Bangor Bypass, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Bangor, New South Wales
Bangor is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bangor is located 28 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire in the area commonly called Menai...
and Menai
Menai, New South Wales
Menai is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Menai is located 29 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire.-History:...
(Menai Road) as well as increasing travel speed through the area. The bypass project had been planned many years earlier (mid 90s) and some residents were surprised when the development finally started. During the years of planning a misunderstanding by residential developers led to new roads and housing being constructed on the RTA
Roads and Traffic Authority
The Roads and Traffic Authority is a former New South Wales government agency that was responsible for major road infrastructure, licensing of drivers, and registration of motor vehicles. The RTA directly managed State roads and provided funding to local councils for regional and local roads...
's land at the end of Anzac Road in Bangor. This caused the proposed position of the bypass to shift slightly north, displeasing residents.
Preparations for the Bangor Bypass included changing traffic flow between Bangor, Woronora
Woronora, New South Wales
Woronora is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woronora is located 27 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. Woronora Heights is a separate suburb, to the south-west.-Placename...
and Sutherland
Sutherland, New South Wales
Sutherland is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Sutherland Shire....
. This was largely due to a stretch of road known as the 'Woronora bends', a collection of steep hairpin bends on the end of Menai Rd and both ends of River Rd. The initial change over from the bends shifted traffic from Menai Rd to Akuna Avenue and a new road called Menai River Road. Many years later traffic was again shifted as the long awaited, and often delayed, new Woronora Bridge
Woronora River Bridge
The Woronora River Bridge is a road bridge over the Woronora River at Woronora, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
was completed, this was labelled with Menai River Rd and removed traffic from River Rd. Having completed this part of the improvements it was time to start the bypass.
Two stretches of road were included in Stage 1 of the bypass project, completed in February 2005, these were known simply as the east-west ("Bangor Bypass") and north-south ("New Illawarra Road", despite not actually connecting with existing New Illawarra Rd) sections. The east-west section connected Menai River Rd to Old Illawarra Road and Alfords Point Rd via the north-south section of the bypass. There are currently plans to expand the north-south section further south to join with New Illawarra Rd, bypassing Barden Ridge
Barden Ridge, New South Wales
Barden Ridge is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Barden Ridge is located 31 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire...
. This was completed in early-2011.
Recent displays showed four concept maps for Stage 2, these are now available at the RTA's website.