EIS - LACKS RIGOUR
The EIS lacks rigour and sound analysis, despite the huge volume of documentation. This lack of rigour and analysis is consistent across all chapters and appendices. The project objectives are biased towards a motorway solution, so that any proposed alternative falls short of the proposed solution. Similarly, the work undertaken in the EIS is highly compliance driven, and fails to take into account opportunities or strategic impacts, and the assessment of cumulative impacts is almost negligent.
Just many more reasons to object to the westconnex (no integrity)

MONEY BETTER SPENT
WestConnex comes at not only a huge cost that is blowing out at the rate of over $2 billion a year. It also comes with a massive opportunity cost. The $16.8 billion and rising that would be spent on WestConnex is money that would be taken away from hospitals, schools, regional roads, and the public transport improvements that are urgently needed - not just in western Sydney, but many parts of regional NSW. If this $16.8 billion was spent on public transport and effective road management, a project like WestConnex would not be necessary.
Just many more reasons to object to the westconnex

I strongly object to the New M5.

It is a project with no winners.

The costs will exceed the benefits for those that use the M4/M5, and for those that don't.

The EIS predicts that the project will reduce, not increase, the number of users of toll roads, precisely because the costs to commuters exceed the benefts.

Even those that continue to use the road will have their utility reduced. For only a very small number of users will the minutes saved justify the dollars spent.

On the numbers in the Updated Strategic Business Case, the cost in tolls per hour saved are well in excess of $22/hour, the estimated value of time saved. Further, evidence is that the actual value of travel time saved to motorists is well under $22/hour, perhaps as low as $6/hour. See, for example, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-motorists-unwilling-to-pay-for-more-toll-roads-study-20151110-gkv5b3.html

According to the business case the time saved is 'up to' 10 to 15 minutes, but only on the longest trips.

Saving 15 minutes for a toll of around $8 means a cost per hour saved of around $32 - well in excess of the estimated value of time saved for all users except 'business users' and heavy vehicles, but heavy vehicles pay three times the toll. For heavy vehicles, the cost per hour saved will be around $96, again, in excess of the estimated VTTS, and probably well in excess of the real VTTS.

Further, the Updated Strategic Business Case estimates that 24% of travellers are business travellers. This is not in line with State recommendations, which recommend using a figure between 8% and 12% - meaning that at most, 8% to 12% of users might be better off. The rest will be worse off.

People may still use the New M5, to avoid congestion on parallel arterial roads, but even so, they will be worse off than if the New M5 were not to be built.

Last, but not least, those that do not drive will also be worse off, because the benefits of the project, low though the are, will still exceed the revenue.

Typical recent toll roads have been sold for 1/3 of the cost of construction - and that may be optimistic for WestConnex, given its higher than average cost to patronage ratio.

If the direct cost to build WestConnex exceeds the revenue achievable by 2/3rds, it will represent a loss of $12B of tax-payers money.

None of this considers the very real costs on residents of the areas that the New M5 will travel to, from and through.

This risks being a missed opportunity for a real solution to the very real problems that Sydney faces.

WestConnex is an expensive way to make Sydney's roads worse.

It should not be allowed to proceed.

I don't see the need for road improvements for cars to get into the city, when the city cannot take more cars (or even those it has). We should be adding and improving large-scale public transport so that the existing roads are freed up for those who need to drive.

Public transport and cycling are both drastically more space-efficient (commuters per square metre of infrastructure) than cars, and Sydney is severely space-limited, so high-density transport is the way to go.

As cycling becomes increasing popular, cycling infrastructure should be prioritised for safety of all, and to help reduce the need for cars on roads by encouraging cyclists. The plans should include major cycling routes into and out of the city, such as
* along or close to Parramatta Rd or the train line (there is no obvious/sensible/continuous route from areas like Concord/Strahtfield/Burwood/Five Dock/Leichhardt, despite excellent infrastructure a little further west, and some excellent islands of infrastructure in these areas)
* more complete connectivity between the city and parramatta river cycleway (currently many disconnections through Gladesville/Drummoyne//etc)
* a connection to the M5 cycleway (which currently ends at Kingsgrove, but could easily connect to the city along Wolli Creek)
* to the north, a connection between the Epping Rd / M2 cycleways (currently ending at Narremburn) and the harbour bridge
* a proper bicycle path at the north end of the harbour bridge (its currently a long stairway for cyclists)
* a continuous cycleway connection between the excellent Iron Cove cycleways and the similarly excellent M2/Epping Rd cycleways in Lane Cove (currently some sporadic islands of cycleways along Burns Bay Rd, and some very dangerous infrastructure)
* some kind of cycleway through Marrickville (e.g. the Greenway, though an East-West would be useful too)

These are the major "road blocks" for a huge number of cyclists being able to commute without riding on Sydney's bicycle-unfriendly roads, and getting people on bikes instead of in cars would significantly reduce the need for any additional road capacity.

