Tag: rozelle interchange

Rozelle Parklands, Active Transport Hub.

The new park on Lilyfield Road opened in 2024, on the site of the Rozelle Goods Yards. The park was built by Westconnex for Transport for NSW as part of the surface improvement works in the M4-M5 and Rozelle Interchange tollway project.

As well as an attractive place people might choose to ride to, the new park is a crossroads for a number of bicycle routes, such as the Lilyfield Rd connection to Anzac Bridge, Rozelle or Balmain to Annandale routes (Gordon St to Whites Creek, Annandale St via the Green Bridge and Light rail crossing) and Rozelle/Lilyfield to Glebe via the Green Bridge to Johnston St and The Crescent.

These bike routes were identified in the Westconnex EIS and Rozelle Interchang Urban Design Landscape Plan. Council or State Government were expected to ensure the connections were upgraded as part of overall Active Transport strategies. That is, Westconnex were to do the new paths through the park (and also some on Victoria Rd and The Crescent) and other authorities were to improve or establish new connecting routes. “To be done by others”, as stated in the UDLP Active Transport Strategy. This has been the problem, “the others” have been slow to move, given the UDLP was published in 2016.

The fight since then has been to firstly make sure the paths through the Parklands and on Victoria Rd and The Crescent (provided by Westconnex and TfNSW) are up to a high standard and then to get the connecting routes (provided by Inner West Council mostly) improved or new ones built.

The path through the Parklands from Ryan St is an excellent one, 5 m wide with pedestrians and cyclists separated, and the Victoria Rd underpass is a huge improvement on the old narrow footbridge over Victoria Rd. The Green Bridge across the City West Link to Annandale is also good, except the ongoing connections to Glebe are poor ( long wait to cross The Crescent), and there is no provision for cyclists on Johnston St.

IWBC submitted a list of defects to Westconnex and State Government that we think warrant attention. There was a Parliamentary Inquiry into the Rozelle Interchange, which supported some of our submissions.

Inner West Council had issues with the new Parklands as provided by Westconnex and TfNSW (the latter are still the authority in control of the Parklands), if IWC was to eventually take control of the land. IWC decided to do a Masterplan, which delayed any action on bicycle connections, particularly on the Lilyfield Rd Cycleway, which was being drawn up by a consultant. A draft plan that we supported was shelved and a new brief given to the Consultant, further delaying this ongoing (since 2016) saga.

We made submissions to the Masterplan in early 2024 and again in early 2025, which have largely been ignored in the final Draft plan. Central to our submission was that the Parklands should be an Active Transport park, with travel by foot, bike or public transport strongly encouraged.

The Masterplan was approved on February 18, 2025, with one amendment, to retain the separated path arrangement, which for some reason Council had decided to change to a shared path arrangement. We are hopeful of a meeting with Council to go through our submission and see if anything can be added to the Masterplan.

The Lilyfield Rd Cycleway draft plan should now be revealed and put on public exhibition, so we can finally see how it connects to the new park. A major issue is the lack of a pedestrian and bike crossing on Lilyfield Rd at Ryan St, so east bound cyclists can turn into the park more safely. Despite the park being opened for over a year nothing was done to make the right turn across traffic safer.

Other issues are the decision by Inner West Council to install 81 angle parking spaces along the park frontage, and remove the bike lane. we say this is hardly promoting Active Transport, and space could be found to retain a bike lane.

More on the Lilyfield Rd cycleway history, Rozelle Interchange and Victoria Rd can be found on bikeleichhardt.org.



Rozelle Parklands

After opening to much fanfare in December 2023 the Parklands have been unfortunately closed much of the time since January due to the discovery of bonded asbestos in the mulch in the garden and landscape beds.

The much if briefly appreciated through links for cyclists to the Anzac Bridge and to Annandale are currently still closed. [ reopened mid 2024].

What was obvious before the asbestos debacle was that there has been little to no work done on the connections to the Park, such as Whites Ck path, Lilyfield Rd, Gordon St, Robert St, Victoria Rd, and Johnston St. Many of these necessary Active Transport links were identified in the Westconnex EIS (Appendix N) and in the Rozelle Interchange UDLP, (Ch 11 on Active Transport), but were left to ”others” to do, presumably Council and TfNSW. After 6 years the ”others” have failed to act.

IWBC has put in a submission on these missing links and on some defects of the Rozelle Parklands cycling infrastucture as constructed.

See a photo compilation by Bike Leichhardt, identifying defects or missing connections.

