MILESTONE: Opening of Syd Enfield Drive (1979)

This year is forty years since Syd Enfield Drive was completed. Originally the road was known as the Bondi Junction Bypass. The section of road was part of a vision to form the (never built) Eastern Suburbs freeway that would connect Bondi Junction to the city.

It would also form part of the commercial redevelopment of the suburb along with the construction of the Eastern Suburbs railway line, and would eliminate through traffic through the centre of Bondi Junction.

Construction took less than two years before being opened to traffic on 9 January, 1979. The road was opened by local State MP and Minister for Consumer Affairs - Syd Enfield.

In 1988, the bypass was named Syd Enfield Drive in honour of the former MP.

With traffic now bypassing the commercial heart of Bondi Junction, it led to creation of the Oxford Street mall.

Source: Anon. 1979. "By-pass today, mall tomorrow". The Sydney Morning Herald, January 10:1.