Shire will become car park unless F6 is built: NRMA

Jordan Baker Transport Reporter
February 27, 2007

SOUTHERN Sydney would continue to be strangled by endless traffic delays unless a controversial freeway was built through the Sutherland Shire, the NRMA has warned.

The association will today escalate its pre-election campaign for an extension of the F6 motorway by unveiling a plan that would link the reserved corridor to the smoggy M5 East.

The Tourism Transport Forum also warned the failure to build the road was hurting tourism in the Illawarra.

Plans for an extension of the F6 from Loftus towards the city have been proposed and played down for years.

The former roads minister Carl Scully reserved a land corridor for public transport use, but his successor, Michael Costa, re-opened debate over whether it should be used for a motorway.

Supporters say it would reduce travel time from the Illawarra to Sydney. Opponents say it would simply generate more traffic, turning the shire into a peak hour car park for Wollongong drivers.

The Liberal candidate for Miranda, Graham Annesley, offered cautious support but the Labor incumbent, Barry Collier, is strongly opposed and said that it would be built "over my dead body".

The reserved land corridor runs from Loftus to St Peters.

A major stumbling block is how it should be linked to the orbital network.

Under the NRMA's plan, the road would have a link to the M5 East and finish at St Peters, near King Street. Traffic would then have to use the Princes Highway, Canal Road and Gardeners Road.

The association said the traffic from the six-lane road - which it wants to be toll-free - would not make the crowded M5 East worse because it would reduce traffic on General Holmes Drive.

Critics say finishing the road at St Peters would dump a huge number of cars in an already-crowded industrial area. They say it would not take cars off local streets, but rather create space for extra traffic.

The NRMA's deputy president, Michael Tynan, said the impending upgrade of Port Botany left Sydney with no other option than to extend the F6.

"Complete the F6 or condemn local residents and businesses to being strangled by endless traffic delays," he said.

"If we don't complete the F6 from Loftus to the airport - as outlined on the NRMA map - the heavy vehicles transporting freight will be forced to use existing roads that aren't coping now."

The Tourism Transport Forum said traffic congestion between the city and the F6 was one of the main reasons why the number of tourists visiting the Illawarra from Sydney had dropped by 13 per cent.

"[The F6] will make our roads safer, improve productivity and give local tourism a much-needed boost," the forum's managing director, Christopher Brown, said.

