A new scandal has erupted over the controversial $17 billion WestConnex tollway project.
The Sydney Motorway Corporation (SMC) announced it is considering two sites in inner-west Leichhardt for a “dive site” to be used for tunnelling between Haberfield and Rozelle, as part of the 33 kilometre motorway’s third stage. Residents opposed to the environmentally and socially destructive tollway are campaigning to reject both sites.
Greens MP for Balmain Jamie Parker is circulating a petition to roads minister Melinda Pavey, which states: “As a member of the local community I believe that both the site adjacent to Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt campus and the previously proposed Darley Road site are patently unacceptable as mid-point tunnel locations for WestConnex.
“The two proposals will only serve to divide the community and pit one side of Leichhardt against the other.
“These mid-point tunnel excavations will remain for up to four years, with significant traffic and safety impacts on residents and people across the inner west region.
“Residents of Leichhardt do not want a drill site in either of these two locations. We are highly concerned about the traffic and safety impacts both on local residents and people across the inner west region. We therefore call on you to cancel any plans to drill at either site in Leichhardt.
“This is yet another example of the kind of planning on the run which has been characteristic of the flawed WestConnex project since the start, and one more reason why it should be abandoned."
Meanwhile, revelations of unsafe demolition of an asbestos infested house and news of a serious workplace injury at a WestConnex construction site have sparked new calls for an urgent review of the whole project.
Rozelle Against WestConnex (RAW) held a protest on a pedestrian bridge over Victoria Road in Rozelle on February 18. About 50 community activists donned hazmat suits and masks, held placards and displayed banners denouncing WestConnex and its impact on health and the environment.
The action gained considerable support from car and truck drivers passing underneath, many of whom honked their horns in agreement.
More protests are planned in coming weeks, with a focus on the costly tolls to be charged on commuters and tradespeople using WestConnex. This promises to be a hot-button issue among western Sydney residents, who will undoubtedly be forced to pay the bulk of these charges to private tollway corporations.
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