King Georges Road: Neighbours ‘living like prisoners’ in their own home as noisy 24-hour construction project in Sydney cuts off access to their driveways and keeps them up all night
A group of fed-up homeowners say their lives have become hell because of a 24-hour construction site.
Charlie Jin cried as she begged for an end to roadworks widening King Georges Road in Penshurst, in the south of the city.
“We are treated like prisoners in our own homes,” she said A current issue on Tuesday.
Work has been going on around the clock for over a year to widen the busy three-lane street, with most of the work being carried out at night when parts of the road may be closed.
Houses along the road no longer have access to their driveways and are exposed to heavy light pollution and near-constant noise that keeps them awake all night.
Noisy roadworks to widen King Georges Road in Penshurst (above) have left residents unable to sleep well for more than a year
Some have also reported increased health problems, such as asthma, due to dust.
Images of houses along the street show that it is almost impossible to sleep as loud machines and bright lights affect residents well into the night.
Ms. Jin had to buy a cart to take her groceries from the parking lot down the street to her house because she no longer had access to her driveway.
The blockage has also rendered her newly installed electric car charger unusable, as her husband is now forced to find public chargers to use.
“We happily installed the EV charger and had a solar panel installed – everything we could dream of to be more environmentally friendly, but then we realized in June that we don’t have access to our driveway,” she said.
A group of frustrated neighbors say they understand the major construction is necessary and will take time, but called for the heavy work to be completed during the day.
“It is killing us, the amount of noise, the amount of pollution, the number of interruptions,” Ms. Jin said.
‘Everything is wrong with this project.’
Charlie Jin (above), a resident of 12 years, said she and her neighbors live like “prisoners” as construction blocks access to their homes and harms their health
Steven Issa of Transport for New South Wales said in a statement that some of the roadwork cannot be carried out during the day for safety reasons.
“We will continue to work with residents to find a solution, provide alternative accommodation when noise pollution is at its worst and meet their needs more broadly as we progress through the remainder of the project,” he said.
He added that residents should have access to their driveways again by Christmas.