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.

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

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:

Environmental,Cost,Health ,Community Amenity and Safety Issues
1.Environmental issues

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
 * Traffic impacts

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
 * Noise and vibration

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

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.

Source of Issues : Changes in the rainfall intensity and sea level rise due to the construction impact
 * Climate Change Risk and Greenhouse Gas

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?