.
Return the Johnston Street / The Crescent pedestrian crossing to a single traffic light as per the current situation, and location.

Provide an at grade pedestrian route from Railway parade to, via Buruwan park and the Crescent mural.

Directly connect pedestrians from the new Rozelle parklands with Rozelle bay and the Glebe foreshore.

Tree management issues.
Retain and protect trees adjacent the light rail station as per the EIS promise from the Community outcomes report (C13.2.1 on p13.)

The road design needs be altered to provide protection of mature vegetation including Sydney BlueGums, and Moreton bay Figs. Minor median changes, edge alignments and line marking across the city west link could retain and protect these trees.

These trees provide immediate pedestrian shade and significant visual amenity particularly since most of Buruwan Park has be removed.

Local traffic
Reinstate the right hand turn lane at the Crescent from Johnston Street.

Please find attached my submission, expressing concern about the proposed changes to the Greenlink plan.

I object to the modification to the Rozelle interchange. There are numerous negatives to this proposal.
The very first of the key findings for this project was:
"Access and movement
Pedestrian, cycling routes and the foreshore walk from Annandale, Glebe and Rozelle Bay are truncated at the intersection of The Crescent, City West Link, Victoria Road and Anzac Bridge.
There is an opportunity to facilitate the connectivity of the site to the surrounding area."
The creation of the overhead roadway and changes to The Crescent and Johnston Street intersection will restrict the movement of local residents between their homes and the local amenities, such as the foreshore at Rozelle Bay. The originally proposed underground road does not create this issue. As the change does not meet the stated objective it should not be approved.

The fourth of the key findings was:
"Built form and landscape
The central portion of the site, while closer to surrounding levels, is separated from its surroundings, both spatially and visually, by City West Link and industrial warehouses along Lilyfield Road.
This creates an opportunity to use existing physical conditions to increase connectivity through the site, integrating it with its surrounds."
Again this proposal does not meet the key finding to increase the connectivity through the site and so should not be approved.

The elevated roadway will be an eyesore to all who live and travel through the area. From the Rozelle Bay waterway and foreshore it will present an ugly mass of concrete. To local residents they will see the top of the roadway and traffic blocking previous pleasant views of the park and waterway.

I strongly oppose these changes and request that the overhead roadway be rejected and the road kept underground.

Dear Director Transport Assessments Planning Services,

I write regarding the proposed modification to M4-M5 Link, Mod 2 The Crescent overpass and changes to pedestrian infrastructure in North Annandale, Rozelle and Rozelle Bay Foreshore area.

I request RMS work with the community to explore alternate design options to the proposed new car overpass design and the changed pedestrian and cyclist links. I am seeking the reinstatement of the safe, direct access from the approved EIS GreenLink to create a continuous green open space connection from the Rozelle Rail yards and Annandale to the foreshore. The GreenLink was more than just a walk way - it put people central to the design, maximising safety, and providing much needed accessible open space for the community now and into the future Bays Precinct design.

I am requesting RMS put people back into the plan – we want you to reinstate your own vision as laid out in Transport for NSW Future Strategy 2056. Work with us to design a feasible option that brings the best elements from the approved EIS design into the modification.

My key concerns with the M4-M5 Modification are:
- The significantly reduced safety and increased risk for pedestrians and cyclists with removed access over The Crescent to Bicentennial Park and the increased traffic along Johnson Street.
- Being required to cross five sets of pedestrian lights at The Crescent as my option to reach the foreshore from Annandale or from Rozelle Bay light rail stop.
- Removal of direct active links to the foreshore, cutting the community off from the area and the proposed revitalisation of the entire Bays Precinct, including linking the Light Rail and Bus stops to a Ferry wharf and Metro station.
- Urban and landscape design that is being built before a finalised Masterplan for the area.
- Traffic changes that limit movements around the suburb and create further congestion in the local streets of Annandale, Forest Lodge, Glebe, Lilyfield and Rozelle with no planning to deal with these.

Alongside these issues my other concerns include:

POOR CONSULTATION
I’m very concerned with the lack of community consultation around this modification which — if you’re honest with yourselves — is a complete redesign of this intersection. Nearly everyone I talked to a week ago knew NOTHING about this change.

