The Proposed Route

Transurban and the RTA propose to widen the M2 Motorway in northern Sydney to provide 3 lanes eastbound from Windsor road to Lane Cove Road and 3 Lanes westbound from Lane Cove Road to Pennant Hills Road. This is a critical cycling route providing easy across difficult terrain to Northwest Business Park, Macquarie Park, Lane Cove West and beyond.

On 10 November 2009 Bike North representatives (along with CAMWest and BNSW reps) attended our first meeting with Transurban and other project partners (RTA, Leighton) on this project. The planning has taken two years already and the concept design is completed and arrangements completed with the RTA.

The final project outcome will reinstate the 2.5m wide break-down lane for vehicles along the full width of the Motorway including through the Epping tunnel. This lane will be available to cyclists, but detail designs are unavailable at this stage. This is a significant win for cyclists and is recognition of the importance of cycling and the strength of our reaction on a previous widening.

However, while the final outcome brings back the previous conditions, cyclists will lose access to the motorway for the 2-year construction period. During this time an alternate route will be provided. Bike advocates propose a properly-constructed fully off-road cycleway while the current project scope proposes existing roads well off the M2, with direction signage. Further discussion is required.

M2 Update, February 2010

At a meeting on February 11 Bike North representatives were handed a report by the consultants engaged to assess the bicycle detour route. That document was circulated among the M2 workgroup members and a response prepared and sent on February 22.

M2 Update, 1 December 2009

At the 25 November meeting with representatives from the RTA, Transurban (M2 owners), Leightons (construction contractors), BNSW (Alex Unwin) and Bike North (Graeme Edwards and Doug Stewart), it was revealed that the RTA has completely changed its emphasis on the type of cycling facilities needed in Sydney. The RTA, contrary to its own guidelines, no longer recognises "regional cycling routes".

The new RTA strategy is all about local and district journeys and it is quite clear that the RTA's focus from now on will be on short trips (up to 5 km) from a local traffic destination. The whole plan will be to link the local area into the local shops or local business centre without any thought as to how to join all these little pockets up. The RTA can now conveniently ignore the problem of traversing these nodes with usable cycle routes. It can also pass on responsibility for the routes and end-of-trip provision to local councils, and we can only hope they will also pass on significantly increased funding.

This does not mean that cyclists will not get a continuous route while the M2 is being widened, nor does it mean that cyclists will be banned from the upgraded M2 when it is finished. It does mean however, that the detour route will meet only minimum standards.

At the end of the project cyclists will be able to use the North Epping M2 tunnel in both directions, apparently they have found a way to widen it. But there will be no grade separation on the new off and on ramps, and there will be no special provisions made in order to improve safety for cyclists. They will not put in Vibraline to separate the traffic lanes from the breakdown lane, except maybe in the tunnel.

It was made clear that there is no chance of an off-road M7 style facility, there is no chance of staying partially on the M2 during construction, and there is no chance of early access to built sections or critical links. The RTA will not make any design concessions because it does not want cyclists on the M2.

The alternate route, during the widening construction, is intended to be completed prior to commencement of construction work on the M2. The proposed route has many major problems, of which the non-cyclists seemed to be unaware (see Saddle Survey 2009-11-14). Bike North is preparing a detailed document describing these and making recommendations as to how they can be overcome.

Transurban's budget for the alternate cycle route is currently set at a miserly $900,000, clearly well under what is required. There is much work to do if we are to get more than paint and a few signs. Transurban was not able to explain how it came up with such a small budget, given the eventual cost of the 2007 widening detour, much of which was borne by the RTA. None of the non-cycling representatives knew whether anybody had actually ridden the route during its planning, nor were they willing to participate in a saddle survey with Bike North.

M2 Widening Project

The Proposed Route

M2 Update, February 2010

M2 Update, 1 December 2009