Beaches Link and Gore Hill Freeway Connection

My name is Christine Fleifel. My daughter is a student at St Cecilia's and my son will follow her there when he is of age. My question is regarding Community Receiver sites: Why has the closest school to the construction site and exhaust stack been deemed "not sensitive" and not given Community Receiver status?
CH12 of the EIS deals with air quality. Section 12:12 deals with Community Receivers. Described as follows in the EIS.
• ‘Community receivers. These were taken to be representative of particularly sensitive locations such as schools, childcare centres and hospitals within a zone up to 1.5 kilometres either side of the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link program of works corridor, and generally near significantly affected roadways. In total, 42 community receivers were included in the assessment (refer to Figure 12-3).
I quote from section 12:12 of Chapter-12 of the EIS: "While some sensitive locations might not have been selected as representative community receivers, they have still been assessed as residential, workplace and recreational receivers in the model. For example, while the Northern Beaches Secondary College – Balgowlah Boys Campus has not been included as a community receiver, the potential air quality impacts at that location have been predicted and are considered in the discussion of results for residential, workplace and recreational receivers below in Section 12.5 and Section 12.6.”
Your report identifies the following locations as Community Receivers in the Balgowlah area closest to the construction site.
Appendix-H, Air Quality: Part-1 pages 103-104.
1. CR28: Peek a Boo Cottage
2. CR29: St Cecilia’s Catholic Primary School
3. CR30: Seaforth Public School
4. CR31: Punchinello Kindergarten
In the same order these locations are the following straight-line distances from the location of the exhaust stack and acoustic shed area of the Balgowlah Construction site
1. CR28: Peek a Boo Cottage: South West - 870 meters
2. CR29: St Cecilia’s Catholic Primary School: South East -
3. CR30: Seaforth Public School: West to South West – 358 meters
4. CR31: Punchinello Kindergarten: North East – 420 meters
St Cecilia's is only 430m away from the construction site and has over 200 very small children in attendance. I am gravely concerned about the quality of air the students will need to breath in every single day for years on construction. I am appalled the government is expecting us parents to allow this for our very small children. In the view of the medical experts (through the NSW Chief Medical Officer and the technical experts on air flow from ventilation stacks) there will definitely be an increase in the level of air toxins in the atmosphere close to the stacks (1.2 km and below), but the “modelling” tells the experts that not enough people will die as a result of the increase in air toxins to justify the expenditure on filtration to justify the additional expense on installing filtration in order to reduce those additional deaths.
I am also a resident of Seaforth and am gravely concerned about the ongoing air quality of the unfiltered stacks so close to my home.
I also raise an objection to the creation of rat runs in the Balgowlah and Seaforth local areas as commuters find new streets to join the tunnel. We moved to this area for clean air and peaceful enjoyment and avoided areas of the beaches that have this rat runs in place. This is just moving the problem as we have no adequate public transport on the beaches so you are forcing more cars onto roads. The time saving benefits are marginal and once the tunnel has been opened for a few years the commute in the city will return to pre tunnel levels.
I am also concerned about the destruction of bushland and green open space especially the Burnt Bridge Creek and the Wakehurst Parkway and the impact this has to local wildlife included the flying fox colony. Toxic sedimement will run into Middle Harbour and Manly Dam not to mention the removal of trees.
I am not opposed to the construction of viable roads that respect the local environment and the health and safety of the local community especially children however I feel strongly opposed to this project for these reasons. I believe their should have been more consultation with the local community and the tunnel entrances would have been better placed is a area with less schools and bushland and should have incorporated public transport options.

I’m greatly concerned about Northbridge Sailing Club’s sailing area being greatly compromised. All our sailing courses will be affected by the maritime exclusion zones between Seaforth Bluff and Clive Park associated with the submerged tunnel works across Middle Harbour, and the temporary re-location of yacht moorings into a zone northwest of Seaforth Bluff.

NSC is a significant part of my life. I love sailing, and the works will mean sailing at NSC will become more difficult, less attractive, and even potentially completely infeasible. NSC is a jewel of a club, with an amazing history and a strong community ethos, helping people like myself to sail, a sport which is of particular importance in these Covid-19 affected times, being inherently a socially-distanced, outdoor pursuit that greatly assists with the collective mental health of the community (even in non-Covid times).