I object to any loss of Green Space in Sydney to this Dirty Toll Road. We need more Green Space not less.
I deplore the cutting down of any Sydney Trees for this Dirty Toll Road.
I object to Sydney Motorway Corporation's half baked decisions and failures to explain.
I deplore the increased car traffic in local roads. We should be actively lessening this in Sydney in 2016 and into our future.
Unfiltered exhaust stacks in 2016?? Seriously?
We should all be working towards a Modern City - not rehashing failed concepts from the Fifties.
The EIS confirms that this Dirty Toll Road will have significant negative impacts for Society, the Environment and the Economy.
We don't want it - why continue with this destruction?

NO CASE PROVEN FOR THE WESTCONNEX - SO MUCH EVIDENCE AGAINST ITS WORTH
There has been no compelling case made for why WestConnex should be built, and the project should not receive approval and not proceed. This EIS and the Updated Strategic Business Case for WestConnex are clear that the benefits accruing from Stage 2 do not outweigh the costs. Benefits are shown to come once the whole WestConnex project is built according to the Updated Strategic Business Case, and that no benefits exist until all three Stages are delivered (WestConnex Full Scheme: Economic Appraisal, KPMG, 19 November 2015). I am aware that even this has now expanded to include other tollways such as the Sydney Gateway, making it even more likely that this project will provide disbenefits to society if it proceeds as proposed in this EIS, i.e. as a standalone project.
many more reasons to object to the westconnex

I strongly object to the building of new roads such as WestConnex without considering the effects these roads and the extra vehicles will have on where I live.
For instance, where will all the extra vehicles be parked?
What about the increased exhaust pollutants from the unfiltered emissions stacks at Kingsgrove, Arncliffe and St Peters? All surrounding suburbs will be negatively affected by pollution especially concerning for local children.
I urge you to care more for the health and welfare of families living in the inner west and consider cleaner alternatives.

No Transparency - a deliberate action to hide the real facts from the general public.
Aside from the poor consultation process, the government has actively sought to avoid scrutiny, by transferring responsibility for this project from a government body, the WestCONnex Delivery Authority, to a privately-run government company called the Sydney Motorway Corporation. So now, westCONnex is now being built by a private company that does not even have to publish its contracts. This is unaccountable government at its worst.

This is yet another shameful act to hide information about the project and the actions of the Sydney Motorway Corporation and government from proper and rightful public scrutiny. It is a disgraceful political tactic.

The fact that the NSW Government has already signed multi-billion dollar contracts for WestCONnex before this EIS was even placed on public exhibition undermines community confidence that this is a genuine consultation process.

Accountability for contracts already let to companies is hidden behind the convenient phrase "commercial in confidence". ALL contracts entered into by government in the name of its citizens must be gazetted and terms and conditions disclosed so that the public understand what agreements have been entered into in their name. Government MUST NOT be allowed to hide behind the façade of a bogus "public company" to deliver projects.
Just many more reasons to strongly object to the westconnex

I write in reference to WestConnex New M5 Environmental Impact Statement (SSI 14_6788)

I object to this proposal because the New M5 will have devastating impacts on our local communities and local amenities.

I object that the proposed Westconnex New M5 will destroy 1.4 hectares of Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion, an ecological community listed as Critically Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

I know this area well and I love the Cooks River and surrounds. I find it outrageous, that in this day and age, when we should be building liveable cities, that the NSW Government can even contemplate putting a motorway through this area. We should be conserving and planting more vegetation - not uprooting it!

Only approximately 1,000 hectares of this highly geographically restricted forest and community remains from an original extent of close to 12,500 hectares.
So the impact of WestConnex on these 1,000 hectares represents a significant loss. Particularly given that the Threatened Species Scientific Committee's Approved Conservation Advice lists ongoing clearing and fragmentation as the primary threat to the survival of the community. WestConnex, as proposed threatens critically endangered ecosystem, and approval for this project should not be given and the project should not proceed.

I object to the pretext that it is possible to offset the destruction of the Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion by reserving other sites. This is just a cynical response and justification put forward by the proponent and is an insult, irresponsible and inappropriate.

I object that the New M5 will also be a massive contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, while destroying important habitat and greenspace.

I object that building more motorways will induce more vehicles onto the roads, create and concentrate more toxic traffic pollution, which will in turn cause significant and widespread adverse health impacts amongst the population.

I object to the project because there is no safe level of exposure to ultrafine particulate matter, which causes serious long and short term health problems, particularly for children, the elderly, immune comprised individuals, those with existing respiratory problems and also pregnant women. This project will cause there to be more ultrafine particulate matter in the atmosphere and at specific locations such as St Peter's public school.

I object to the project because independent traffic modeling demonstrates that the figures put forward by the proponent don't add up. So what confidence should any of us have in their predictions about anything?.

I object because WestConnex new M5 comes with no real evaluation of alternative options such as world class public transport. What a lost opportunity for us all.

Sharon Laura

What a start to a new year!

West Connex and the Sydney Motorway Corporation want to devastate our beloved Sydney Park. And it looks like Baird and his dinosaurs are fully behind it.
Permanent damage to Sydney Park, St Peters, the Inner West and the most interesting and character filled parts of dear Sydney.
And for what?
A dirty toll road from the past. Pollution, mindless traffic jams, ruined suburbs and school sites ,that nobody with any sense of the future wants.
I will spell it out - Look After Our Green Spaces!