West Connex Interchange Abject Failure.

[Glen]

I think all of us here should know by now that urban motorways do not solve congestion, they just move it around.

I only wish the voters understood that.

Oh and, those who benefit from motorway construction and operation will always tell you that all we need is just one more "missing link".

[boronia]

Another take on the project:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the ... 5epkq.html

The Rozelle interchange is working exactly as planned

The traffic modelling report for the Rozelle interchange clearly predicted it would significantly reduce traffic flow on Victoria Road and City West Link. As such, Transport for NSW both expected and intended the traffic queues witnessed since last week’s subdued opening.

It should be remembered that the government spent $4 billion building this interchange primarily to funnel traffic in and out of the for-profit WestConnex toll road. To allow new traffic from WestConnex to flow unhindered onto the Anzac Bridge’s four eastbound lanes, traffic approaching the bridge from Victoria Road and City West Link had to be throttled. The government achieved this by merging multiple lanes and programming the traffic lights to drip-feed vehicles onto the bridge.

Reducing road capacity or traffic flow in this way results in a phenomenon known as “traffic evaporation”. This phenomenon has been observed in numerous cities, including Sydney’s CBD, where traffic volume fell by about 8 per cent following the 2015 closure of George Street.

The explanation for traffic evaporation is simple: sitting in congestion is unpleasant, so people change their travel behaviour in all kinds of ways to avoid it. After experiencing or hearing about the extreme congestion on Victoria Road and City West Link last week, some drivers will now leave earlier or later to avoid peak times. Some will choose an alternative route, for example, the Iron Cove Link tunnel or WestConnex – though these also feed into the Anzac Bridge bottleneck.

Other congestion-avoiding decisions will result in many people driving less. Some will make fewer or shorter trips – for example, by working from home more or shopping locally. Some will switch to other transport modes, such as public transport or e-bike. Longer term, some people will move closer to work or send children to a school closer to home.

While WestConnex – which has enjoyed bipartisan support at every stage – will encourage more people to drive into the city from the outer suburbs, traffic on Victoria Rd and City West Link will continue to evaporate until the level of congestion returns to a tolerable level. This is what the government means when it talks about an “adjustment period”. The length of this period will depend on how easy it is for people to change their travel routines.

Unfortunately, along the Victoria Road corridor east of Ryde, alternatives to driving are not well provided for. There are no heavy rail stations and buses are now even slower. The four kilometres from Rozelle to the CBD could potentially be covered in about 15 minutes by e-bike. Sadly, the government demolished the Victoria Road overpass, one of the few good pieces of bike infrastructure along the route, while building the interchange.

The government was right to reject the NRMA’s bizarre call for a toll holiday, as this would encourage even more traffic into WestConnex and the Anzac Bridge bottleneck. It must also resist pressure to reconfigure traffic lanes and lights on Victoria Road – except to improve safety and bus priority – as the resulting traffic volume increase would stymie plans to revitalise it.

The Minns government has indicated it will consider Inner West Council’s plan to transform Victoria Road into a tree-lined boulevard with wider footpaths only if the traffic volume continues to decline, as it inevitably will with the current configuration.

WestConnex has imposed a massive toll on Sydney and NSW. The $23 billion squandered on it could have paid for another high-capacity metro line. The economic, environmental and health costs of encouraging driving and urban sprawl will be borne by generations to come. Cars and trucks avoiding new tolls on the M4 and M5 East, and spilling out of new intersections, have blighted residential neighbourhoods from Bexley to Parramatta. The promised transformation of Parramatta Road and busting of congestion didn’t happen.

While much of the damage can’t easily be undone, there is still an opportunity to salvage something from the WestConnex train wreck: transforming Victoria Road from a traffic sewer to a place for people and local businesses.

Dr Christopher Standen is an urban planning researcher at UNSW Sydney. He does not work for, consult for, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from the publication of this article.

[tonyp]

Victoria Road is another Sydney corridor where removing the trams was a disaster, although that operation was occasionally disrupted by the opening bridges. It delivered capacity that the subsequent bus services are unable to. Little wonder that it turned into a traffic sewer. I remember sitting in gridlock in Victoria Road in the 1960s!

[Swift]

I saw an artist's impression of one of the alternative designs to the SHB showing a bridge with a Y formation sending traffic to both the city and toward the inner west.
That would have solved a lot of these problems from the get go instead of basing it on New York's Hellgate Bridge.
It was OK until the DMR took over the tram tracks for mostly single occupant cars vs trams that carried multiple times more commuters. You know, that tram system that worked for Sydney that they discarded.

[Swift]

An article outlining the problems well
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-05/ ... /103186410

[eddy]

At least we have only got half the cars that Melbourne has.

[Swift]

I saw an artist's impression of one of the alternative designs to the SHB showing a bridge with a Y formation sending traffic to both the city and toward the inner west.
That would have solved a lot of these problems from the get go instead of basing it on New York's Hellgate Bridge.

