‘Stop the invaders’: No left turn sign pits Inner West cyclists against Canterbury-Bankstown commuters

An inner-Sydney council has been accused of attempting to “stop the invaders” after blocking a key exit on a busy road bordering another LGA, leading to kilometres-long traffic jams — all to benefit a handful of cyclists.

Inner West Council installed the “no left turn” sign on the Dulwich Hill side of the Wardell Road bridge in February 2021 without warning, preventing vehicles from entering Riverside Crescent.

The sign was intended to reduce traffic volumes in nearby Ness Avenue, the final piece of road linking Inner West Council’s six-kilometre “bike boulevard” to the Cooks River under its multimillion-dollar “Greenway” mega-project, which stretches all the way north to the Parramatta River at Iron Cove.

But for residents on the south side of the Cooks River living in the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, many of whom commute north over the bridge each day, the small change resulted in traffic chaos with cars sometimes backed up two kilometres waiting to get through the lights further up at Ewart Street.

“The weird thing is you’re still allowed to turn right into the street — a cynic could say they’re trying to stop the Canterbury invaders trying to come in from over the river, over their moat,” said one Earlwood resident who has unsuccessfully lobbied both councils about the change.

Canterbury-Bankstown locals claim the removal of the left turn at Riverside Crescent has impeded access to Ewen Park, Hurlstone Park and surrounding areas, in addition to worsening already heavy traffic along Wardell Road.

“We’ve always had a bit of trouble exiting because it’s surrounded by the river, we’ve only got two or three bridges to choose from,” the resident said. “Wardell Road is a main exit for people leaving the suburb but also people coming from Bexley.”

He said when the sign first went up in early 2021, people “all of a sudden came back from Christmas holidays and we couldn’t understand what was going on, traffic was tailed back 1.5, two kilometres”.

An engineering report prepared for Inner West Council in 2018 had predicted the sign would result in “only a minor difference” in the performance of the intersection.

“The traffic lights don’t let enough cars through — the traffic engineers pretty much failed miserably to predict one of the negative consequences of this sign so we’re all of a sudden stuck in traffic waiting at the light because our release valve has been shut off,” the resident said.

“The big point is we’re on the other side of the river and in a different LGA not governed by Inner West Council. The Greenway is their mega-project, no expense spared, they don’t care about the consequences. The bottom line is it was all based on a faulty report.”

After a petition in 2022 calling on the sign to be removed drew nearly 600 signatures, Inner West Council launched several rounds of public consultation on alternative measures — but last year voted to keep it in place.

More than 100 locals responded to mail-outs, with only 30 per cent supporting a proposal to modify the sign to only prohibit left turns for large vehicles.

“The locals all got behind it because it meant for them their roads became more peaceful,” the Earlwood resident said. “It’s obviously a local pressure group that has strong ties with the council. They did consultation workshops with people that live [within a few hundred metres], but not Earlwood.”

He added that “one thing that really irritates people is police are sent out from time to time to check”. “They lurk around the corner — I saw an elderly lady being chased down and fined,” he said.

“The community really resents this, the people in Earlwood, and anybody that uses the road. Some locals in Dulwich Hill don’t like it either because they have to go the long way around to access their homes.”

Canterbury-Bankstown Council initially raised ratepayers’ concerns with Inner West Council but “they basically fobbed them off and our council representatives accepted their decision and said there’s nothing we can do about it”, according to the resident.

With local government elections looming this week, however, Canterbury-Bankstown Council has hinted it will revisit the issue.

“The City of Canterbury Bankstown is aware of the negative impacts this traffic sign is having on traffic flow along Wardell Road,” a spokeswoman said.

“Over the past three years, council has had several meetings with Inner West Council and written letters asking for its removal. We have also asked Transport for NSW to investigate adjusting its traffic signals at Wardell Road and Ewart Street, in a bid to ease traffic delays/queuing caused motorists unable to turn left onto Riverside Crescent. Council has also reviewed the existing traffic conditions at the roundabout further down Wardell Road.”

As far as Inner West Council is concerned, however, the matter is closed.

“The sign was installed as part of the Greenway project, as the Greenway is on-road through Ness Avenue,” a spokesman said.

“The sign was installed to reduce traffic in local streets while supporting cycling for the on-road sections of the Greenway. Following representations from the community in December 2022, council reconsidered the matter and resolved to retain the ‘no left turn’ sign.”

The Earlwood resident pointed out Inner West Council’s own traffic counter showed 1000 vehicles an hour come down Wardell Road.

“All of those people are now impacted by this traffic sign for the sake of maybe a dozen cyclists who use this path,” he said.

“Hardly anybody uses this cycle path even though it’s been like this for three years. They keep talking about their predicted volumes, it’s all about the future. It’s kind of weaponised safety.”

With more people working from home since Covid, peak-hour traffic has eased but on certain days is still “horrendous” — but that could change with the upcoming closure this month of the Dulwich Hill train station for the T3 Bankstown line Metro upgrade.

“Earlwood doesn’t have a station, our train line is about to be shut down so presumably the it’s going to make the traffic much worse again,” the resident said.

It comes as Liverpool City Council in Sydney’s southwest this week faced backlash after residents of a small street successfully lobbied to restrict access to nonresident traffic on what had become a heavily used back route for parents from three local schools.

“A council investigation revealed some 41,000 cars a week were using the residential street, way in excess of its rated maximum capacity (14,000 cars a week),” a council spokesman said.

“Council has also received many messages of thanks from grateful local residents for listening to their concerns and taking action.”

frank.chung@news.com.au

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