The impact on our club and community will be profound. With the sailing degraded we may lose members or be less able to attract new members, which affects the club’s viability. We depend on volunteers for our maintenance and improvements; if membership drops then there is simply less of a critical mass to regenerate the club following the Beaches Link construction.

We request TfNSW minimize the impact of maritime restrictions by urgently consulting in good faith with Northbridge Sailing Club, to help assist in retaining and regaining NSC’s attractiveness/viability.

The Beaches Link project would mean significant destruction of our fragile environment to drive yet more traffic and major development into a finite Northern Beaches space.
Here are just a few more thoughts for your submission.
Wakehurst Parkway would become a 4 to 6 lane freeway across a narrow escarpment, causing unstoppable ongoing pollution into sensitive creeks and waterways at Manly Dam and Garigal National Park. 39 football fields of bushland would be cleared as well as 2,000 trees. The road would be raised several metres in some areas- making it audible and visible, day and night, for miles around.
Unfiltered exhaust stacks would emit double the maximum limit of particulates recommended by the World Health Authority. This would cover a 1.2km radius per stack. Treasured threatened species such as the Eastern Pygmy Possum (plus diverse bird life) would suffer habitat loss. The capacity to swim in clean freshwater at Manly Dam would be put at considerable risk. Our unique Climbing Galaxias fish faces a bleak future.
Down the road at Balgowlah. Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation would become 12 lanes. The creek itself would die as its flow is to be reduced by 96%. During construction, 425,000 litres of waste water will be washed into Manly Lagoon every Day!
For residents, there will be many years of noise, dust, disturbance and interruption for little or no reduction in travel time- as arterial roads are projected to become congested.
At Middle Harbour there is potential for toxic chemicals being disturbed during dredging, posing a major threat to the marine environment.
This flawed plan needs major changes and modern public transport options must be explored.

I object to the tunnel construction in Balgowlah/Seaforth due to 2 main reasons;
1. The location of the Northern Beaches exit
This will create an increase in air pollution both during construction and afterwards.
I am yet to receive an explanation as to why the location of the exit moved south, closer to Sydney rd. This change was put into effect in December 2020 from my understanding.
2. The impact to Burnt Bridge creek (BBC) and the eco-corridor
Up to 96% of the base water flow of BBC will be lost causing irreversible damage to the eco-system it supports.

Look forward to receiving a response to the above matters and sincerely hope the project team addresses these matters.

Specifically in regards to the Beaches Link project I cannot rationalise the benefits against the plethora of costs.
The project is slated to slightly improve transit times between the CBD and the Beaches for a few years post completion, although as we know from other tunnels in the Greater Sydney area that traffic in tunnels is often matched by traffic out of the tunnel with many drivers choosing to use surface roads over a tunnel creating numerous rat runs through otherwise quiet residential streets.
Even if the slated travel time reduction is achieved, it will have been at the cost of 6+ years of significant traffic disruption at two locations which currently serve as significant arterial roads both in Cammeray and Balgowlah. It seems non-sensical to disrupt traffic and increase delays for 6+ years in order to reduce transit times for a similar number of years, surely providing better public transport options between the locations in an attempt to remove the number of vehicles on the road which would render the existing infrastructure more useful, reduce the environmental impact of vehicles on the environment and save the irreversible damage to the Burnt Bridge Creek which is habitat to the grey-headed flying fox colony.
$14B to build a tunnel to improve traffic which will actually result in 6+ years of traffic disruption, environmental damage and community heartache could be much better spent on upgrading and increasing public transport infrastructure & options and ensuring the existing roadways and transport infrastructure are in good condition.

