The entrance to the tunnel has been moved in the latest design to much further up the Burnt Bridge Deviation (alongside Hope St). The impact on Hope St residents is clearly vastly greater than in previous designs.
Most notably there are now 10 lanes of traffic (as opposed to the current 4 (not including the bus lanes)). Which even if these are pushed further East towards Dudley Street will create more ongoing noise.
The entrance to the actual tunnel and the canopy over it, is at the mid way point for properties on Hope Street. If the current design remain this canopy should be expanded north as close to the slip road (old Dudley Road) entrance to provide more noise protection for those properties.
As you can see many properties on the East side of Hope St are virtually on the boundary of the Burnet Bridge Deviation, so any extra canopy over the tunnel entrance and pushing it further north will provide more noise and dust protection for most if not all properties on the East side (of Hope St).

Finally in the virtual information session for Hope Street, there were questions about the environment impact on local animal, plant and fauna. I found this was vastly downplayed in the session. From now reading the materials, there are clearly several endangered plants and fauna. The bat colony will be impacted by both removal of vegetation and the constant noise (in fact the very same tactic was used to remove them from the botanical gardens so to suggest the new entrance is a good outcome for them (as was done in the info session is misleading).

To whom it may concern
I have many concerns with the potential construction of the Northern Beaches Link.

Reassessment of Project Need owing to Traffic Numbers and the Modelling into the future
In the Environmental Impact Statement the traffic modelling has been done on numbers from 2016. The world has changed since then. Huge numbers are now working from home, including my husband, who now only goes into the CBD by car once or twice a week at the very most, and now chooses to travel at times that are not considered to be the peak. The introduction of the B-Line bus service has also heavily impacted the amount of private car traffic along Military Road during peak hours. The B-Line started in November 2017 and this has not been considered in your 2016 modelling. We should be encouraging people onto public transport, and the B-Line has proven this is how people want to go from its popularity. This, with WFH, means the idea for the whole project should be reconsidered; at the very least it should not be a 6 lane tunnel.

Impact on Manly Dam and its environment
As it says on page 39 The “Council would have significant concerns about any decrease to water quality in Manly Creek”. As I understand it, this means that the water quality in the dam and its surrounds could become so polluted that, on top of the immense environmental impact to local fauna and flora, Manly Dam could become unsafe for wildlife and recreational usage. This Dam is a valuable local resource - beloved by locals and a welcome retreat from the hustle of the outside world, yet the construction of a 6 lane raised freeway behind it will cause terrible damage. Protection of the local natural environment, bushland and waterways, overseen by an independent commission, must be a condition of approval of this project - offsetting by protecting other environments elsewhere far is not enough. We have little bushland in this suburban area and Manly Dam and its environs must be protected.

Unnecessary Widening of Wakehurst Parkway
Using this road at least 4 times a week in both directions as some of my children are at school in Oxford Falls, I have just spent numerous years in traffic owing to the construction at the junction with Warringah Road. Thankfully. in 2021, this road is now a pleasure to use. The traffic has been alleviated and all the years in jams are over. It does not need to be widened to 6 lanes, even with a tunnel to the city at one end of it. The environmental and community damage this would cause needs to be more carefully considered as a part of the project. It is a 'Parkway' for a reason - not a Freeway. The amount of lanes required needs to be re-examined and modelling of potential traffic numbers needs to be revised as a condition of any planning application.

Impact on Balgowlah Boys' (Northern Beaches Secondary College)
The impact on this high school will be great. Not only do the unfiltered emissions from the tunnel's proposed air stacks pose a huge risk to multiple children with conditions such as asthma, but how a sports field, Balgowlah Oval, nearby will manage to provide a healthy environment for activities is impossible without immediate reconsideration of the proposal. The school is already on a cramped site, and the numbers are growing; it requires a sports field for its 900 or so students for the full school experience. As Balgowlah Oval will remain operational through the whole construction phase and EIS does concede that the oval would have
diminished appeal of use during this time, more stringent conditions need to be attached to both the air stacks and the construction phase so the school students are not impacted negatively.

