Cahill Expressway

Following my previous post on Railway Square, I thought that I would post on another area of the CBD where I have been visiting quite a lot lately after my observation studies in Town Hall. I usually walk towards Circular Quay for the evening view and sometimes I walk from the Botanical Gardens to Observatory Hill along Cahill Expressway.

During my walks, I realized that the Cahill Expressway has split the zoning of this area into four different parts: The Northern part of Sydney CBD which terminates at the Circular Quay Station, the promenade area ranging from Sydney Opera House to the MCA in the opposite side of Circular Quay Station, The Rock and Observatory Hill. We usually identify road infrastructures as a means to connect from one point to another but the Cahill Expressway acts also as a segregating component in Sydney. It is not to different from the examples given in my earlier posts regarding KL Sentral and Mid Valley City in Malaysia where the road infrastructure acts as a “wall” that segregates two different parts of development. I have never really thought of Cahill Expressway in any other way except that it destroys the view from the CBD toward the Sydney Opera House. Below is a diagram I did to indicate the form of Cahill Expressway and how it acts as a segregating agent.

While walking from Botanical Gardens towards Observatory Hill, I always find it annoying as I have to get down from Cahill Expressway to The Rock before navigating my way through the laneways towards Observatory Hill. It is not a smooth flow of travel and this again shows how Cahill Expressway has divided the city into different parts. It is a shame considering that it has the potential of connecting the two green areas of Sydney which is the Botanical Gardens and Observatory Hill. While Botanical Gardens is a busy tourist attraction, the Observatory Hill is a hidden gem of Sydney. I believe that if the route towards Observatory Hill have an easier access, the place would be filled with tourists. Even tourists that travels to The Rock are oblivious to the existence of Observatory Hill behind the wall of concrete formed by the Cahill Expressway.

Though it is a hassle to travel from Botanical Gardens towards Observatory Hill, I realized that it is much easier to travel by foot as compared to the cyclists. While there are bicycle tracks along Cahill Expressway, the track leads cyclists from Botanical Gardens to North Sydney along Harbour Bridge. Cyclist will need to stop cycling and carry their bicycle at one point if they were to cut across and get to Observatory Hill. While watching cyclist carrying their bikes, it reminded me of the conversation during the walking tour of seamlessness in the city to cater for cyclist and skaters. The Cahill Expressway has made cycling and skating around the area to be very inconvenient. Below is some diagrams I did to highlight the some of the points I have mentioned.