I have a lot of concerns about the project - please see my comments attached. Regards, Alena

Whilst I support the Beaches Link project there is one aspect of this project that causes me considerable concern. The tunnel section to be laid between Clive Park and Seaforth using coffer dams and a method of placement of tunnel sections from the surface will seriously affect the operations and viability of Northbridge Sailing Club (NSC) where I regularly take part in club activities. I am a member of the club and have been a member of the club's committee. The club is a non-profit organisation and unlike other, larger clubs with revenue from pokie machines, alcohol sales and so on, the club receives a high proportion of it's revenue from club membership. This membership is at serious risk of decline if sailing cannot be held at the club - which I see as potentially the case due to the restrictions that will apply on the movement of vessels close to the working area of the tunnel construction. I urge the NSW Government to work with the club to find ways to ensure that the club does not suffer what could be serious financial disruption through the inability to hold racing in the waters surrounding the club.

During the last 12 months the club provided an essential means of socialisation and activity that was able to continue throughout the COVID 19 pandemic. The many children and adults that form part of the club membership and supporters rely heavily on the club to provide a way of ensuring that the mental and physical health of all involved was maintained. The club's activities involve not just the members - many of whom are part of young families in the area - but often their entire family. When my son raced at the club for example it was not unusual for not just his immediate family to head down to the club to watch and take part but also his grandparents. There are many more people affected by any disruption to the club's activities than is perhaps reflected in the numbers of members.

Sailing at NSC is an activity that has been ongoing since the end of WWII. The club is focussed on teaching children and adults to sail and is responsible for ensuring that sailing remains an accessible activity for anyone wanting to get involved. The club has survived despite the fact that the club has rather poor access, limited parking and limited funding and also provides access to the wharf and pontoon at the front of the club to any member of the public 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The cost of maintaining these public assets, the facilities in the club building, a small fleet of power boats, training sailboats and so on is considerable. Any action that places the membership base at risk also therefore places the ability of the public to continue to enjoy the amenity provided by the club at risk.
Please consult with the club committee to find ways to ensure that this important institution responsible for teaching some of Sydney's best sailors how to sail remains a viable club into the future.

regards - Luke Fennell.

On the basis of the massive environmental and cultural impact (for limited societal gain), particularly on the students of Balgowlah Boys High School, the residents of Seaforth and Balgowlah, and the users of Upper Middle Harbour in particular the members of Northbridge Sailing Club Limited incorporating Seaforth Moth Sailing Club. Please see attached submission in that regard.

I strongly object to the proposed Beaches Link Tunnel (“BLT”).

The proposed project has been inadequately studied and modelled, and misrepresents the supposed benefits of increased road capacity.

The billions of dollars proposed to be spent on the project have been sold to a poorly-informed public as a near term fix for traffic congestion, which some residents and taxpayers misinterpret as a nearly immediate solution to the problem.

Instead, the project will involve many years of increased congestion as a result of the impact of construction, and in the longer term offers only an illusory solution to the longer term traffic problem: the work undertaken by TfNSW erroneously dismisses the impact of induced demand on traffic, which will see both the BLT and existing surface roads become congested in the short term post completion, in exactly the same way every other road project fails to successfully address congestion.

In order to achieve its dubious claims, the BLT will massively disrupt the lives of local residents, and will have significant and unacceptable longer term consequences. In the short term, construction noise and pollution will have a significantly negative impact on quality of life, and local residents will be asked to put up with not being able to navigate their own neighbourhoods as a result of the congestion on local roads during the construction period. Local residents and visitors will suffer from the loss of use of such popular locations as Clontarf Beach, or risk adverse effects to their health from continuing to use them.

Longer term, apart from failing in its sole purpose of addressing traffic congestion, the project will lead to irreparable damage to the environment and the health and wellbeing of local residents, as well as the safety of local children whose schools lie in proximity to the project.

The project is fundamentally flawed and poorly designed. It will ruin whole neighbourhoods in the Northern Beaches at vast expense, for minimal travel time savings. Furthermore, the NSW Government can’t justify the immense project expense based on traffic projections - and if they could they either (a) are not telling the people of the Northern Beaches about what they intend to do to massively build out the population to generate traffic growth and even then (b) the tunnel would be inadequate if we continue to focus on private road transport as the solution.

I attach a more detailed set of reasons for my objection.

Being an Anzac Park Public School parent, I am very concerned on how this is going to affect my daughters health in the future with all the pollution and noise. Please see attached

I am a resident of Dawson Street, and am witness to the eco systems that will be destroyed should this process proceed. Not less the impact this project will have on our amenity as residents.

