Residents sprung with eight-month closure
South bound motorists seeking to exit the Warringah Freeway will have their travel times extended and possibly have to pay an extra toll after Transport for NSW (TfNSW) announced it was closing the Alfred St off ramp for ‘seven or eight’ months.
TfNSW said it was planning to close the Alfred Street off ramp and southbound access on 22 November to ‘speed up’ work on the new ramp structure. “This will allow us to finish building the new Alfred St off ramp, Falcon Street bus ramp and retaining walls six months earlier than previously planned,” TfNSW said. “We acknowledge this closure will affect local residents and visitors to Kirribilli, North Sydney and Neutral Bay by adding time to their journeys, due to the required detours.”
North Sydney Mayor Zoë Baker has written to TfNSW voicing concern over the closure, saying many south- bound motorists seeking to access North Sydney, Kirribilli, and Neutral Bay would take the tolled Mosman exit on the freeway which allows direct entry to Military Road at the Falcon Street/Military Road interchange. Council is seeking a waiver of the toll for the duration of the closure, and is concerned about access for emergency vehicles to the Alfred St area.
“We want to see their modelling about what it means for emergency access and what it means for local traffic congestion” Mayor Baker told NL. Once you close off Alfred St North, you are heading down into a really dense area with a really compromised road system.
“We’ve had multiple incidents of construction vehicles being literally stuck between parked cars that have locked residents and workers into the spaces, unable to leave because it’s a one way loop.”
Howard Collins, TfNSW NSW co-ordinator general, told Radio 2GB on 15 November the closure was ‘absolutely’ needed to speed up the works. “If people don’t want to pay a toll, there is an opportunity to follow those diversion signs, which will be available to get a free journey. It is inconvenience, we apologise to people, but then this will get the work done faster.”
TfNSW says the closure would remove ‘around 90 nights of noisy work;’ up to 10 weekends of extended work; complete work in area six months early; and ‘eliminate five traffic changes that would otherwise be needed in this location.’ Mr Collins said he could not put a date on when the ramp would re-open, but said the contractors would take ‘around seven or eight months.’