PARRAMATTA BOARDWALK

The boardwalk is to be designed by Hill Thalis Architecture, Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture and McGregor Westlake Architecture. State government funding has been secured for the project, allowing for development to begin the next few months, and is planned to build on the City of Parramatta’s city project that wimjs to refocus the city to the river and provide a wider river development.  

The project is intended to “Build on the site’s inherent spatial drama,” according to a statement from Hill Thalis Architecture. “Path widths, materials, alignments and lighting are configured to subtly adjust the atmosphere along the path.

“In this way, the path will gently diminish in intensity as it leaves the city and travels eastwards; conversely, when arriving from the west, the path will progressively build a sense of anticipation as people move closer and closer to the urban area.”

$13.6 million has been allocated to the project, coming out of the Cycling Infrastructure Fund.

“This new link will halve the current travel distance, remove steep inclines and avoid a number of road crossings,” said Andrew Wilson, mayor of Parramatta. “This will provide much safer access for all path users, including students at Macarthur Girls High School. It will also improve local traffic flow by reducing the volume of pedestrians and cyclists using the crossing on Macarthur Street.”

Council recorded over 400,000 pedestrian and cyclists utilising the river foreshore in 2017, indicating the necessity of installing a boardwalk to allow for complete access to the area.

Escarpment Boardwalk is expected to be completed by 2019.