Traffic and congestion in Sydney is getting worse every year, according to a recent survey of New South Wales motorists.
The results of the NRMA’s 16th annual Business Congestion Survey were released this week, with 370 business members of the motoring club giving their take on how their employee’s commutes are changing.
A staggering 87 per cent of respondents said congestion had worsened in the past year, with more than half of those surveyed claiming their fleet spent an extra 20 to 30 minutes in traffic daily in comparison to 12 months ago.
While many associate Sydney’s CBD with gridlocked traffic, the metro region has been surpassed by Western Sydney as the city’s area which causes the most grief to motorists.
This backs up findings from the NRMA’s 2023 ‘Rate Your Road’ survey, in which the section of Parramatta Road at Auburn was found to be the most congested road in the state. In total, four of the top 10 worst roads for traffic were in Western Sydney.
The newly opened and much maligned Rozelle Interchange has also drawn the ire of Sydney motorists, with 56 per cent of those surveyed by the NRMA saying the supposedly time-saving section of road has resulted in worse congestion.
“For the first time in the survey’s history Western Sydney outranked the Sydney CBD as the worst area in Sydney for traffic congestion,” NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said.
“This presents obvious challenges for Government to ensure traffic in this critical region does not hold up businesses trying to deliver goods and services.”
Last year, the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) released the findings of its Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) testing program, with more than 15 per cent of NSW roads receiving a one-star safety rating.
