Yesterday's announcement that the state government will spend six hundred million dollars reclaiming fifty two hectares of foreshore to provide additional shipping berths in an upgraded Port Kembla outer harbour should bring elation - and trepidation - to the residents of Wollongong.
The good news is that an expanded port will bring with it industry - and jobs.
The bad news is that there are no plans to upgrade the road system that will take freight out of this city - and bring commuters and commerce to the expanded facilities.
The minister for the Illawarra has stated that the existing road system is quite adequate to handle expansion " for years to come ". The minister is wrong !
Wollongong has a massive natural disadvantage when it comes to transport corridors. The rail line to Sydney passes through geophysically unstable terrain that denies any hope of a straight alignment. As a result - train speeds are low and there is no hope of improvement.
The escarpment reduces the only freight road artery to a long, uphill grind. When this road meets the F6 freeway it provides a divided road only as far as Engadine - and there are no plans to extend the F6 into Sydney for decades into the future.
The F6 is nearing capacity at it's morning and evening peak - and the prospect of thousands of additional truck movements is simply frightening.
Governments have a long history of forcing change without providing infrastructure. Usually they lie about the need and procrastinate for decades before finally spending money that should have preceded the initial expansion.
Wollongong people are entitled to be cynical that nothing has changed. The expansion of Port Kembla harbour will surely go ahead - but the likelihood that work will start on completing the Maldon-Dombarton rail link to south western Sydney - or the extension of the F6 to Pyrmont is simply a pipe dream.
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