Underpass closure shows need for project completion

NSW Transport has done a "stellar job" of repairing and reopening the railway underpass but now it needs to complete the Rawson Rd level crossing replacement project, according to the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber president, Mr Matthew Wales, who has been critical of the planning and management of the replacement project, said he now considered its completion an absolute imperative for the Peninsula.

He said the traffic congestion experienced on the Peninsula during the underpass closure was a taste of things to come if the level crossing replacement project was not completed.

"The State Government must find the $50 million if accidents are to be avoided," Mr Wales said.

"The project is currently sitting with State Rail and they are reviewing options to put a culvert under the embankment and to do it in a way that doesn't close the Northern Line," he said.

"There is an engineering solution to it going under the railway line.

"The NSW Government must budget for it.

"The suggestion it might get mothballed is not acceptable," he said.

In April, Mr Wales said the $115 million estimated to be the cost of replacing the level crossing by NSW Transport could have paid to "kerb, gutter and drain the whole Peninsula".

Interview, 3 Aug 2016

Matthew Wales, Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

Reporter: Jackie Pearson