Lengthy delays continue around newly opened interchange

ABC NEWS (Australia)

For the past week people driving through parts of Sydney’s inner west have been met by lengthy traffic delays. It's all due to the new rozelle interchange that opened on Sunday.

Transcript

00:00 There have been many unhappy drivers on the roads in Sydney this week since the opening

00:06 of the new Roselle interchange.

00:08 This is a complex set of underground tunnels that was built in order to bust congestion,

00:13 but instead it's turned into a headache for the government and for commuters.

00:17 Earlier this morning here on Victoria Road there was heavy traffic and cars were crawling

00:22 along Victoria Road, but now traffic is moving freely.

00:26 All of this week commuters have been complaining about lengthy delays and heavy traffic as

00:31 they head towards the city.

00:33 And drivers coming from places like Haberfield, Roselle and Balmain say that what used to

00:38 be a 15 minute commute to the city has now turned into around an hour.

00:42 And part of the reason for this, according to the state's peak motoring association,

00:47 the NRMA, is that there are now more cars trying to get onto the existing lanes at the

00:51 city bound entrances of the Anzac Bridge.

00:54 So what used to be seven lanes merging into four has now become ten lanes turning into

00:59 four, creating a major choke point.

01:02 The Transport for New South Wales CEO Howard Collins has pleaded with drivers for patience,

01:08 saying that talks are urgently underway with the government to try to solve these congestion

01:13 issues.

01:14 This is a little bit of what Howard Collins had to say.

01:17 No solution is off the table and we've got teams of people looking at physical options,

01:23 but also harmonising and looking at the data and making sure that we optimise the Roselle

01:30 interchange.

01:31 Part of the plan from transport authorities involves fine tuning sets of traffic lights

01:36 as well as banning trucks from nearby metro construction sites from using these areas

01:41 during the morning and afternoon peak times.

01:43 But there's also been a warning issued to drivers.

01:46 The government says that heavy traffic is no excuse for drivers to use the bus lanes

01:51 and they say that police will be out in force today to issue fines to drivers who are caught

01:56 using the bus lane.

01:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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