Ahead of light rail construction in Sydney, commencing 2 September, powerlines in Surry Hills will be moved underground and the location of a possible future light rail stop in Wimbo Park will be improved.
CBD Coordinator General Marg Prendergast said, “Perhaps more than anywhere else along the CBD and South East Light Rail route, there’s an opportunity to make massive improvement to the streetscape and environment of Devonshire Street.
“We’ve developed a number of plans for local improvements that will benefit the Surry Hills area for years to come, from putting the existing powerlines underground to great new ‘pocket parks’ flanking Devonshire Street.
“Undergrounding the power lines in this area has been on the City of Sydney’s agenda for a number of years, and we saw an opportunity to minimise disruption to the community by completing the work as part of light rail construction.”
Ms Prendergast said it wasn’t possible to underground the light rail power supply on Devonshire Street, but undergrounding the power lines would contribute to de-cluttering the street and help it look its best.
“Sections of the community continue to call for a second Surry Hills stop on the new light rail network, and while our planning work didn’t identify demand for a stop at Wimbo Park, off Bourke Street, we have listened and will do the groundwork to ensure any future addition of a stop there is not prohibitively expensive or disruptive,” Ms Prendergast said.
“A big priority for us on this project is to contribute to the local landscape and environment where we can. We’re adding additional trees in areas along the route including the increasing the number of new trees we plant in Surry Hills.”
The first stage of construction in Surry Hills will take place on Devonshire Street, between Chalmers and Elizabeth Streets.
Major construction on the 12km light rail route from Circular Quay to Randwick and Kingsford will be completed by mid-2018 and services will begin operating in 2019.