Flat Rock Gully is our back yard, our children walk through the paths DAILY providing teaching opportunities on the importance of caring for our wilderness. My 5 year old daughter does NOT understand how any government would consider destroying a huge part of this environment. And frankly neither can we.

We are VERY concerned about the added NOISE and POLLUTION you are going to pump into our lives. There is NO noise barriers even considered along Flat Rock Road. Considering there will be an estimated 900 extra cars/trucks on the road per day, I am at a loss as to why this was not even considered.

The EIS has flagged many of these concerns for our area, however again they seem to have been ignored. The excessive noise above acceptable levels, ground movement impacts, unfiltered stacks RIGHT next to where our children go to school, the loss of trees / habitats for our wildlife, waste being discharged into our creeks... it goes on and on.

Currently I have not seen any benefits to outweigh such impacts.

I implore.. please reconsider this project. Please THINK about long term impacts to the residents who are severely impacted, yet yield no benefit. Putting MORE CARS on the road and disrupting important eco systems ... there has to be a better way.

The rationale for the Northern Beaches Tunnel is incomplete and not driven by up-to-date traffic data. To say that the journey from Balgowlah to the CBD will be reduced by 30 minutes is just not possible. The traffic data used is pre-COVID and does not take into account the permanent change to an increased work from home model which will vastly reduce traffic from the Northern Beaches to the CBD. Accurate, audited forecast data must be provided before the project is even considered for approval.
The permanent environmental damage to our wildlife, fauna and removal of green space created will be highly detrimental to our area. Of huge concern is the close proximity of the unfiltered exhaust stack to Balgowlah Boys High School and residential housing including my own property. The likelihood of toxic waste in Middle Harbour is another major potential cause of health issues eg. to children such as my son swimming at Clontarf. Noise pollution 24/7 is another issue not quantified in the EIS which will damage the local environment. These issues need to be removed before approval for this project is given.
The certainty of rat runs via local streets in Balgowlah, including my own Upper Beach Street, is a massive concern and will endanger local children and affect residents and schools with 24hr traffic noise. The report acknowledges that the project will drive traffic through local streets but does not state what specific action will be taken to mitigate this. Also the hundreds of construction workers will be parking in local streets which are already at full capacity. The area simply cannot bear this extra traffic. Full consideration of impact on local traffic and a specific solution are needed before the Beaches Link tunnel is approved.
In conclusion, the Beaches Link tunnel is not needed. As a directly affected resident of Balgowlah, I strongly object to the project and ask that it be scrapped.

I object to the building and construction of the northern beaches tunnel link for various reasons:
Environmental impact and loss of habitat for local wildlife, including the destruction of the creek between north Balgowlah and seaforth.
Enormous impact to local residents - including a decade of disruption due to construction, 24/7 tunnelling and then ongoing constant pollution that is above the WHO recommendations.
And for all that damage, no real benefit because it doesn’t even save much time or reduction in traffic. COVID and increasingly flexible work from home arrangements made a much bigger impact on traffic than this will and didn’t cause 10 years of lifestyle disruption, constant increased pollution and destruction of local habitat.

I object to this project for many reasons:
1. I am extremely concerned about the plan to dig up the very old tip site in Flat Rock Valley with grossly inadequate investigation. This is in a residential area surrounded by kids' playing fields and on top of a watercourse/in a catchment that leading to Middle Harbour. It is very disappointing that despite identifying that there is a high risk of contaminants the project has not properly tested for them and quantified that risk. What has always been a bad idea is heading down the path of a full blown health and environmental disaster. There is a requirement for at least a full Stage 2 contamination assessment.
2. The extreme impacts of the 900 daily construction vehicle movements on Flat Rock Drive and the removal of 3 million tonnes of spoil over a 5 year period. This will be added to the extensive vehicle movements and work added to the Western Harbour and Warringah Freeway works at Cammeray and multiple construction sites at Artarmon and Middle Harbour. This will mean heavy construction on the North Shore for at least seven years.
3. Taking a broader view, the cost of this project and the disruption it will cause is not justified. There appears to have been no investigation of public transport alternatives. I call for a publically available assessment of the Dee Why to Chatswood mass transit alternative to this high risk/ high cost/ low benefit transport option before any approvals are given. The EIS should be re-issued for public consultation with this information included so the public can fully understand the risks and compare the benefits.

