CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
It seems that allowing fundamentalist Christian voices and property developers to take the reins of the state government for an entire decade has actually left New South Wales in a state of irreversible chaos.
That was confirmed last week with the opening of the new Rozelle Interchange – also known as the ‘Spaghetti Junction’ which has caused major traffic jams for commuters coming into the CBD from the engine room suburbs out west.
But it’s not just the invisible westies that are suffering.
The unforeseen inner-west gridlock has left packed buses effectively parked at a standstill, as a once 15-minute trip from Balmain to the CBD became a 45-minute journey.
The fact that this infrastructural binfire is now affecting the important people from harbour suburbs means that the government must address the issues, with Roads Minister John Graham calling a crisis meeting for all senior department staff on Sunday.
While government officials search valiantly for ways to shift the blame to actual citizens who can’t read road signs, transport experts say the Rozelle gridlock is a ‘forever problem’ because of ‘fundamental design flaws’ that has resulted in a system that is funnelling too many people into a road that is too small.
However, the NSW Government says that none of these problems could’ve have ever been identified until the interchange was officially opened, because they have spent the last ten years focusing all of their political capital and energy on restricting the weekend activities of young people and punters.
“In hindsight, we probably could’ve spent a bit more time actually examining what would happen when the M4, M8, Victoria Road, Western Distributor, City West Link and Western Harbour tunnel all converge on the stretch of road on the outskirts of the CBD” says a Transport NSW insider.
“Instead, we had a government that was hellbent on nearly losing elections by trying to ban greyhound racing so that Mike Baird could sell off the Wentworth Park dogs track to the Hillsong Church”
“Not to mention the amount of energy that went into implementing lock-out laws that crushed the night time economy of a major international city so that baby boomer property investors could enjoy their BBC murder mysteries in peace without having to listen the awful sound of young people having fun in the historical nightlife precincts”
“Oh well”
“I guess more people can work from home?”