Found it! Let's face facts. It would have been wonderful.
https://www.designboom.com/architecture ... 7-26-2019/

[Transtopic]

From my perspective, the major design flaws are the major pinch points created by reducing the number of merging lanes onto the Anzac Bridge from Victoria Rd and the City West Link.

There was an assumption that traffic from the Iron Cove Bridge on Victoria Rd would use the toll-free tunnel route to the Anzac Bridge and reduce traffic on Victoria Rd through Rozelle, and as a consequence, the lanes merging from Victoria Rd onto the Anzac Bridge could be reduced. Understandably, many drivers on Victoria Rd approaching the Iron Cove Bridge were hesitant about using the tunnel to the Anzac Bridge as they weren't aware that it was toll-free and the initial signage didn't help. I think this could settle down once they familiarise themselves with the benefit of using the toll-free tunnel route.

On the other hand, the merging of the City West Link onto the Anzac Bridge is more problematic. Again, there was a presumption that traffic from Parramatta Rd would be diverted to WestConnex and reduce traffic on the City West Link. However, as this is tolled, many would choose to use the toll-free City West Link instead, which just exacerbates the merging onto the Anzac Bridge. It would also have been helpful if earlier plans for ramps connecting WestConnex to Parramatta Rd, Camperdown and Broadway had been retained, which would reduce traffic flow on the Anzac Bridge.

I just want to correct an urban myth that most of the traffic is destined for the CBD. It's not. It's heading for other destinations outside of the CBD, including across the harbour in both directions. 75% of trips to the CBD in peak hour are already by public transport, cycling and walking, which is high by world standards and certainly much higher than any other Australian capital city. The availability of all day parking in the CBD is limited and very expensive, as it should be, and is a disincentive for most commuters to drive in.

Because of Sydney's topography, divided by the harbour, there are only a limited number of harbour crossings, particularly in the inner city region. The Western Harbour Tunnel now under construction will provide some relief to the existing crossings - the Harbour Bridge, the Harbour Tunnel and even the Gladesville Bridge. It will bypass the CBD, offering an alternative route to the other crossings, and reduce cross harbour traffic on the Anzac Bridge. It will connect with WestConnex via the underground Rozelle interchange and will be tolled in both directions. That also raises the question of whether the Harbour Bridge and Harbour Tunnel will also be tolled in both directions to even out the traffic flow..

[boronia]

Up to about 1980, the Bridge was tolled in both directions. It was decided then to remove the northbound gates to reduce congestion in the city, and the southbound toll was doubled, on the assumption that most motorists would travel both directions each day. The same logic was applied when the tunnel opened.
So motorists are still effectively paying a northbound toll. The new tunnel might reduce the number of vehicles using the bridge, but maybe not the north/ south balance?

[Transtopic]

I suspect that the Western Harbour Tunnel will take a lot of through traffic off the Harbour Bridge, Harbour Tunnel, Eastern Distributor, Western Distributor and Anzac Bridge, especially traffic heading to and from Sydney Airport, the M4, M5, M6 (M1?) and M8.

Now that we have electronic tolling, they may restore the toll each way on the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel, to equate with the toll each way on the WHT.

[lunchbox]

AN UPDATE - 27 FEBRUARY 2024.

Transport for NSW, and/or its Traffic Management Centre, in an apparent attempt at solving, or relieving, the morning peak congestion at the Rozelle Interchange, have been fiddling with the traffic signals on, and leading to, the Interchange, for many days now.

For the last few days at least, INBOUND ONLY traffic signals on Victoria Road at Day St. Drummoyne and the mid-block PEDESTRIAN signals between Lyons & Edwin have been HELD AT RED for extended periods of up to about 10 seconds or more, while outbound traffic at the same signals has had green. The same technique may also have been applied at other sets of signals, and who knows how far out!

The result seems to be that instead of having one long line of stalled traffic extending north along Victoria Road from the interchange, we have had a number of packs of stalled traffic at various red lights, interspersed with stretches of completely EMPTY traffic lanes! No doubt it looks very satisfactory from a helicopter.

The trouble is, BUSES IN THE BUS LANE ARE ALSO HELD UP BY THESE EXTENDED RED PHASES!

The result is - inbound buses are full even before getting to Drummoyne and crowds of up to 20 or more intending passengers can be seen at stops like Terry Street and Darling Street in the morning peak. The full buses, of course, don't stop.

Perhaps we urgently need a clip-on "B" signal at every inbound traffic signal on Victoria Road!

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[Transtopic]

It's all Labor's fault isn't it?

[lunchbox]

ROZELLE INTERCHANGE "TRAFFIC MANAGMENT" - UPDATE, 8.30AM, 28.2.24.