I strongly object to this project!!!

I don't believe we should be making bigger roads to accommodate more cars. There are already enough cars on the road. We should be considering better public transport options to keep cars off the road! This also takes into consideration the impact that more traffic has on our environment. Not only will this bigger road increase the number of cars, it will increase carbon gas emissions within the local area. My concern with this is the fact that there are 4 local public schools within a 1km radius of the emission stacks - this is not going to have a positive impact on the local children and could increase the incidence of respiratory issues within the schools and community. It will also have a massive detrimental impact on the local flora and fauna in close proximity to the site.

Another concern is the impact this is going to have on our beautiful green spaces we have such as Manly Dam, Burnt Bridge Creek, Garigal National Park and Bantry Bay. Everyone who lives in this area is so grateful for these spaces. What will be the future ramifications of losing waterways and ecosytems for more traffic???? These native bushland and waterways need to be preserved for the future of our children. How can the loss of all of these amazing spaces for justified for more cars on the road!?

I believe that the local roads, once you have exited the tunnel - are going to be worse than before the tunnel? Therefore, already congested roads into Manly and the local traffic zones are going to be worse. Currently, more than 40,000 cars head into Manly and the Northern Beaches over the weekend, so how are the local roads going to cope with the extra cars that are going to be travelling on this freeway? There are many areas in the local area that become bottle necks - has the NB council taken these into consideration?? We decided to live in this area based on the fact that it is less populated than the other side of the city.

In light of the current health pandemic, people are choosing to and are able to work from home. This is therefore going to reduce the amount of traffic on the roads - has this even been taken into consideration? The community has continued to request better public transport into the city - has this been included in the design phase of the project - I would like to hope so!!

Please reconsider this project, and trial a better public transport system - this would be creating more jobs for people, improving the traffic, reducing pollution and allowing people to get to this little piece of paradise we live in without a 12 lane freeway running through the middle of it!! Maybe have a listen to the son Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell!!

I am alarmed that Northbridge Sailing Club’s (NSC) current sailing area in Middle Harbour will be greatly affected during the building of the tunnels from Clive Park to Seaforth Bluff (planned from 2023 to 2027).
Most of our current sailing courses will be impossible to use with the planned maritime exclusion zones necessary for the submerged tunnel works adjacent to NSC largely cutting through the middle of most of our courses. The planned re-location of yacht moorings into a zone north of Seaforth Bluff will further restrict our current sailing areas.
Sailing at NSC will be greatly compromised and restricted during the lengthy (4 years?) construction period. It may ultimately threaten the Clubs existence if members drift away to sail in more convenient locations.
I and many other members of NSC would like Transport for NSW to consider ways to reduce the impact of the construction on this great Club by consulting with the Northbridge Sailing Club board representatives, to assist in maintaining NSC’s viability as a desirable and thriving Community asset on the shores of Middle Harbour.

1) 5-7 year project time frame is too long,amenity of local green space and Balgowlah Golf club will be lost forever.The golf club is over 90 years old and will not be replaced if this project goes ahead.This is unforgivable.
2)Thousands of mature trees will be lost,thereby increasing the CO2 levels of the area
3)Burnt Bridge creek will be reduced to to drain status,with the downstream impact not assessed by the EIS.
4)The cost of the project will blow out as all other road/tunnel projects have done and with only a 10% reduction in traffic through Mosman.This is poor value for taxpayers money
5)The excavations in Middle Harbour will release deadly toxins into the harbour and fish will be poisoned and therefore inedible.Swimming will also be impossible due to the toxins released.
6)The huge number of trucks taking away the spoil every day will make the local area unliveable with the noise and associated dust.
7)The tunnel exhausts will pour concentrated pollutants into the local schools and housing areas causing major future health problems.
8)Major road congestion will occur on local roads when the 580 daily trucks combine with normal

To whom it may concern
I have many concerns with the potential construction of the Northern Beaches Link.