This type of behaviour appears as if RMS is trying to sneak through major changes to our local area and only exacerbates the rift between you and the community.

MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT WE’VE GOT
As a parent of a child who attends Annandale Public School and as a local resident of over 10 years myself, my family and friends are all frequent users of our local green spaces. We are particularly lucky to be able to walk down to the water on the Glebe Foreshore to exercise, or just walk around the bay to clear our minds. This open space is of huge importance to us and the wellbeing of the people that live in this busy city. Sydney is SO lucky to be on the harbour and we should be doing everything we can to sensitively design infrastructure around this asset — not compromise access through lazy design. The overpass has been dumped in the middle of the plan and everything has been changed to fit around it. You need to change the priorities and put people back as a priority stakeholder in this plan.

PRACTICING GOOD DESIGN
I work in an industry that supports urban planning and I understand that there are constraints in every design but what I’m seeing in the MOD2 reports is table after table of optimisation for cars and roads and a huge number of disadvantages for pedestrians, cyclists and the internationally recognised asset that is the Sydney Harbour.

A good design would optimise around unique and valuable assets (Harbour/Foreshore) and balance the needs of all stakeholders with special attention paid to those most at risk (pedestrians, cyclists).

HONOURING PROMISES MADE TO FUTURE GENERATIONS
The Approved Environmental Impact Statement at
https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSI-7485%2120190227T231413.342%20GMT p8 details several principals which have been completely abandoned by this modification:

Connect and provide for communities: The concept offers a parkland destination that works to stitch together previously separated communities by providing a range of social infrastructure at a central, easily accessible location. MOD 2 fails this principal
Enhance green links: The concept reactivates closed-off land through new green spaces and links. These links strategically establish a new green “interaction” connecting a series of significant yet fragmented [future and existing] green spaces in and around White Bay, Rozelle Bay, Rozelle, Balmain, Glebe and Annandale. MOD 2 removes direct access
Respond to the local character: Respecting and maintaining the unique heritage, industrial character and topography of the Rozelle Rail Yards through interpretation. A massive concrete overpass obstructing a historically significant local mural and concrete plaza — really?
Revitalise streets for equality of mobility: New public spaces and much-needed universally accessible links establish entirely new “public streets” and enhance the surrounding neighbourhood. If, like me, you’ve waited on the existing traffic lights at the intersection of Johnston St and the Crescent so as to commute to the city via bicycle, or walk over to the foreshore with the family, the additional complexity of that intersection for pedestrians and cyclists introduced by MOD2 is NOT an enhancement

My submission is asking RMS and the Project Team to:
- Reinstate the GreenLink connecting communities and green open space from Rozelle to Bicentennial Park
- Relocate and design pedestrian and cyclist connections that are continuous, safe and direct.
- Design the modification infrastructure and active links in response to the character of the suburbs, the location of the foreshore and it’s potential future development.
- Provide pedestrian and cyclist paths that maximise people safety and do not force them onto busier streets, unsafe concrete plazas and caged walkways.
- Integrate active and direct connections to all active transport – including the future Metro West and Foreshore Ferry Wharf

Sincerely,
Navin Keswani

I have attached my submission

I have been an Annandale resident, living in the same house for 49 years. I have seen Annandale go from a semi-industrial suburb to its present leafy environment. Over the years, I with other Annandale residents have had to take protest action to achieve Annandale as the intimate residential location it now is. I remember back in the 70's fighting successfully to stop it becoming a wilderness of 4 story walk-up apartments. An example of one such hideous building which was allowed to proceed is in Johnston St near the Abbey. I write to vehemently protest against the gross overpass which is proposed for the Crescent, between Johnston St and the east-west freeway. I am very familiar with the traffic flow in this area and this massive intervention is not only totally unnecessary but destructive of the low scale environment of that part of the Crescent. It took years to gain the amenity of Jubilee Park and we have been looking forward to its extension along the foreshore where the marina is. Also there is currently easy access from the bottom of Johnston St to the park which will be disrupted by the proposal. Why is government so ruthlessly determined to destroy what little beauty we have achieved for the inner west. The hideous destruction of Haberfield makes me weep. Must we be subjected to the same barbarous intrusion into Annandale? Ross Coady