Homebush Bay Drive and Australia Avenue

Transport for NSW will carry out investigation work on Australia Avenue, Underwood Road and Homebush Bay Drive on and off ramps between Thursday 1 December 2022 and Tuesday 28 February 2023.

There will be no work from Friday 23 December 2022 to Sunday 8 January 2023.

For more information on the planned work, including a map of the investigation area, work schedule, and how the work will impact the community please view the November 2022 project update (PDF, 694Kb).

The Australian and NSW Governments have committed $100M to upgrade the intersection of Homebush Bay Drive, Australia Avenue and Underwood Road. In 2019 the Federal Government committed $50M towards the upgrade, through the Urban Congestion Fund Program. In 2019, the NSW Government committed $10M through the NSW Department of Planning and Environment Housing Acceleration Fund, with a further $40M allocated by the NSW Government in 2020.

Transport for NSW is responsible for developing and building the upgrade improvements.

Currently, motorists are experiencing significant delays, long queues and wait times at the intersection, particularly during AM, PM and weekend peak periods, and during special events at Sydney Olympic Park.

Congestion at the intersection impacts the local network, connectivity to Sydney Olympic Park and Homebush for all road users, bus service reliability for 525 and 526 bus routes, as well as reliable and efficient movement of commuters and freight movements within the regional traffic network.

Pre COVID-19 (December 2018) traffic counts indicate that around 4,500 vehicles per hour travel through the intersection during the weekday AM and PM peak periods. The intersection will see increasing traffic use in the years to come as Sydney Olympic Park and surrounds continue to develop.

The existing intersection also performs poorly in terms of road safety with 44 crashes reported at the intersection between 2016 and 2020. Contributing factors to this poor crash history could include congested traffic conditions, poor gap acceptance for vehicles entering the roundabout, poor legibility and signage, and poor lighting underneath the existing Homebush Bay Drive overbridge. Of the crashes, almost half were associated with rear-end crashes, reflecting the congested conditions during peak hours.

The proposed upgrade will ease congestion, increase safety, and improve travel times to Homebush and Sydney Olympic Park.

Subject to project approval construction is expected to commence in 2025 and take about 18 months to complete.

The preferred option was selected following a thorough planning, investigation and development process. This included three value management workshops held in 2021. Key stakeholders from Transport for NSW, City of Parramatta Council, Strathfield Municipal Council, NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Sydney Olympic Park Authority and the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications were all invited to attend the workshops.

Initially 12 options were identified for assessment for the project. Options identified and considered included roundabout improvements, overpasses, underpasses, and various signalised intersection options. A comparative assessment was carried out to assess the impacts and constraints of the 12 options, using a number of technical studies and investigations.

These options were comparatively assessed against:

• road safety
• traffic efficiency and capacity
• pedestrian and cyclist connectivity
• environmental impacts
• property and community needs
• construction and design benefits
• delivery cost and budget.

A signalised intersection, configured as a Diverging Diamond Interchange performed best overall when compared with the other options, and was selected as the preferred option. This innovative intersection arrangement will improve safety, efficiency, and capacity at the intersection more effectively than a conventional signalised intersection.

For further information view the project map and proposed traffic and active transport movement diagrams (PDF, 1.97Mb).

The Preferred Option Report (4.52Mb) provides more detail on the option selection process. This report is now available to read or download.

Key benefits of the preferred option include:

• improved connectivity to Sydney Olympic Park residential, recreational and commercial growth areas
• improved traffic flow and performance at the intersection
• improved travel time savings for all road users, particularly during AM, PM and weekend peaks, and during special events at Sydney Olympic Park
• improved travel times and service reliability for 525 and 526 bus routes users
• improved safety for all road users at the intersection and approaches
• safer and more efficient travel for pedestrians and cyclists
• reduced vehicle operating costs for all road users
• improved environmental and visual amenity.

Transport for NSW proposes upgrading the roundabout to a signalised intersection, configured as a Diverging Diamond Interchange.

Key features of the preferred option include:

• upgrading the existing roundabout to a signalised intersection to allow for real-time peak period adjustments
• widening Australia Avenue, Underwood Road and Homebush Bay Drive (southbound) off ramp approaches to three lanes
• providing a U turn lane on the Homebush Bay Drive (northbound) approach to allow traffic flow back onto Homebush Bay Drive (southbound) on ramp towards M4 Motorway
• providing left slip lanes at all approaches
• widening existing pedestrian footpaths on Australia Avenue and Underwood Road to provide shared use (pedestrian and cyclist) pathways
• providing coordinated pedestrian activated traffic signals on all approaches
• building a signalised shared use crossing on Australia Avenue
• upgrading existing signalised pedestrian crossings on Homebush Bay Drive on and off ramp approaches and Underwood Road to signalised shared use crossings
• building new shared use refuge islands
• improving existing on-road bicycle lanes.

Transport for NSW is carefully considering all feedback received from community consultation on the preferred option that ended on Sunday 5 June 2022. Once completed, a report which summarises community and stakeholder feedback, and Transport for NSW responses, will be published on the project webpage.

We will continue to keep community members and stakeholders informed as planning progresses by community notifications and updates to the project webpage.

If you would like to receive project updates direct to your email, please email australia.avenue@transport.nsw.gov.au and we will add you to our mailing list.

In response to the evolving COVID-19 situation, Transport for NSW is carrying out consultation in different ways to limit the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the community can have their say.

Homebush Bay Drive and Australia Avenue community information session

The community were invited to attend an online information session via Microsoft Teams on Wednesday 4 May 2022 at 4:00pm.

During the information session the project team explained what upgrades are being proposed and how this will benefit the community. Community members were invited to provide feedback, with some of the questions from the community answered during the livestream. All feedback received will be included in the consultation report, that will be published in late 2022.

The information session was recorded, so that anyone who could not attend the session could watch what happened live at a later time.

The community session is available to watch on our interactive portal.

Inner West Transport Community Forum

The project team were invited to talk to the Inner West community via a livestream community forum held on Tuesday 31 May 2022. Community members were invited to provide feedback, with some of the questions from the community answered during the livestream. All feedback received will be included in the consultation report, that will be published in late 2022.

The May 2022 Inner West Transport Community Forum is available to watch on the Transport for NSW Inner West Interactive portal.

• April 2022 Frequently asked questions

  Homebush Bay Drive and Australia Avenue intersection upgrade.

• November 2022 community notification

  Investigation work on Australia Avenue, Underwood Road and Homebush Bay Drive on and off ramps from Thursday 1 December 2022.

• June 2022 community notification

  Investigation work on Australia Avenue, Underwood Road and Homebush Bay Drive northbound on/off ramps from Monday 13 June 2022.

• April 2022 community notification

  Have you say.

• April 2022 Preferred Option Report

  Homebush Bay Drive and Australia Avenue intersection upgrade.