Westbound queue in Day St. Drummoyne extends to St. Georges Cres. City-bound lanes on Victoria Road are being held at red for over 40 seconds. Motorists are illegally using Thornley St. to access Victoria Road. City-bound lanes, INCLUDING BUS LANE, still being held on red at Lyons / Edwin mid-block pedestrian crossing while outbound lanes have green.
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[tonyp]

I find it amusing that anybody expects anything different out of Victoria Road. I was sitting in traffic that was gridlocked all the way back to Gladesville Bridge in the 1960s. It started after the Ryde (later Drummoyne) trams finished and the rural outer catchment filled out with housing and has never changed in intensity. Despite the Rozelle interchange, I don't expect this one has any chance of easing until the second harbour tunnel is opened. Even then, traffic will expand to fill any vacuum that develops. Part of the problem too is that the population of the formerly relatively poor inner suburbs along Victoria Road has become very rich and are accustomed to driving rather than catching buses. I suspect much of the problem is those people pushing into Victoria Road from side streets, more than people coming from along Victoria Road from further out. Bus services from those side streets also get caught up in this, because they have no bus lanes to help them.

[Nat]

I find it amusing that anybody expects anything different out of Victoria Road. I was sitting in traffic that was gridlocked all the way back to Gladesville Bridge in the 1960s. It started after the Ryde (later Drummoyne) trams finished and the rural outer catchment filled out with housing and has never changed in intensity. Despite the Rozelle interchange, I don't expect this one has any chance of easing until the second harbour tunnel is opened. Even then, traffic will expand to fill any vacuum that develops. Part of the problem too is that the population of the formerly relatively poor inner suburbs along Victoria Road has become very rich and are accustomed to driving rather than catching buses. I suspect much of the problem is those people pushing into Victoria Road from side streets, more than people coming from along Victoria Road from further out. Bus services from those side streets also get caught up in this, because they have no bus lanes to help them.

You are correct here.
The rich also hate public transport, and any priority it (rightly should) receive over their precious 150k car.....

[Swift]

Plenty of rich people catch buses, at least the former government routes going through affluent areas as it's often more convenient than driving.
The following article on the Rozelle Interchange fiasco features a Balmain resident who drives daily to work in Moore Park. Could she easily catch a bus and the light rail instead?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-02/ ... /103415316

[tonyp]

Plenty of rich people catch buses, at least the former government routes going through affluent areas as it's often more convenient than driving.
The following article on the Rozelle Interchange fiasco features a Balmain resident who drives daily to work in Moore Park. Could she easily catch a bus and the light rail instead?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-02/ ... /103415316

Ms O'Brien needs to benefit from the adage: "You aren't stuck in a traffic jam; you are the traffic jam".

[moa999]

Plenty of rich people catch buses, at least the former government routes going through affluent areas as it's often more convenient than driving.
The following article on the Rozelle Interchange fiasco features a Balmain resident who drives daily to work in Moore Park. Could she easily catch a bus and the light rail instead?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-02/ ... /103415316

Problem is the buses from Balmain are backing up as well. Can reportedly take 20min some days just to get on the Anzac Bridge given the traffic metering and prioritisation of tunnel traffic

I still think the main issue is that the tunnel system has pulled traffic that used to enter the city from the south and shifted them to the Anzac Bridge, and that's now over capacity.

[tonyp]

I used WestConnex and the Rozelle interchange for the first time yesterday - absolutely marvellous. Admittedly it was Sunday! Not only that, I relied on the signage and it was fine. The system isn't on my satnav and I did no prior research, just placed myself in the lap of the gods and came out where I wanted. Don't understand why people have problems navigating.

[Merc1107]

They surely haven't managed to out-do Perth's abominable work with signage, where you're not told which lane to be in, or even which lanes are the exit lanes until it's basically too late.

Street signs, or lack thereof, are also a common bugbear of mine, and this seems to be a drama in every city and town I've visited. Apparently you're supposed to know the name of every street in Australia to successfully navigate?

[tonyp]

They surely haven't managed to out-do Perth's abominable work with signage, where you're not told which lane to be in, or even which lanes are the exit lanes until it's basically too late.

Street signs, or lack thereof, are also a common bugbear of mine, and this seems to be a drama in every city and town I've visited. Apparently you're supposed to know the name of every street in Australia to successfully navigate?

No, pretty well signposted and marked.

[Glen]

I find on the drive from the M5 to Pyrmont the exit sign is ambiguous. It doesn't help that Google Maps seems to drop out through the tunnels.

[tonyp]

I find on the drive from the M5 to Pyrmont the exit sign is ambiguous. It doesn't help that Google Maps seems to drop out through the tunnels.

I found the only little bit of ambiguity was some lapses in reaffirmation that you were still on the M8 once you'd left the M5.

[Swift]

They surely haven't managed to out-do Perth's abominable work with signage, where you're not told which lane to be in, or even which lanes are the exit lanes until it's basically too late.

Street signs, or lack thereof, are also a common bugbear of mine, and this seems to be a drama in every city and town I've visited. Apparently you're supposed to know the name of every street in Australia to successfully navigate?

And I thought Perth did everything more competent than Sydney does. Sounds like Perth is just slightly old school version of an Australian metropolitan area.

[tonyp]

And I thought Perth did everything more competent than Sydney does. Sounds like Perth is just slightly old school version of an Australian metropolitan area.

They do public transport very well.

...... then they build more and more motorways to keep people driving.