THE Macarthur region’s fragile koala population would be at risk and residents would face increased pollution and noise if the proposed Georges River Parkway was built through the area, a long-time resident fears.

Wedderburn resident Patrician Durman fears the proposed road, which would be built north-south from Glenfield and along the western side of the Georges River to Appin Rd, at St Helens Park, would turn Campbelltown into an isolated city completely surrounded by roads.

“We now know that major roads cause health damaging pollution and noise to the human population and the route will devastate the koala habitat, and cause pollution to enter the Georges River’s swimming holes,’’ she said.

Mrs Durman said one arm of the parkway would run through Wedderburn Gorge and then behind Pademelon Rd, at St Helens Park, emerging near the Hume Monument, and this area was used by several species of native fauna including koalas.

She said most of the Macarthur region’s housing development was occurring in Camden and Wollondilly.

“If new roads are to be built they should be directly targeting these areas, keeping the majority of traffic away from Campbelltown altogether,’’ she said.

media_camera Barry and Patricia Durman pictured in bushland at St Helens Park.

Mrs Durman said a far better plan for the parkway corridor would be to turn it into a walking/cycle track with picnic talks along the route, with links to Glenfield and Macarthur train stations and enough koala feed trees to turn it into a wildlife corridor.

Ingleburn Business Chamber president Jim Jelich said the Georges River Parkway was the organisation’s preferred option due to the unprecedented growth and population increase the region faced.

However he said he completely understood Mrs Durman’s concerns and believed a compromise had to be found to address the extra traffic and thousands of extra cars which would be arriving in the area.

Mr Jelich said our region’s roads were already clogged now and trucks from the Moorebank Intermodal would only increase the amount of traffic travelling south through the area.

“The Georges River Parkway is becoming a vital piece of infrastructure to alleviate the problems,’’ he said.

Mr Jelich said he believed in a wholistic approach and suggested the eastern side of the corridor which had been reserved for nature and parklands could include wildlife fences and connections under the road to protect wildlife.

“The Georges River Parkway should be part of an integrated road system,’’ he said.

He also said the region had very few east-west connector roads, apart from Narellan Rd, and the Georges River Parkway could form part of the solution.

He suggested upgrading St Andrews Rd across Camden Valley Way and then joining Georges River Parkway to improve road links around the region.

A spokesman for NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said the proposed Georges River Parkway has been earmarked as a future road corridor through the Macarthur region.

However he said the Hume Motorway and M5 were the primary roads servicing south west Sydney and significant investment in recent years has seen these roads upgraded to six and eight lanes respectively.

“These upgrades aim to ease congestion as well as improve safety and journey reliability for motorists,’’ the spokesman said.