Minister Paul Scully, Minister Ryan Park and Cunningham MP Alison Byrnes have announced a $12 million addition to the Mt Ousley Interchange project. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
The inclusion of a pedestrian and active transport bridge has been reintegrated into the Mt Ousley Interchange project after the connection was originally scrapped due to design issues and budget constraints.
The major infrastructure project to improve connectivity and safety around Mt Ousley has received a $12 million boost from the NSW Government to reinclude a key pathway into the designs for those travelling on foot or by bike.
“Whether you’re riding a bike or driving a B-double, the Mt Ousley Interchange project is going to work better for people going in and out and around Wollongong,” Wollongong MP and Planning Minister Paul Scully said.
“It won’t be an add-on afterwards; this will be integrated into the delivery.”
The pedestrian connection was pitched in the original designs but later removed before the project was finalised and construction began.
Mr Scully said the omission was necessary due to “confines of the budget we had at the time” and that active transport elements were often first on the chopping block due to a focus on the “core elements”.
There were also concerns about height limits, with the new design increasing the height to six and half metres to minimise limitations for freight from Port Kembla.
“We’ve been able to integrate the design into this that doesn’t limit the capacity of large items to be brought out of the port,” Mr Scully said. “It was always a concern that if we set the bridge at the wrong level we would limit the capacity for this interchange to work not just for people moving in and around the city but also having equipment and deliveries coming out of the port.”
The additional funding came after extensive feedback from the community, urging the government to reconsider the decision to remove the bridge.
“The bridge was taken out of the project and then through community advocacy we decided to really try and push the NSW Government to include the funding for this project,” Keira MP and Minister for the Illawarra and the South Coast Ryan Park said.
“I want to acknowledge the incredible community advocacy who spoke to Alison, Paul and I a number of times, at a number of different meetings and forums over an extended period of time.
“We’ve had so many local community advocates as well,” Cunningham MP Alison Byrnes said.
“We’ve had IBUG, the Keiraville Residents Action Group, the Neighbourhood Committee Forums, other community groups along with Wollongong City Council, some of our Indigenous elders as well all working together to come up with a great bridge, a great design for this massive infrastructure project that we have here for Mount Ousley.”
The new piece of infrastructure does come with the requirement to remove additional vegetation with decisions on how trees and other elements will be reintroduced to be made after the major parts of the reconstruction are complete.
“There’s some additional clearing that needs to happen; it’s not extensive and there will be efforts in part of the replanning,” Mr Scully said.
“Revegetation efforts in massive projects like this one are not new but they are part of the project scope.”
While stripping back vegetation even further could result in additional disturbances for local residents, Mr Scully said all parties were working with the community to minimise disruption, but it couldn’t always be avoided.
“Unfortunately there is no way you can do the massive safety and productivity upgrade that a nearly $400 million project involves without undertaking some of that and without having some inconvenience both to existing and future road users as well as nearby residents,” he said.
“At the moment we have probably the most dangerous road intersection and right-hand turn in the country; that has to be improved and the only way we can improve that is by making big investments like the one we’re doing.”
Work on the bridge is expected to start next year and be completed in 2028.
