A June 2025 Transport for NSW (TfNSW) ‘Optioneering Report’ revealed a preferred Eveleigh bridge concept, location and an approved way to launch the bridge across the railway corridor.
The preferred bridge would ramp from Wilson Street, Darlington, near Carriageworks, over the railway corridor, to Locomotive Street, South Eveleigh, between the large Erecting Shop and the Locomotive Workshops.
It is not possible to ramp in South Eveleigh and a combination of lifts and escalators are proposed at that end.
The Eveleigh Bridge Alliance (EBA) has made a Government Information Public Access (GIPA) request for bridge studies since 2020. The 338 pages of released documents also include engineering feasibility studies by Arup on a number of bridge and tunnel options, a ‘heritage assessment’ by Curio Projects and three versions of a ‘bridge catchment analysis’ by SCT Consulting. The catchment studies are based on an earlier option to the east of the Paint Shop. Costings of options were not released and the package of documents released is on the REDWatch website.
The EBA was formed by REDWatch, Friends of Erskineville (FOE) and the Alexandria Residents Action Group (ARAG) to kick-start a broad-based community campaign for the delivery of the bridge.
The EBA was pleased to find that TfNSW continued to assess options after it ruled a bridge out of scope during the North Eveleigh rezoning. While TfNSW has addressed some of the major technical barriers, its reports also indicate it does not think that usage of the bridge will be high enough to justify the expense of building across an active railway corridor.
The EBA plans to work with surrounding institutions, businesses and the potential users of the bridge to convince the government that the bridge, promised in 2004, needs to be delivered.
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Geoff Turnbull is the spokesperson for REDWatch which is part of the Eveleigh Bridge Alliance.