Thank you for considering these comments.
Katherine Grant

1) 5-7 year project time frame is too long,amenity of local green space and Balgowlah Golf club will be lost forever.The golf club is over 90 years old and will not be replaced if this project goes ahead.This is unforgivable.
2)Thousands of mature trees will be lost,thereby increasing the CO2 levels of the area
3)Burnt Bridge creek will be reduced to to drain status,with the downstream impact not assessed by the EIS.
4)The cost of the project will blow out as all other road/tunnel projects have done and with only a 10% reduction in traffic through Mosman.This is poor value for taxpayers money
5)The excavations in Middle Harbour will release deadly toxins into the harbour and fish will be poisoned and therefore inedible.Swimming will also be impossible due to the toxins released.
6)The huge number of trucks taking away the spoil every day will make the local area unliveable with the noise and associated dust.
7)The tunnel exhausts will pour concentrated pollutants into the local schools and housing areas causing major future health problems.
8)Major road congestion will occur on local roads when the 580 daily trucks combine with normal

I am alarmed that Northbridge Sailing Club’s (NSC) current sailing area in Middle Harbour will be greatly affected during the building of the tunnels from Clive Park to Seaforth Bluff (planned from 2023 to 2027).
Most of our current sailing courses will be impossible to use with the planned maritime exclusion zones necessary for the submerged tunnel works adjacent to NSC largely cutting through the middle of most of our courses. The planned re-location of yacht moorings into a zone north of Seaforth Bluff will further restrict our current sailing areas.
Sailing at NSC will be greatly compromised and restricted during the lengthy (4 years?) construction period. It may ultimately threaten the Clubs existence if members drift away to sail in more convenient locations.
I and many other members of NSC would like Transport for NSW to consider ways to reduce the impact of the construction on this great Club by consulting with the Northbridge Sailing Club board representatives, to assist in maintaining NSC’s viability as a desirable and thriving Community asset on the shores of Middle Harbour.

I strongly object to this project!!!

I don't believe we should be making bigger roads to accommodate more cars. There are already enough cars on the road. We should be considering better public transport options to keep cars off the road! This also takes into consideration the impact that more traffic has on our environment. Not only will this bigger road increase the number of cars, it will increase carbon gas emissions within the local area. My concern with this is the fact that there are 4 local public schools within a 1km radius of the emission stacks - this is not going to have a positive impact on the local children and could increase the incidence of respiratory issues within the schools and community. It will also have a massive detrimental impact on the local flora and fauna in close proximity to the site.

Another concern is the impact this is going to have on our beautiful green spaces we have such as Manly Dam, Burnt Bridge Creek, Garigal National Park and Bantry Bay. Everyone who lives in this area is so grateful for these spaces. What will be the future ramifications of losing waterways and ecosytems for more traffic???? These native bushland and waterways need to be preserved for the future of our children. How can the loss of all of these amazing spaces for justified for more cars on the road!?

I believe that the local roads, once you have exited the tunnel - are going to be worse than before the tunnel? Therefore, already congested roads into Manly and the local traffic zones are going to be worse. Currently, more than 40,000 cars head into Manly and the Northern Beaches over the weekend, so how are the local roads going to cope with the extra cars that are going to be travelling on this freeway? There are many areas in the local area that become bottle necks - has the NB council taken these into consideration?? We decided to live in this area based on the fact that it is less populated than the other side of the city.

In light of the current health pandemic, people are choosing to and are able to work from home. This is therefore going to reduce the amount of traffic on the roads - has this even been taken into consideration? The community has continued to request better public transport into the city - has this been included in the design phase of the project - I would like to hope so!!

Please reconsider this project, and trial a better public transport system - this would be creating more jobs for people, improving the traffic, reducing pollution and allowing people to get to this little piece of paradise we live in without a 12 lane freeway running through the middle of it!! Maybe have a listen to the son Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell!!

