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Re: Site of Rockdale Tram Depot



<snipped all>

The site of the Rockdale Tramway Depot hasn't been developed, because it is
part of the Southern Motorway reservation. The reservation was first made
circa 1949 after the Cumberland County Plan was introduced, a plan for the
Sydney metropolitan area which for a few years was enthusiastically received
by government, but simply disappeared into oblivion due to the need to
relieve massive housing shortages, a period of open-door immigration and the
political somnolescence of the 1950's and 1960's. The Cumberland County Plan
contained within it a plan for an extensive expressway network across
Sydney - some of them were built (M4, M2) but the vast majority have either
been completely deleted from the books, or simply on hold.

The Southern Motorway reservation is still in place. If you look in a street
directory, you'll notice a corridor of parklands and empty space stretching
from Riverine Park, Arncliffe all the way down to the Captain Cook Bridge.
On the Sutherland Shire side of the Cook Bridge, there's a similar corridor
that runs south-west from Gwawley Park, Taren Point down to near Miranda
Fair. The freeway was then planned to cross the Cronulla branchline at an
acute angle, then cross President Ave then head west somewhat parallel to
President Ave - the corridor is currently parkland west of North West Arm
Road and south of Forest Road.

This planned motorway was numbered the F6 in 1973 (two sections of the F6
have been completed - from Waterfall to Bulli Tops, and from Gwynneville to
Yallah in the Wollongong metropolitan area). If the road were to be built
now, it would probably be numbered the M1, as it would be part of Metroad 1
which stretches from Waterfall to Wahroongah via the Eastern Distributor.
The M1 motorway currently stretches from Gore Hill to Kyeemagh via the
Harbour Tunnel and the Eastern Distributor and Southern Cross Drive.

The Rockdale section of the M1 doesn't appear in the NSW government's
"Action for Transport 2010" document, probably due to the fact that there ar
e other more congested areas deserving of the traffic relief that freeways
bring.

regards
BT