By Janet Oakley, Transport & Traffic Subcommittee Convenor, from Bulletin 8 of 2025 (October)

Proposed changes to the exit ramp from the Western Distributor (WD) at Pyrmont Bridge Road seem to ignore the principles of physics and of whack-a-mole. That is, a fix for a perceived problem in one place merely moves the problem somewhere else. Transport for New South Wales (Transport) perceives that there is a bank up of traffic on the WD (which they have control of) at the exit to Pyrmont Bridge Road so they propose to move that traffic onto the streets of Glebe and Pyrmont which Transport do not have responsibility for.

It is not easy to navigate the bureaucratic language of the Transport website to understand precisely what is being proposed. Transport describes the changes as:

Modifying the Pyrmont Bridge Road and Bank Street intersection

Modifications at this intersection include:

  • upgrading the Pyrmont Bridge Road off-ramp from one to two lanes to turn left into Pyrmont Bridge Road
  • adding a new signalised pedestrian crossing at the base of the off-ramp
  • closing turning movements onto Bank Street from the Pyrmont Bridge Road off-ramp and installing a new incident response vehicle bay in this location (not before relocation of the Sydney Fish Market to its new site in 2025)
  • restricting access to Bank Street from the off-ramp to emergency services vehicles only 
  • changing the lane configuration on Bank Street to provide two lanes approaching the Western Distributor on-ramp (westbound) and one lane towards Miller Street
  • changing the traffic control signals to improve operation of the intersection
  • adjustments to utility services.

The current turning movements onto Bank Street from the Pyrmont Bridge Road off-ramp will remain until the Sydney Fish Market has relocated to the new development on Bridge Road (expected 2025).

Transport is continuing to engage with route planners and operators on proposed alternate routes and bus stop locations for the 501 bus service and will keep the community updated.

Benefits of these changes include:

  • reduced queue lengths on the Pyrmont Bridge Road off-ramp
  • reduced queue lengths on Bank Street
  • faster activation time for Incident Response Vehicles, reducing the impact of incidents on the road network
  • reduced wait times for pedestrians and cyclists, improving safety and overall intersection operation and traffic flow.

What this proposal seems to involve is to restrict eastbound traffic coming off the Anzac Bridge and exiting the WD at Pyrmont Bridge Road to turning left into Pyrmont Bridge Road towards Darling Harbour. Traffic will no longer be able to turn either left or right into Bank Street at that exit. The following photographs show the current position.

Fig.1: The foot of the exit ramp from WD at Pyrmont Bridge Road where traffic can currently turn left onto Pyrmont Bridge Road or alternatively onto Bank Street (photo by Janet Oakley, looking north from about this location)
Fig. 2: Bank Street between WD off-ramp exit and Pyrmont Bridge Road showing three different turning options (photo taken by Janet Oakley, looking northwest from about this location) 
Fig. 3: Three possible turn directions from Bank Street at Pyrmont Bridge Road (photo taken by Janet Oakley looking southwest from about this location)

There may be further implications of this proposal for Glebe and Forest Lodge residents. For instance, it is not apparent how vehicles involved in the redevelopment of the old Fish Market site will gain access to it. Potentially, heavy vehicles bound for either the old or the new Fish Market may instead decide to exit the WD before the Anzac Bridge at Rozelle Bay and travel through Glebe and Forest Lodge so that they can make easier left-hand turns from Pyrmont Bridge Road to those sites. If this occurs, it will further congest local streets, cause damage to road surfaces not designed to take heavy vehicles and potentially endanger other road users because of the restricted zones of visibility around large vehicles.

Should the proposal be implemented, eastbound traffic exiting the WD at Pyrmont Bridge Road will not be able to access the old Fish Market site nor turn right into Pyrmont Bridge Road towards the new Fish Market and Glebe as it currently can. The off-ramp will be widened to two lanes, from which traffic will only be able to turn left into Pyrmont Bridge Road. While not entirely clear, it seems the area of Bank Street shown in these photographs will be closed to traffic and converted into a vehicle bay for emergency vehicles.

Eastbound WD traffic would not be able to access the Glebe side of Pyrmont Bridge Road from the Pyrmont Bridge Road WD exit. Instead, the proposal is for Glebe and inner west bound traffic to continue to the next exit to Allen Street, double back via Harris Street and then turn left into Pyrmont Bridge Road.

Sydney City Council has made submissions to Transport opposing the proposal. Those submissions focus on the effect that the changes will have on the suburbs of Pyrmont and Ultimo and the insufficiency of consultation with residents of those suburbs. The potential effect on Glebe or Forest Lodge is not dealt with by the Council and there seems to have been no consultation at all in that regard.

The Glebe Society is proposing to work with community groups in Pyrmont to address this and other issues arising from this proposal, but this should not preclude anyone concerned from making their own enquiries.