Sydney Road Plan will cause traffic Chaos

​Proposed changes to Sydney Road to accommodate the Entrance and Exit Ramps for the Manly Oval Car Park​ will be a disaster according to local experts.

The above plan comes from a report commissioned by Manly Council and provided to the three companies invited to tender for the construction of the Manly Oval Car Park, and is the one used by the successful tenderer Abergeldie.  The plan shows the location of:

• The Roundabout (A):  A roundabout is at the intersection of Sydney Road and  Eustace Street to allow cars and buses to exit from Eustace Street in two directions – up Sydney Road and down Sydney Road by using the roundabout. Large vehicles (incl out-of-service and tourist buses, garbage trucks and heavy duty trucks) currently turning right into Sydney Road from Eustace Street will need to negotiate the roundabout to make a right hand turn.
• Entry Ramp (B):  For cars coming down Sydney Road from the West, entry is from the left hand lane and after the chicane and going into the roundabout. The ramp starts in an area that is currently the pavement and pedestrian walkway between Sydney Road and the Oval.  Cars coming from the Eastern Hill, Queenscliff or Manly Flats will turn up Sydney Road at the intersection of Belgrave Street and Sydney Road and after entering the roundabout will turn into the entry ramp (B). 
• Exit Ramps (C and D):  For cars wanting to drive up Sydney Road to go West, they exit the car park using exit ramp C which enters Sydney Road in what is currently a middle lane in Sydney Road.  For cars wanting to drive down Sydney Road towards Manly CBD, they exit on ramp D that enters the left lane of Sydney Road – and for cars that need to turn right into Belgrave Street it will be necessary to very quickly cross into the right hand land.  This arrangement also requires the loss of the pedestrian walkway on the pavement.

It is not difficult to see that this arrangement is totally dumb and will create major traffic problems.  As Sydney Road is deemed a major street, any changes need to be agreed and approved by the  RMS.  If this arrangement is adopted, it will need to be reviewed and approved by the RMS.
 
The following are some of the more obvious problems with this arrangement:

• Loss of the emergency entrance for ambulances into Manly Oval on the South side of the Oval.
• The pavement and pedestrian walkway between Sydney Road and the Oval will need to be replaced with some form of elevated walkway over the exit and entrance ramps.  This could involve stairs that will preclude mothers with prams, disabled people in wheelchairs and people on mobility scooters from walking down the northern side of Sydney Road.
• Due to the encroachment onto Oval land to accommodate the entrance and exit ramps, it is likely that the current walkway around the oval will be lost. 
• There will be only one lane in Sydney Road going West from Belgrave Street.  The creation of a major “pinch point” in traffic flow at the roundabout that will force cars currently using Sydney Road to exit Manly to find alternate routes along the Fairlight/Balgowlah Corridor (ie Lauderdale Avenue and White Street) or go up Raglan Street and into Griffin Street in Balgowlah.
• Loss of on-street parking places on Sydney Road – approximately 100 parking spaces will be lost.
• Safety issue for cyclists using Sydney Road.

 
Perhaps, one of the biggest concerns is that of safety.

• The gradient of Sydney Road coming down from Birkley Road is steep and this places cars and buses in the roundabout at risk because of they will be largely unsighted to down-hill  traffic in Sydney Road because of the barrier wall around the up-hill ramp. Under roundabout rules, once a vehicle has entered a roundabout, it has right-of-way over any vehicle not in the roundabout.  This will create a dangerous situation with eastbound down-hill vehicles having to brake heavily and late to avoid accidents. Accidents will likely increase significantly in number and severity at that location under the proposed roundabout configuration. The situation will be significantly more dangerous during the night when the headlights of cars entering the roundabout from Eustace St will be obscured by the barrier wall around the up-hill ramp.

 
To get more information on the problems associated with this arrangement, go to the review by David Wunder at http://www.savemanlyoval.com.au/traffic-report.html.
 
David Wunder, Ian Sharp and Terry le Roux
Save Manly Oval Alliance
15 April 2016