M5 Off-Road Outrages Residents

South Sydney residents fear they will be inundated with traffic if a new arterial road from the proposed $4.5 billion M5 expansion to St Peters is built.

St Peters residents said they received no notification about the proposed four-lane road, which will lead straight from the M5 to Campbell St near Sydney Park.

The new arterial road would leave the M5 lust before it reaches Sydney Airport and funnel traffic into the South Sydney area, terminating just short of south King St Newtown, and the industrial area of Alexandria.

Campbell St resident Jacinta Green said residents received no notification of the proposal and held serious concerns about the ability of local roads to cope with the extra traffic.

“No one has heard anything about it," Ms Green said. "We all saw the original plans for the expansion but there was nothing about this new four-lane road Into St Peters.

"The only thing we got was a picture brochure and I did see plans for the MS expansion but none of it mentioned this road,"

Ms Green said she was horrified that the initial advertisements had not shown the proposed road.

"The fact that it has been hidden – I’m outraged for a start she said. “It was only by pure chance I found out about it at all."

Marrickville Council and two community groups, Marrickville Transport Action Group and Tempe 2020, are all opposing the road.

Ms Green said there were no studies or impact assessments on how the extra traffic entering the suburb would affect local roads.

“The freeway does not seem to go anywhere, we can only assume it will later be extended. The traffic will just add to the existing bottlenecks on Euston Rd and King St." she said.

A spokesman for the RTA said the expansion had been well advertised but did not explain why the road to St Peters had not been included in initial maps and information.

The spokesman also said the road was only at the proposal stage and had not been confirmed.

Ms Green said residents now hoped the deadline for submissions on the proposal (in mid December) would be extended, and that the expansion would be readvertised to all residents affected, with maps and information including the proposed road to St Peters.

Premier Kristina Keneally, MP for the seat of Heffron where the proposed arterial road would be built, wrote to residents last year about the project.

"The NSW Government has made a submission to Infrastructure Australia for funding consideration. By getting the planning work done now, we can begin work quickly when funding becomes available," Ms Keneally said. "This is an important issue for our local community, and now is the time for our area to have input and shape the proposal in its early planning and design stages.”

Source: Central Print Edition 6 January 2010.