Overview of the Airport Traffic Problem

In the Marsh Street area, we have a problem with traffic congestion and pollution. These are the issues:

• Air Quality Monitoring was undertaken in the 10 months to June 2016, ahead of construction of the New M5. It turns out that pollution was already breaching the national air quality standard before construction started.
• Traffic management problems at Sydney Airport cause serious traffic jams on and around Marsh Street. The traffic and traffic jams caused by Sydney Airport are without doubt a significant contributor to the air pollution crisis in the area.
• A new unfiltered smoke stack will be built at Arncliffe. It is going to be 35 meters high (SeeEnvironmental Impact Statement, section 10.8.2, table 10.23), so I don't expect a huge pollution impact at ground level. However there are highrise buildings of up to 16 storeys in the area.

I want to something to be done about the traffic chaos around Marsh Street, ahead of the new M5 opening to create some head room in the pollution so that the additional pollution from the smoke stack can be accommodated and also because traffic congestion is obviously a problem in its own right.

My preferred solution is to remove the airport station surcharge at the two airport railway stations, especially the one at the International Terminal. To make this change revenue neutral, I propose a toll on traffic that is using public roads to get to the airport terminals.