Reassessment of Project Need owing to Traffic Numbers and the Modelling into the future
In the Environmental Impact Statement the traffic modelling has been done on numbers from 2016. The world has changed since then. Huge numbers are now working from home, including my husband, who now only goes into the CBD by car once or twice a week at the very most, and now chooses to travel at times that are not considered to be the peak. The introduction of the B-Line bus service has also heavily impacted the amount of private car traffic along Military Road during peak hours. The B-Line started in November 2017 and this has not been considered in your 2016 modelling. We should be encouraging people onto public transport, and the B-Line has proven this is how people want to go from its popularity. This, with WFH, means the idea for the whole project should be reconsidered; at the very least it should not be a 6 lane tunnel.

Impact on Manly Dam and its environment
As it says on page 39 The “Council would have significant concerns about any decrease to water quality in Manly Creek”. As I understand it, this means that the water quality in the dam and its surrounds could become so polluted that, on top of the immense environmental impact to local fauna and flora, Manly Dam could become unsafe for wildlife and recreational usage. This Dam is a valuable local resource - beloved by locals and a welcome retreat from the hustle of the outside world, yet the construction of a 6 lane raised freeway behind it will cause terrible damage. Protection of the local natural environment, bushland and waterways, overseen by an independent commission, must be a condition of approval of this project - offsetting by protecting other environments elsewhere far is not enough. We have little bushland in this suburban area and Manly Dam and its environs must be protected.

Unnecessary Widening of Wakehurst Parkway
Using this road at least 4 times a week in both directions as some of my children are at school in Oxford Falls, I have just spent numerous years in traffic owing to the construction at the junction with Warringah Road. Thankfully. in 2021, this road is now a pleasure to use. The traffic has been alleviated and all the years in jams are over. It does not need to be widened to 6 lanes, even with a tunnel to the city at one end of it. The environmental and community damage this would cause needs to be more carefully considered as a part of the project. It is a 'Parkway' for a reason - not a Freeway. The amount of lanes required needs to be re-examined and modelling of potential traffic numbers needs to be revised as a condition of any planning application.

Impact on Balgowlah Boys' (Northern Beaches Secondary College)
The impact on this high school will be great. Not only do the unfiltered emissions from the tunnel's proposed air stacks pose a huge risk to multiple children with conditions such as asthma, but how a sports field, Balgowlah Oval, nearby will manage to provide a healthy environment for activities is impossible without immediate reconsideration of the proposal. The school is already on a cramped site, and the numbers are growing; it requires a sports field for its 900 or so students for the full school experience. As Balgowlah Oval will remain operational through the whole construction phase and EIS does concede that the oval would have
diminished appeal of use during this time, more stringent conditions need to be attached to both the air stacks and the construction phase so the school students are not impacted negatively.

Thank you for considering these comments.
Katherine Grant

The entrance to the tunnel has been moved in the latest design to much further up the Burnt Bridge Deviation (alongside Hope St). The impact on Hope St residents is clearly vastly greater than in previous designs.
Most notably there are now 10 lanes of traffic (as opposed to the current 4 (not including the bus lanes)). Which even if these are pushed further East towards Dudley Street will create more ongoing noise.
The entrance to the actual tunnel and the canopy over it, is at the mid way point for properties on Hope Street. If the current design remain this canopy should be expanded north as close to the slip road (old Dudley Road) entrance to provide more noise protection for those properties.
As you can see many properties on the East side of Hope St are virtually on the boundary of the Burnet Bridge Deviation, so any extra canopy over the tunnel entrance and pushing it further north will provide more noise and dust protection for most if not all properties on the East side (of Hope St).

Finally in the virtual information session for Hope Street, there were questions about the environment impact on local animal, plant and fauna. I found this was vastly downplayed in the session. From now reading the materials, there are clearly several endangered plants and fauna. The bat colony will be impacted by both removal of vegetation and the constant noise (in fact the very same tactic was used to remove them from the botanical gardens so to suggest the new entrance is a good outcome for them (as was done in the info session is misleading).

Please see attached letter outlining my objections to this Project as a concerned and socially responsible Anzac Park Public School Parent.
Thank you for taking the time to review my letter.