SYDNEY'S TRAFFIC TANGLE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 103, 28 October 1925, Page 9

SYDNEY'S TRAFFIC TANGLE

Tho question as to what is Sydney's most dangerous part from the traffic point of view has arisen now that much thought is being given to Sydney's traffic tangle. The entrance to the populous eastern suburbs, in the vicinity of Hyde Park corner and Oxford street, is regarded as one of the most dangerous parts. At that spot; during the peak hours of traffic—between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., when thero is a rush homeward—twenty-sis vehicles, on an average, pass to and from a minute. Of the total number that passed that spot in an hour when the calculation'.was made, 281 were tram-carsj 186 motor-buses, 804 motorcars, 150 horse-drawn vehicles, and 75 bicycles. Not. included in these figures, when they were cheeked, wero a lonely horseman, strangely out of place in Sydney traffic to-day, a fruit barrow, and an ice-cream cart. But an even more dangerous point is the .-junction of King and George street, the bottle-neck for the eastern suburbs and tho main highway to tEc huge western suburbs. Neither of (heso streets, at this point, carries nny motor-bus traffic. In the peak hour, 723 vehicles pass this point, or 32 a minute. These are looked upon as the two chief danger-zones of Sydney. These figures give one a, better idea of the traffic problem which Sydney is up against in all quarters. The problem will be aceenlu'ated when the city underground railway, now in progress, is pushed ahead. Temporary footpaths will have to be found somewhere for pedestrians. Railway Square or Circular quay arc sometimes pointed to, as very dangerous spots, but these nre wide open spaces, comparatively simple to negotiate, compared with tho bottle-necks through which tho traffic passes to and from the most populous suburbs.