Local Labor MPs take a
battering at Bridge rally
By Lauren Farrow
There may have been humorous
Where’s Wally placards of State
Members Verity Firth and Angela
D’Amore, but protestors at King
George’s Park last weekend were
not laughing.
On November 30, residents de-
scended on the Rozelle park to once
again express their opposition to the
State Government’s proposal for the
upgrade of Victoria Road and the du-
plication of the Iron Cove Bridge.
Liberal Opposition leader Barry
O’Farrell also joined in the protest
and said the government needed to
rethink public transport in NSW.
“For too long when it comes to
moving people around this city,
roads have taken a precedence over
public transport,” Mr O’Farrell said.
If the Liberal Party were elected
before work on the bridge began, Mr
O’Farrell pledged the plan would be
scrapped.
Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker
also spoke on the day, pointing to a
commissioned report on the Victoria
Road proposal that was tabled to
council on November 25.
Completed by Arup, an infra-
structure and building consulting
firm, the report stated that “the rel-
atively poor predicted future eco-
nomic performance” of the project
would normally mean that its con-
struction was unjustified.
The report also stated that a sin-
gle-lane bridge with optional tid-
al flow along the corridor would
achieve the basic “project objec-
tives” at a much lower cost.
4 Village Voice Balmain December
ARUP’S ALTERNATIVE
PROPOSALS FOR VICTORIA
ROAD
• Give buses priority at traffic lights
• Remove bus stops to improve
travel times
• Increased enforcement of the T3
lane
• Increase prepay buses along the
corridor
• Build bus bays
• Consider multi-door entry at
popular stops
According to Arup the proposal
could also encourage more private
vehicles on the road as it increased
“road traffic capacity”.
But an RTA spokesman rebuffed
the claim, stating that they did not
expect a change in general traffic.
The spokesman also said that a
single lane bridge was impractical
as it would not allow two vehicles to
pass in the event of a breakdown.
“Similarly, the option to add an-
other clip-on lane to the existing
bridge would cost about 20 per cent
more, take longer to build and pro-
vide fewer benefits,” he said.
As to the finding of the Arup re-
port that increased delays at side
streets will cause rat running, the
RTA spokesman said a Local Area
Traffic Management Study had been
commissioned.
This report is due early next year,
the spokesman said.
Is the bridge proposal a dud? Is this
government? Hit www.villagevoice. Clockwise from top, a protestor at the King George’s Park rally and protest signs of
com.au and have your say! Drummoyne MP Angela D’Amore and Balmain MP Verity Firth displayed at the rally.