Transport for NSW is progressing its plans for Stage 2 of the Sutherland to Cronulla Active Transport Link (SCATL) to be located on streets outside the rail corridor.
Bicycle NSW is very concerned that optimal routes continue to be overlooked. The current ‘preferred alignment’ risks creating infrastructure that is dangerous and falls well short of Transport for NSW Policy standards.
The story so far
The current proposals are very different from the SCATL promised to the community in 2015, which used land within, or very close to, the rail corridor for a majority of the 11km route. SCATL was conceived as a direct, off-road regional ‘spine’ route that avoids steep gradients. Delivery of SCATL was a NSW Government election pledge in 2019.
A shared path located in the rail corridor was promised by NSW Government in 2015. The plans are now completely different! (Source: Sutherland Shire Council)
In 2021, a decision was made to progress SCATL as a narrow shared path along the traffic sewer of Kingsway. Sutherland Shire Environment Centre and Bicycle NSW produced a video highlighting how a shared path in the road environment will have poor safety and amenity outcomes due to conflict with pedestrians, driveways and side streets. A petition was launched to gather hundreds of signatures from community members supporting the use of the rail corridor.
Recent news
Transport for NSW refused to back-pedal and in June 2022 announced that construction of the eastern section of the Kingsway/Denman Avenue alignment from Jackson Avenue to Gannons Road will begin in early 2023. The western section linking Jackson Avenue to the completed Stage 1 route will be reviewed to explore alternative options to the unpopular Oak Avenue, Flora Street and Kingsway alignment. This will be better than the Kingsway route, but the community update reiterated that use of rail corridor land is no longer under consideration.
The June 2022 announcement breaks the SCATL Stage 2 into three sections and commits to starting work on the Miranda to Caringbah section (Source: TfNSW)
New advocacy push
Bicycle NSW undertook a very detailed visit of the area with staff from Sutherland Shire Council. It was clear that the reasons provided by Transport for NSW to abandon the rail corridor SCATL are not valid for long sections of the corridor.
We have prepared an issues paper to drive future advocacy. The document clearly sets out the background and planning history of SCATL, collates feedback from Council, community and advocates on the current proposals, shines a light on the problems of shared paths and makes recommendations for the next steps.
“It is no longer acceptable to put the delivery of quality cycling infrastructure in the too-hard basket”, says Bicycle NSW CEO Peter McLean. “The NSW Government now has a mandate to find future-proof solutions that address barriers created by infrastructure, topography and contested road space. We urge Transport for NSW to work closely with local experts at Sutherland Shire Council to return SCATL to the rail corridor alignment that the community wants and needs”.
This project provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver bike riding infrastructure that the Sutherland residents have advocated for since the early 2000s.
We suggest making contact with the project team to say that you want the safe and direct SCATL originally proposed. And please consider supporting our advocacy work on active transport infrastructure, both in Sutherland and across NSW, by joining the Bicycle NSW family today.