We also suggest that surrounding streets be declared 30 K zones or Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, in order to promote walking and cycling to the new Parklands. This would be consistent with Councils new policy on lowering speed limits, where 30 K is now an option on selected streets. 30 K is much safer than 40 K, and is used extensively in other countries.

Rozelle Interchange and Bicycle Links.

Rozelle Interchange is stage 3b of the Westconnex project. It is a spaghetti of road tunnels under Lilyfield and Rozelle to link the M4East-M5 tunnels (Stage 3a, now being built) to the proposed stage 4 (yet to be approved, but how could it be refused if stage 3b is finished?) under-Harbour tunnel from Birchgrove to North Sydney and Artarmon. There is also a tunnel from the east end of the Iron Cove Bridge to the Rozelle Goods Yard. The Goods Yard, or what is left of it after the Light rail depot swallowed the western end, will become a park, complete with tunnel smoke stacks and ventilation pumps, and will extend east under the Victoria Rd bridge at White Bay.

There are associated bicycle works as part of the project (the Active Transport component, unkindly referred as “greenwash” by some, but not us). A bike path is to be built through the Goods Yard to link with Anzac Bridge. A foot and bike bridge will be built over the City West Link from Brenan St near Whites Creek into the Goods Yard park. Another foot and bike bridge will pass over the City West Link at The Crescent, again linking into the Goods Yard park.

An interesting part of the EIS approval for the project was a requirement for the builder (John Holland Joint Venture got the contract) to build a separated cycleway along Victoria Rd (or in the corridor) from the tunnel portal, near Terry St, to Robert St. This requirement by the Department of Planning is some sort of recognition that if motorists get a nice new tunnel to bypass Victoria Rd the community should get a nice new cycleway in the same corridor, even if we still have to pedal up the hill to Darling St.

A big impact of the project will be the removal of the two foot and bike bridges near the Victoria Rd and The Crescent intersection, starting in early 2020, to allow an extra road lane onto the Anzac Bridge. A complex method of maintaining access for cyclists to the Anzac Bridge will need to be worked out. John Holland JV have promised details will be released in August 2019. They have already released plans for detours around the tunnel portal work site on Victoria Rd, between Byrne St and Springside St. This will affect cyclists using the new Iron Cove Bridge cycleway heading to Rozelle from Drummoyne- they will be detoured down Byrne St.

A further impact on cyclists will be at the tunnel dive site in Camperdown, which fronts onto Pyrmont Bridge Rd. Construction activities may affect the cycle route along Pyrmont Bridge Rd between Mallett St and Parramatta Rd. After construction has finished a separated cycleway will (we think, after talks with Inner West Council) get installed, as part of the Parramatta Rd Improvement Scheme..

Rozelle Interchange is currently in site preparation, and construction is to start in early 2020. The Lilyfield Rd footbridge is to be demolished in early 2020.

IWBC has had meetings with John Holland on proposed cycleway detours during construction. John Holland has a site office in Lilyfield Rd at Gordon St, if you want to drop in and discuss detours and the Active Transport component.

Note added in September 2020 :

The long awaited Landscape Plan for the new Railyard Park was released for comment in August. It shows the new bike paths through and across the park, which is due for completion in about 2023. Mostly good in terms of connecting to Anzac Bridge via an east-west main link from Lilyfield Rd near Ryan St, although we have some concerns about the details. North-south routes are also included. Main disappointment is that there is no easy link from Robert St to The Crescent, now that the footbridges at Victoria Rd have been demolished. We did a lengthy submission.

IWBC Submission to UDLP Rozelle Interchange and Iron Cove LinkDownload

Note added in March 2024.

The discovery of asbestos (mostly fibro pieces it seems, but some loose) in and around the Rozelle Parklands in the garden mulches has been the biggest development, as well as the ”traffic chaos” on Victoria Rd after the RIC opened, which has had huge media attention. A Parliamentary Enquiry is to be held in April into the reasons for the traffic problems caused by the new toll road system.

As a result of the asbestos contamination paths have been closed through the park formonths, forcing cyclists to use the local roads, such as Gordon St, to reach Anzac Bridge and Balmain. Reopening of the paths is said to be in April. [note added in July : paths finally reopened in May]

We did an audit of new bicycle facilities around the Park and Victoria Rd, and have submitted it to Transport for NSW, Ministers, IW Council and to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the RIC.

We have been invited to give evidence at the Enquiry!

See page on Rozelle Parklands for our audit of defects in cycling provision around the RIC and Parklands.