News

Call for gridlock fix over M4 toll avoidance

THE reintroduction of tolls has been a nightmare for local roads and “the least the State Government could do is investigate what improvements can be made to ease the congestion”, says State MP for Auburn, Linda Voltz.

Ms Voltz has joined with State MP for Granville, Julia Finn, in calling on the NSW Government to invest in “congestion busting road infrastructure in the upcoming NSW Budget, with local roads at a standstill during peak hours due to its reintroduction of tolls on the M4”.
They said the Government’s own EIS for the construction of WestConnex, noted that this reintroduction of tolls would increase traffic on Parramatta Road at Granville and Silverwater by 20 per cent, creating rat runs through suburban streets such as Mona Street and Wellington Road as motorists try to avoid the ‘Tollmania’ on Western Sydney’s main roads.
Ms Voltz wrote to Premier Dominic Perrottet requesting the NSW Government fund at least a traffic study to ascertain the best solutions for local roads impacted by these tolls.
She says that at times it can take one hour to travel less than five kilometres in Auburn.
Ms Finn says it’s traffic chaos and the community is suffering.
“Sydney is the most tolled city on Earth and local residents are having to put up with rat-runners avoiding the Liberals’ extortionate toll on the M4,” Ms Finn said.
“We were promised improvements to traffic on Parramatta Road and instead the Liberal Government took away express trains from Granville station, pushing even more cars onto local streets. Almost every day, it’s gridlock on Mona Street and Wellington Road.”