Transportation Planning Casebook/Sydney F6 Motorway

Sydney’s population increase over the past decade has been a major contributor to traffic delays in the southbound and northbound roads. In the recent years, WestConnex’s expansion of the M4 and M5 helped ease the congestions of motor vehicles in residential/ commercial areas. The F6 Extension Stage 1 is another Sydney project which is currently under the initial planning phase. South Sydney experiences daily road congestion and unreliable travel time, especially between Kogarah and Sydney CBD on the Princess Highway.

Stage 1 of the F6 motorway is a 4 km link road which will connect President Avenue, Kogarah to the new WestConnex M5 motorway at Arncliffe. This will provide quick connects to Sydney CBD, M4, Inner west and Parramatta as it lies parallel to Princess Highway and avoids 26 sets of traffic lights. By reducing the number of trucks on roads and improving travel time for all travellers, the F6 motorway aims to aid the residential areas of Kogarah by providing more quieter streets. In addition, local road users and busses will have easier accessibility to inner roads without having to wait in traffic. This will ultimately support the future growth of South Sydney by connecting it to the Greater Sydney region for increased productivity.  

Additional benefits include:

• Easy access bicycle and pedestrian pathways
• Over 3250 jobs created during construction phase
• Improved air-quality

Stage 1 of the F6 extension is currently at its environmental impact stage with construction beginning in 2020 and aiming to be complete by 2024. After stage 1 is complete the F6 extension aims to expand from Sydney CBD to Loftus, approximately 20 km.  The total cost of this project is said to be around $3 billion AUD.

Key Features

• Twin tunnels linking President Avenue at Kogarah to M5 motorway at Arncliffe.
• Tunnels stubs constructed for future F6 extension
• Minor upgrades to President avenue & Princess highway to accommodate for the increase in vehicle capacity.
• Larger pedestrian and bicycle pathways between Bestic Street, Brighton – Le- Sands to Civic Avenue, Kogarah.
• New bridge over President Avenue, Kogarah.
• Additional power supply lines in the area.

List of Stakeholders

Tabulated List of Actors for F6 Motorway Extension

Internal Stakeholders	External Stakeholders
NSW Government Roads & Maritime Services NSW Building Contractors (Not defined yet) Project Managers (Not defined yet)	Pedestrians Motor vehicle drives / truck drivers Local residents near construction zones Local businesses

Timeline of Events

F6 Motorway Extension Stages

• Stage 1 – Connects President Avenue in Kogarah to the M5 tunnels at Arncliffe
• Stage 2 – Connects Taren Point to Stage 1 at Kogarah
• Stage 3 – Connects Princess Highway at Loftus to Stage 2 at Taren Point
• Stage 4 – Connect Princess Highway at Waterfall to Stage 3 at Loftus

Timeline of Events for the F6 Motorway Extension

Project Event	Date of Event	Description
Announcement of project	May 2017	NSW Government announces the project will proceed with Stage 1 of the F6 Motorway Extension.
Community consultation – Part 1	October 2017 - December 2017	Preliminary project information shared with general public - early stage consultation regarding project scope with affected local residents commenced.
EIS Preparation	December 2017	NSW Government begins with preparing the EIS based on SEARS (Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements).
Community consultation – Part 2	June–July 2018	After additional project and design information was released, a second period of community consultation was opened.
EIS placed on public exhibition	December 2018	486 community submission were received in response from community consultations regarding the EIS.
Tendering opens	18 February 2019	Pre-registration for contractor tendering begins.
Construction expected to commence	September 2020	Scheduled major works expected to commence at both ends of the tunnel simultaneously.
Expected completion of project	December 2024	The F6 Motorway project is scheduled to be completed and open for public use.

Policy & Service Issues

During October and December, Roads and Maritime (RMS) ran community engagements and consultations to gather feedback on the concept design of the new F6 Extension Stage 1.

There was significant backlash from the South Sydney community in regards to air pollution and acquisition of local parkland, Rockdale Bicentennial Park to be specific.

In summary, the feedback focussed on seven key topics:

1. Community amenity, health and safety (19%);
2. Property and access (19%);
3. Local traffic (15%);
4. Air quality (14%);
5. Environmental impacts (13%);
6. Construction impacts (7%);
7. Public and active transport infrastructure (4%);
8. Other (9%).

