Metro Strategy Feedback Part 3 – Transport Priorities

"Cities are shaped by where people live, where they work, and how they get around. When these three things are in tune with the structure of the economy, cities operate efficiently and productively, and drive growth and innovation".

Jane-Frances Kelly 2013

"The most important urban design decision Vancouver ever made ... [was the] decision to prioritize the ways we get around, rather than balance them.... first walking, then biking, and then transit, in that order".

Brent Toderian 2013

Integrating transport planning and land-use planning is absolutely critical to delivering a successful metropolitan strategy. The draft metro strategy recognises the importance of transport-oriented-development, however the strategy prioritise current projects and lacks any framework to quantify why these projects should be prioritised and how they will improve productivity, sustainability or liveability.

As mentioned in the quotes above it is critical that transport planning is in tune with the structure of the economy and we need to set clear priorities for modes of transport. I believe there is an opportunity to combine the these two ideas by prioritising different forms of transport in different locations based on different structures of the economy. This approach maps the three main economic sectors (primary, secondary, tertiary) and the transport infrastructure that supports their productivity. In table 1 we see the primary and secondary sectors are predominantly dependant on roads and motorways, while the tertiary sector is predominantly dependent on infrastructure that supports pedestrian transport, such as; footpaths, passenger rail, buses, ferries and bicycle paths.

Table 1. Economic sectors and transport modes


Primary Industry	Secondary Industry	Tertiary Industry
Infrastructure for moving resources, goods and people through low density regions over vast distances	Infrastructure for moving, goods and people through low density areas. Requires high capacity motorways and rail connected to ports, warehousing and manufacturing facilities	Infrastructure for moving people through congested urban environments. Requires pedestrian infrastructure supported by bus, rail, ferry and bicycle networks, connected to rail and air ports for interurban transport
Roads Motorways Freight Rail	Roads Motorways Freight Rail Airport Seaports	Footpaths Bicycle paths Bus lanes Passenger Rail Airports

This model is then overlay onto a spatial plan of metropolitan region. We will first look at the spatial typology of the primary and secondary sector.

Primary and secondary sector transport infrastructure

The primary economic sector (agriculture and mining) and secondary economic sector (manufacturing) is predominantly located on the urban fringe. This spatial structure is due to the lower cost of land which shifts these uses to the metropolitan fringe. Diagram 2 provides a spatial plan for how the predominant need for road infrastructure should be located to support the primary and secondary sectors.

Diagram 2 - Primary and Secondary sector road infrastructure

The analysis illustrates the existing infrastructure and identifies priority projects for the delivery of a well-connected motorway network that has redundancy and improved accessibility. Redundancy for resilience against major incidents (floods, bush fires, accidents), and accessibility through avoiding congested urban centres. The priority projects are;

A dedicated freight roadway or lanes connecting Port Botany to the western region of Sydney
Connecting the Princess Hwy to the M5 near Liverpool
Connecting the M1 to the M2
A western orbital along the M9 corridor with a second Hawkesbury river crossing
Moving all airfreight capacity at a new airport located at Badgerys Creek

This analysis shows there is no need for the current priority project, West Connex and duplication of the M5 tunnel (unless for freight traffic only). These project should be abandoned for better road infrastructure in western Sydney.

Tertiary sector transport infrastructure

The tertiary sector (or service economy) is primarily dependent on moving people into and between urban centres. Public transport, footpaths and cycle paths are the most efficient forms of transport infrastructure needed within and between high density centres. For example 80 per cent of peak hour trips to the Sydney CBD are made by public transport, rail makes up 60% of all peak hour CBD trips. Busses also account for only 8 per cent of Sydney CBD road traffic, yet account for 62 per cent of surface passenger movements. There is little need for the private motor vehicle and main roads in our high density centres.

To provide accessibility and redundancy within tertiary sector transport infrastructure, Sydney must abandon expensive inner city road tunnel projects and transform the typology of the rail network from a star typology to a networked typology. A network typology is aligned with the metropolitan strategy policy 3a to, “improved transport services through cross-city connections” (p17), see diagram 3. Diagram 4 provides a spatial plan for how transport infrastructure should be located to support the tertiary sector.

Diagram 3 - Towards a networked city (p18)

Diagram 4 - Tertiary sector rail infrastructure

The analysis shown in figure 3 illustrates the existing infrastructure and identifies priority projects for delivering a meshed typology for the Sydney rail network. The proposed railway alignments are focused on connecting urban centres and regional rail and air ports. The priority projects are;

Epping to Liverpool railway line via Parramatta
Hurstville to Dural railway line via Parramatta
Extending the eastern suburbs line to Maroubra Junction
Extending the southwest rail link to Badgerys Creek airport
A northern beaches railway line

Final thoughts on draft metro strategy

My feedback has highlighted the central role of urban centres as the primary urban typology for accommodating growth and delivering a better urban environment to deliver productivity, sustainability and livability. Shifting capital investment back into our urban centres must include the removal of business park precincts and prioritising road, rail and port projects where they align with the economic spatial structure of metropolitan area.