Norwest Boulevard now has a continuous 2.6 kilometre shared path along its eastern side, running between Windsor Road and Old Windsor Road. The Hills Shire Council has finished rebuilding the existing footpath into a route wide enough for people on foot and people on bikes to use together, with funding from the NSW Government through the Get NSW Active program.
The corridor itself is not new. What changed is what it can carry. The old footpath was built for walking and little else, and anyone riding through Norwest had to decide between the path and the traffic. The rebuilt surface accommodates both, and the side streets along the way were addressed as part of the same job. New pedestrian and cyclist crossings and refuges have been added where the path meets intersecting roads, where most near misses used to happen.
The link matters most at its two ends. Shared paths already ran along Windsor Road and Old Windsor Road, but the stretch in between forced riders and walkers to improvise. That gap is now closed. Norwest Metro, Norwest Marketown and Bella Vista Farm all sit within easier reach of the path, along with the residential streets and business addresses either side of the boulevard.
Council has framed the work as an investment in active transport that will keep paying off for years, and says the route makes getting around Norwest simpler for anyone walking, riding or running. Good quality walking and cycling infrastructure gives people a real alternative for short trips, the argument goes, and fewer short car trips is better for local traffic and for the people making them.
Norwest is one of Sydney’s larger business and employment precincts, with thousands of people arriving and leaving every weekday. Council’s position is that a precinct of that size needs safe, sensible ways to move between workplaces, public transport and the shops without getting behind the wheel for a two minute drive.
The State Government has backed that view. The transport portfolio says the project makes it safer and easier to walk and ride through one of Sydney’s busiest employment areas, and that the Minns Labor Government is committed to building walking and cycling infrastructure people will actually use on ordinary days.
Projects like this create safer connections to public transport, workplaces, shops and services, and contribute to healthier, better-connected communities. Get NSW Active, which paid for the work, exists to make walking and cycling easier, safer and more enjoyable for people of all ages and abilities across New South Wales.
Council has thanked residents, local businesses and road users for their patience during construction, and acknowledged the NSW Government for its support of the project.
