Western Sydney’s new airport is the catalyst for much of Western Sydney’s future urbanisation. Propelled by the Australian Government’s investment in the airport as well as the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport Line, the aerotropolis will be the beating heart of the Western Parkland City, connecting to Greater Parramatta and the Harbour CBD to realise the vision for Greater Sydney as a metropolis of three cities.

Western Sydney Aerotropolis consists of several precincts. Its transport network is designed to enable movement within and across the different precincts, and focuses on a network of main streets and main roads to provide connections between precincts. The network encourages walking, cycling and public transport connections into centres of high activity while providing efficient routes for freight services to key employment areas. This serves as a starting point when planning for movement within each precinct.

This greenfield precinct case study largely follows the best practice outlined in this guide, while also noting alternative scenarios to better implement the principles. The location was chosen for illustrative purposes only.

Figure 16 Western Sydney Aerotropolis

Principle 1: Identify the desired outcomes for the precinct

Benefiting from proximity to the new Western Sydney International Nancy-Bird Walton Airport (WSI Airport), the aerotropolis will contribute towards 200,000 new jobs in the Western Parkland City and become a high-skill jobs hub across aerospace and defence, manufacturing, healthcare, freight and logistics, agribusiness, education and research industries.

The Western Sydney Aerotropolis Plan identified several precincts to support the aerotropolis, classified as urban land, mixed use, enterprise, environment and recreation, agribusiness and Luddenham Village. Each precinct plays a role in supporting the airport and the future centre of Bradfield.

The enterprise precinct surrounding the airport will provide space for industry and jobs. It is conveniently located to provide easy access to the airport and the motorway network to improve efficiency. Mixed-use and urban land precincts are located to the east of the airport, away from any noise impact areas, and will be serviced by a Sydney Metro to improve access by public transport.

Principles 2 and 3: Develop an urban structure that supports successful places and encourages walking, cycling, and public transport journeys, and co-locate key land uses

Expecting that future residents within the urban land precinct would be travelling to employment lands and key centres, walking, cycling and public transport corridors were designed to support movements between these precincts as well as to key public transport hubs and the airport. Walking, cycling and public transport connections are deliberately located in the centre of precincts to connect the centre with its surrounding areas. Some level of filtered permeability was also considered with (the dashed) sections of the network proposed for walking, cycling and public transport only. This makes these sustainable modes more attractive and competitive than driving.

While there is limited information about future centres or land uses at this point, the network connects the residential areas to the aerotropolis core and the Sydney Metro station, as well as the WSI Airport. These initial connections and prioritisation for walking, cycling and public transport will allow compatible land uses to be planned around them, creating a network of main streets. The urban structure will need to be developed iteratively following more detailed land-use planning.

Figure 17 The proposed urban structure for Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

Principle 4: Create a permeable network with a grid-like structure, short block length and high intersection density

The urban structure identifies a network of main streets and main roads on a larger scale. This will be supported by smaller scale civic spaces and local streets within each precinct (not shown on the map), creating a diverse network that encourages local trips by walking or cycling or using the local bus network. The smaller streets will feed into main streets and main roads for longer distance trips.

Principle 5: Enable connected, direct and comfortable walking and cycling movements

All corridors within the aerotropolis have sufficient space available for separated walking and cycling movements. They also provide space for significant tree canopy and amenity to improve the walking and cycling experience. The walking and cycling corridors are also located close to green space where they can be supported by a network of off-road walking and cycling corridors as well as local streets.

Principle 6: Plan public transport infrastructure, services and technology concurrently

While adjustments may be made along the way, identifying the desired level of public transport service from the outset can help identify the infrastructure support required. For example, the City Deal Rapid Buses for Western Parkland City will provide key connections in the aerotropolis at up to 10-minute frequency. To ensure reliability, the required bus priority infrastructure was identified at the same time as the service planning. It’s also critical that key public transport corridors have been identified and planned as early as possible to inform the adjacent land uses.

The urban structure and grid transport network provide the flexibility to adjust public transport services as the precinct grows, and the frequency can be improved to best meet demand. However, in this case study, not all priority public transport corridors are wide enough to deliver best practice centre-running transit services, i.e. light rail or rapid bus.

Principle 7: Accommodate the movement of goods, freight and urban services based on the desired place outcomes

The WSI Airport will attract significant freight movements, while the urban land precincts will need urban services. These will need to be serviced by an efficient main road network with minimum impact on places and people.

Long-distance freight trips rely on motorways as well as main roads such as The Northern Road, Bringelly Road, Elizabeth Drive and Mamre Road that are separated from urban land or city centres where possible. This allows for faster movement and connections to the existing freight and motorway network to facilitate longer journeys. Loading zones will be identified during more detailed planning when land uses have been confirmed.

Figure 18 Preferred long-distance freight routes in Western Sydney Aerotropolis

Principle 8: Design self-explaining street environments following the NSW Movement and Place Framework

As the network functions have been identified, corridor widths were determined to provide sufficient space for the desired users, while also avoiding wide streets and roads that are not attractive for walking and cycling.

Priority walking, cycling and public transport corridors are proposed to be 40m wide to allow most of the corridor to be dedicated to separated walking and cycling facilities on both sides, significant tree canopy, green medians, amenity, utilities and a maximum of two traffic lanes in each direction (possibly one being a dedicated bus lane). The extension of Fifteenth Avenue is proposed to be 45m to allow for future centre-running bus lanes. During more detailed land-use planning and design, widths could be reviewed where appropriate to design for a human scale. Examples could be reducing the corridor width approaching centres or lower speeds, allowing for smaller lane widths. Alternatively, any additional space could be reallocated to support green space, activation or walking and cycling.

Priority freight corridors are proposed to be 60m wide to allow for a maximum of three traffic lanes in each direction (potentially with bus infrastructure), and space for turning lanes and utility infrastructure. Tree canopy, walking and cycling facilities and amenities will be located further from the traffic lanes to improve safety.

As land use is further developed, the corridors should be designed appropriately to reflect the desired Movement and Place street environments. Coupled with key land uses, priority walking, cycling and public transport corridors should be designed as main streets or civic spaces. Priority freight corridors will likely become main roads except where they directly access loading zones with high place functions. A large part of the network will become local streets.