The NSW government may have quietly cut off about 10 kilometres of the F6 extension.
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And that’s the 10 kilometres that would start at Waterfall – the most important section for many Illawarra motorists.
It would create the farcical situation of the F6 extension not actually extending all the way to the F6.
On Tuesday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced planning would begin on the first stage of the F6 extension – a four-kilometre tunnel linking the WestConnex New M5 junction at Arncliffe to President Avenue in Kogarah.
It has long been suspected that the extension would start at the northern end and head south, as it is the sections closer to Sydney that need more immediate relief from traffic congestion.
Hidden deeply in the announcement on the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) website was something that suggested the extension will no longer stretch as far as Waterfall.
“There are no plans to investigate the remaining section of the corridor between Loftus and Waterfall as part of the early investigation work,” the website stated.
However, last month it referred to work on the F6 corridor “being carried out as part of the investigations into a possible link between the M1 Princes Motorway at Waterfall and Sydney”.
On Tuesday, the F6 extension had become – in the words of RMS – “a motorway connection between the new M5 at Arncliffe and Loftus”.
That implied that the 10-kilometre stretch from Loftus through to Heathcote would no longer feature in the extension.
Perhaps not coincidentally, this was the same stretch that an internal government report claimed would require the bulldozing of 500 homes or having the road run through the Royal National Park.
Keira MP and Labor spokesman for the Illawarra Ryan Park said it looked like the Illawarra had been cut out of the project.
“It appears as if stage 4, that was to provide the most benefit to Illawarra motorists, has been completely shelved,” Mr Park said.
“Gareth Ward announced this with much fanfare but now it appears as if the Illawarra will not at all be the focus.”
“We are sick of the continual raising of false hope about a project that appears to be on the never never list and will cost Illawarra motorists thousands of dollars in tolls each year.”
Roads and Maritime Services have been contacted for comment.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