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) extensively details the assessment and solutions to many of the issues brought to light by the community of Southern Sydney in significant detail.  The main issues and responses can be summarised in the table below:

Community Concern	RMS Response
Community amenity, health and safety
Safety of all road users, in particular the impacts that the developments would have on pedestrian safety.	The tunnel will not be accessible by pedestrians or bicycles. RMS is investigating surface options for cyclists and pedestrian infrastructure to be incorporated into the design.
Project impacts on local community gardens, greenspace and facilities. Concerns in regards to losing local sporting fields (Rockdale Bicentennial Park, skate park)	RMS has been working closely with Bayside and the local community on how best to restore the facilities. The amenities will be upgraded. During construction, the skate park will be relocated.
Property and Access
Concerns about land acquisitions	F6 Extension Stage 1 has been designed to minimise impact to property; i.e. underground tunnels. Using existing RMS owned land
Vibration and Noise Pollution	Dilapidation surveys, any damage to be rectified at no cost to the landowner. Noise and vibration limits, monitoring systems and mitigation measures will be put in place. An acoustic shed will be installed to act as a noise barrier to construction noise.
Local Traffic
Concerns in regards to worsening local traffic conditions. Additional heavy vehicle movements.	Transport movements to be scheduled outside peak travel times whenever possible. During operation, traffic will be reduced, bus travel times will be improved. Link to and extension of existing shared cyclist and pedestrian path.
Air Quality
Location of unfiltered ventilation outlets in close proximity to schools, hospitals, play fields and parks, and young children and the elderly.	A scientific review on the impact of the emissions from tunnel ventilation was undertaken. The findings indicated that the emissions would have negligible impacts on the local communities given the height at which the emissions would be released. Monitoring of emissions will occur 24/7 in line with new EPA regulations for tunnel emissions.
Environmental
Habitats for native flora and fauna within Rockdale Bicentennial Park and local fish species.	No presence of endangered native species. Temporary loss of aquatic and riparian habitat to be reinstated with trees, wetlands and vegetated area to be replaced.
Construction
Contaminated spoil removal, air pollution (dust) and increased heavy vehicle movements.	Limiting construction hours, acoustic sheds to manage spoil ad noise. Permanent operational infrastructure will be built as well as drainage and water management facilities. Road pavement and finishing works will occur at the end of the project.
Public and Active Transport Infrastructure
Requests for the provision of additional pedestrian crossing and/or bridges.	RMS, with Bayside Council, are investigating surface options for cyclists and pedestrian infrastructure to be incorporated into the project design.
Other
Project cost and tolling concerns.	Project cost: $2.2-$2.6 billion. Tolled road to provide a fair and equitable means to help fund the project. i.e. people using infrastructure will help pay for it and ongoing maintenance.
General suggestions on alternative alignment and size of project.	General comments in regards to future transport strategies as issued by Transport for NSW.

Environmental,Cost,Health ,Community Amenity and Safety Issues

1.Environmental issues

• Traffic impacts

Source of Issues : loss of on street parking ,congestion on the road ,potential changes in traffic on surface roads including potential impacts of toll avoidance

• Noise and vibration

Source of Issues : Demolition noise ,construction noise , Construction vibration ,operational noise and vibration, structural integrity of building Social and economic impacts Source of Issues : Local businesses , construction fatigue

• Air quality

Source of Issues : Background concentration , all sources other than road traffic for example natural sources , industry and domestic activity.

Source of Issues :Surface of road ventilation outlet concentration ,the contribution of pollutants from the surface road network.

Source of Issues : Ventilation outlet concentration , the contribution of pollutants from tunnel ventilation outlets.

Source of Issues : Vehicle emissions and modify dust generating activities during windy weather condition.

• Climate Change Risk and Greenhouse Gas

Source of Issues  : Changes in the rainfall intensity and sea level rise due to the construction impact

2.Cost Issues

Source of Issues:the project is request for money cost up to $35 billion for the planning and development phases of the project. Environmental impact and request for $2.2 to $2.6 billion Extension Stage one.

3.Health Issues

Source of Issues: People are suffocating from the impact of ventilation outlets ,People are impact from the dust during the construction.

4.Community Amenity and safety 

Source of Issues: impacts on community access to local facilities and green space.

Discussion Exercises & Class Activities

• Motorways have a time saving and cost trade off. What techniques can Transport for NSW use to promote usage of the motorway to reduce congestion?
• How to improve the F6 Extension Motorway?