City West Link

Route

City West Link starts at the intersection of Parramatta Road and Frederick Street in Haberfield as Wattle Street and heads in an easterly direction as a six-lane, dual-carriageway road, where after a short distance it meets the intersection with Ramsay Road (on the surface), and the ramps for the M4 Motorway (underground, westbound for M4 East and eastbound for M4-M8 Link). At the intersection with Waratah Street it changes name to Dobroyd Parade and narrows to a four-lane, single carriageway, following Iron Cove Creek and the southern bank of Iron Cove until it crosses Hawthorne Canal, where it changes name to City West Link and continues east, following the Inner West Light Rail track through Lilyfield. It intersects with and changes name to The Crescent, before terminating a short distance at the interchange with Victoria Road in Rozelle, where it continues east as Western Distributor.

History

Construction

The City West Link project, much to the disappointment of some local residents, simply involved the upgrade of existing roads and streets to at least four lanes. The process was carried out in four stages:

• Stage One: (December 1991) An underpass beneath Victoria Road opened.
• Stage Two: (February 1993) Upgrades from The Crescent at Rozelle to Catherine Street at Lilyfield, using Brenan Street. This section used a temporary one-way system to deliver traffic to Lilyfield Road.
• Stage Three: (May 1995) Dobroyd Parade and Wattle Street reconstruction was completed, providing four lanes between Parramatta Road and Hawthorne Canal, parallel to Iron Cove and Iron Cove Creek.
• Stage Four: (December 2000) Road extended from Catherine Street to Dobroyd Parade. A new bridge was constructed over Hawthorne Canal. City West Link became part of Metroad 4 (later A4), relieving a congested section of Parramatta Road.

The passing of the Main Roads Act of 1924 through the Parliament of New South Wales provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Main Roads Board (MRB). With the subsequent passing of the Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929 to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, the Department of Main Roads (having succeeded the MRB in 1932) declared Main Road 650 along the route, from the interchange with Victoria Road in Rozelle along The Crescent, City Link West Road, Brenan Street, Balmain Road, Lilyfield Road, Dobroyd Parade and Wattle Street to Parramatta Road at Haberfield (and continuing east along Frederick Street to meet with Hume Highway in Croydon), on 22 January 1993.

The passing of the Roads Act of 1993 updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, City West Link retains its declaration as part of Main Road 650.

Once the final upgrade was completed in 2000, the route was allocated Metroad 4, between Haberfield and Rozelle. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, Metroad 4 was replaced by route A4. When the M4 East was opened in 2019, route A44 was extended from Parramatta Road and allocated along City West Link through Haberfield to the Ramsay Road interchange (where the ramps to the M4 East emerge), and extended a final time along its entire length to the interchange with Western Distributor when the Rozelle Interchange opened in 2023.

Post-opening

Motorists began complaining early in 2004 that the road had already become congested, less than four years after opening. The road ultimately feeds into Parramatta Road, thus congestion points on Parramatta Road have simply been moved to different areas rather than relieved altogether.

In 2005, a major bottleneck at the eastern end was removed. Previously eastbound traffic on the link had to merge from two lanes into one, just before joining Victoria Road west of the Anzac Bridge. There are now two lanes from the west link merging with the three from Victoria Road, to make four lanes over the Anzac Bridge.

Connection to M4

After the opening of City West Link, the Roads & Traffic Authority had plans to connect it to the M4 motorway, completely bypassing Parramatta Road. Included in the project was the removal of the at-grade intersections on City West Link for through traffic. The plan was complicated, and involved building bridges for City West Link Road to pass over at-grade intersections, some of which made provision for only one traffic lane in each direction. Residents and advocacy groups voiced fears that this would worsen current congestion problems. The whole project was cancelled in late 2004

In the 2010s, the project was revived as the WestConnex project that involved a tunnel being built instead. The first part of the tunnel, known as M4 East, opened to the western end of the City West Link in July 2019. An extension of this tunnel opened on 20 January 2023, but it was unable to replace City West Link until ramps at the Rozelle Interchange opened on 26 November 2023.

Major intersections

City West Link is entirely contained within the Inner West Council local government area. – Western Distributor (A4), Sydney CBD – M8 Motorway (M8), Sydney Airport Eastern terminus of route A44, route A4 continues east along Western Distributor

References

References

1. "City West Link".
2. (22 January 1993). "State Roads Act". National Library of Australia.
3. City West Link Road Section 3 Annual report for year ended 30 June 1999 [[Roads & Traffic Authority]]
4. [http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/mra1924n24133/ State of New South Wales, ''An Act to provide for the better construction, maintenance, and financing of main roads; to provide for developmental roads; to constitute a Main Roads Board''] {{webarchive. link. (11 August 2022 10 November 1924)
5. [https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/pdf/asmade/act-1929-15 State of New South Wales, ''An Act to amend the Main Roads Act, 1924-1927; to confer certain further powers upon the MRB; to amend the Local Government Act, 1919, and certain other Acts; to validate certain payments and other matters; and for purposes connected therewith.''] {{webarchive. link. (12 August 2022 8 April 1929)
6. [https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1993-033 State of New South Wales, ''An Act to make provision with respect to the roads of New South Wales; to repeal the State Roads Act 1986, the Crown and Other Roads Act 1990 and certain other enactments; and for other purposes.''] {{webarchive. link. (11 August 2022 10 November 1924)
7. [[Transport for NSW]]. (August 2022). "Schedule of Classified Roads and Unclassified Regional Roads". Government of New South Wales.
8. (2013). "Road number and name changes in Sydney". Transport for NSW - Roads and Maritime.
9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20041109125258/http://www.ecotransit.org.au/campaigns/m4east/m4.pdf M4 East Madness] EcoTransit Sydney
10. [http://www.westconnex.com.au/explore_the_route/stage_1/m4_east.html Explore the route] WestConnex
11. "WestConnex".
12. (10 July 2019). "New M4 tunnels to open this weekend". WestConnex.
13. (19 January 2023). "M4 and M8 link to open ahead of schedule".