The local community has been invited to have its say on a road upgrade package for Penrith’s Jane Street as well as Castlereagh and Mulgoa Roads.
Federal Member for Lindsay, Fiona Scott, and State Member for Penrith, Stuart Ayres, met at Woodriff Gardens last Friday to announce the package that aims to ease congestion on the north-south corridor.
Mr Ayres said that after extensive traffic modelling, it was clear the original proposal to extend Jane Street will not resolve traffic congestion on Mulgoa and Castlereagh Roads and has instead opted to widen the north-south roads.
“Traffic moving north-south along the Castlereagh [and] Mulgoa Road is much larger than the traffic moving east-west,” he said.
“In fact, the modelling showed sometimes over 10 times more cars are moving in the north-south direction than in the east-west direction.”
In the revised design, the whole road will be increased to three lanes each way plus left-hand turning lanes, a design that was chosen out of 13 possible outcomes.
High Street and Jane Street intersections along Mulgoa Road will be upgraded, and Mulgoa Road will receive a longer turning lane along for vehicles turning into the Great Western Highway.
The western side of Mulgoa Road on the Great Western Highway will see an increased storage capacity in what Mr Ayres said will allow for many more movements through that intersection.
“It’s not the capacity of the bridge that is the problem, it’s actually this section of road and the close proximity of lights doesn’t allow for the capacity of vehicles in that area,” he said.
Mr Ayres added that they can move more cars by upgrading the north-south road than by adding an extension road, but said they aren’t ruling out an extension road in the future.
“It’s very much a part of our long-term planning, but with the $70 million we have available for this project, very clearly the modelling showed it was the widening of [this] road that was going to deliver the best outcome,” he said.
Ms Scott said it was about prioritising and before the east-west traffic is addressed, the north-south needed to be fixed first.
The new plan will also see drainage works carried out to fix a flooding problem under the railway bridge.
“What has happened with the flooding is why we need to do this first, and while we have this bucket of money we need to fix what is the biggest pain for Penrith and it is this intersection,” she said.
To have your say, visit http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/sydney-west/penrith-jane-street-extension and submit before January 30, 2015.