I object to this project for many reasons:
1. I am extremely concerned about the plan to dig up the very old tip site in Flat Rock Valley with grossly inadequate investigation. This is in a residential area surrounded by kids' playing fields and on top of a watercourse/in a catchment that leading to Middle Harbour. It is very disappointing that despite identifying that there is a high risk of contaminants the project has not properly tested for them and quantified that risk. What has always been a bad idea is heading down the path of a full blown health and environmental disaster. There is a requirement for at least a full Stage 2 contamination assessment.
2. The extreme impacts of the 900 daily construction vehicle movements on Flat Rock Drive and the removal of 3 million tonnes of spoil over a 5 year period. This will be added to the extensive vehicle movements and work added to the Western Harbour and Warringah Freeway works at Cammeray and multiple construction sites at Artarmon and Middle Harbour. This will mean heavy construction on the North Shore for at least seven years.
3. Taking a broader view, the cost of this project and the disruption it will cause is not justified. There appears to have been no investigation of public transport alternatives. I call for a publically available assessment of the Dee Why to Chatswood mass transit alternative to this high risk/ high cost/ low benefit transport option before any approvals are given. The EIS should be re-issued for public consultation with this information included so the public can fully understand the risks and compare the benefits.

I object to the building and construction of the northern beaches tunnel link for various reasons:
Environmental impact and loss of habitat for local wildlife, including the destruction of the creek between north Balgowlah and seaforth.
Enormous impact to local residents - including a decade of disruption due to construction, 24/7 tunnelling and then ongoing constant pollution that is above the WHO recommendations.
And for all that damage, no real benefit because it doesn’t even save much time or reduction in traffic. COVID and increasingly flexible work from home arrangements made a much bigger impact on traffic than this will and didn’t cause 10 years of lifestyle disruption, constant increased pollution and destruction of local habitat.

The rationale for the Northern Beaches Tunnel is incomplete and not driven by up-to-date traffic data. To say that the journey from Balgowlah to the CBD will be reduced by 30 minutes is just not possible. The traffic data used is pre-COVID and does not take into account the permanent change to an increased work from home model which will vastly reduce traffic from the Northern Beaches to the CBD. Accurate, audited forecast data must be provided before the project is even considered for approval.
The permanent environmental damage to our wildlife, fauna and removal of green space created will be highly detrimental to our area. Of huge concern is the close proximity of the unfiltered exhaust stack to Balgowlah Boys High School and residential housing including my own property. The likelihood of toxic waste in Middle Harbour is another major potential cause of health issues eg. to children such as my son swimming at Clontarf. Noise pollution 24/7 is another issue not quantified in the EIS which will damage the local environment. These issues need to be removed before approval for this project is given.
The certainty of rat runs via local streets in Balgowlah, including my own Upper Beach Street, is a massive concern and will endanger local children and affect residents and schools with 24hr traffic noise. The report acknowledges that the project will drive traffic through local streets but does not state what specific action will be taken to mitigate this. Also the hundreds of construction workers will be parking in local streets which are already at full capacity. The area simply cannot bear this extra traffic. Full consideration of impact on local traffic and a specific solution are needed before the Beaches Link tunnel is approved.
In conclusion, the Beaches Link tunnel is not needed. As a directly affected resident of Balgowlah, I strongly object to the project and ask that it be scrapped.

I am a resident of Dawson Street, and am witness to the eco systems that will be destroyed should this process proceed. Not less the impact this project will have on our amenity as residents.

Flat Rock Gully is our back yard, our children walk through the paths DAILY providing teaching opportunities on the importance of caring for our wilderness. My 5 year old daughter does NOT understand how any government would consider destroying a huge part of this environment. And frankly neither can we.

We are VERY concerned about the added NOISE and POLLUTION you are going to pump into our lives. There is NO noise barriers even considered along Flat Rock Road. Considering there will be an estimated 900 extra cars/trucks on the road per day, I am at a loss as to why this was not even considered.

The EIS has flagged many of these concerns for our area, however again they seem to have been ignored. The excessive noise above acceptable levels, ground movement impacts, unfiltered stacks RIGHT next to where our children go to school, the loss of trees / habitats for our wildlife, waste being discharged into our creeks... it goes on and on.

Currently I have not seen any benefits to outweigh such impacts.

I implore.. please reconsider this project. Please THINK about long term impacts to the residents who are severely impacted, yet yield no benefit. Putting MORE CARS on the road and disrupting important eco systems ... there has to be a better way.