Los Angeles on Sydney Harbour?
By Mel Bull
SYDNEY — Could Sydney be a city where the car can take you anywhere? Where freeways dart in all directions and all you have to do is jump in your car and head for the open road? That's what the proponents of the Eastern Distributor (ED) and the M5 East would have us believe.
What if some of these freeways were privately owned with a milking machine — a tollgate — sucking money out of your pockets? Imagine if public transport became extinct and you couldn't drive or afford a car. Say your health begins to suffer due to air contamination while increasing noise levels slowly drives you insane, forcing you to move, or worse still, sending you to the edge. And what's the use of all the freeways in the world if you still don't get anywhere quicker?
That's what is in store for Sydney as the NSW Labor government attempts to push through with the construction of two Los Angeles-style motorways, the ED and the M5 East. This 22 kilometres of proposed road has a combined construction price tag estimated at $1.5 billion. For the same sum, 150 kilometres of modern light rail could be constructed.
The ED, to run from Mascot Airport to the Cahill Expressway in the city, is estimated to cost $650 million. Premier Bob Carr has promised that not a cent of tax payers' money will go to its development, which will supposedly be funded by Infrastructure Trust of Australia (ITA). This seems highly unlikely, however, as not one private motorway has yet succeeded without massive government financial assistance.
In NSW, private companies have the right to seek compensation at any time within 45 years if a competing public transport system is installed in a 300-square-kilometre zone around the motorway. Companies can also cut off roads to eliminate routes.
Construction subsidies, land rent delays, extension of government loan repayments and tax free incentives have all been offered to road owner-builders by the government or the Roads and Traffic Authority. The builders of the M2 and M5 have received some of these benefits.
The Carr government has promised to construct the M5 East to link the proposed ED and the privately-owned M5 West (which is running at a loss of $15.5 million) to increase the traffic flow on both.
The ED will be in direct competition with the private railway line under construction from Mascot Airport to Central Station. According to the environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared for the RTA, the proposal would increase traffic travelling this route from 48,000 to 125,000 per day — but with no great improvement in travel time.
The increase in traffic flow will be induced traffic (people switching from public transport to private cars) as little, if any, traffic would be diverted. The level of induced traffic is likely to grow exponentially as the funding for public transport, where it does exist, is likely to decline in time.
Since the government's encouragement of privatised urban tollways began, the danger of the RTA becoming an arm of the tollway consortium increased. The ED and the M5 East have been described by Hell on Wheels, a newsletter produced by anti-freeway campaigners, as a government attempt to boost road traffic to generate sufficient profits to keep the privately operated motorway system financially viable.
RTA officials admit that the aim is to squeeze as much traffic through the tollbooth as possible, hence the overstated current rate of traffic growth appearing in the ED EIS.
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and environmental groups have found several problems in the EIS, in particular inadequacies in noise and traffic measurements. A senior project manager from the EPA expressed "serious concerns about the scope and quality of the EIS" to the RTA. The EPA has since refused to grant the RTA the pollution control approval and licence that is required before construction can being.
At a time when much of Sydney is without adequate public transport infrastructure, the Carr government is intent on encouraging private transport, directly contradicting all its rhetoric about reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
A broad network of environmentalists is campaigning against the ED, and Randwick Council has called for the decision to be postponed and a public inquiry held into the transport, social and environmental impacts of the proposed ED and the M5 East.
More contentiously, state MP for Bligh Clover Moore has endorsed a 1985 plan for a tunnel under Taylor Square in Paddington, and some residents near the proposed M5 East are supporting a tunnel under the environmentally sensitive Wolli Creek.
These less than satisfactory "alternatives" indicate that if the anti-freeway campaign is to be successful, the "not in my backyard" syndrome has to be overcome. Only a united campaign for a massive upgrading of public transport can meet the needs and serve the interests of the vast majority of Sydney's population.
[A public meeting on the theme "The transport crisis: winning back Sydney" will be held on March 26 at 6pm in Sydney Town Hall. Telephone 9247 4080 for details.]