Randwick Racecourse and Centennial Park are key venues for World Youth Day with about 225,000 people expected at the racecourse on Saturday 19 July for an evening vigil with the Pope, with a further 90,000 expected at Centennial Park. The Final Mass on Sunday 20 July is expected to attract a crowd of 500,000 people across both the racecourse and Centennial Park.

Large numbers of pilgrims walking to the racecourse or Centennial Park on both Saturday 19 July (map) and Sunday 20 July (map) will walk through local Surry Hills streets via two designated routes:

• Albion Street – Bourke Street – Fitzroy Street – Anzac Parade
• Devonshire Street – Bourke Street – Parkham Street – Moore Park/Anzac Parade.

On Saturday 19 July, pilgrims will walk from either North Sydney or Central Station to Randwick Racecourse for an Evening Vigil with the Pope. The majority of the pilgrims are expected to stay overnight at the racecourse as part of the evening vigil.

On Sunday 20 July, the same walking routes through Surry Hills will be used for the Final Mass, which starts at 10am. The expected crowd of 500,000 will then use the same routes through Surry Hills for their return journey to Central Station in the afternoon. Crowds will start leaving the racecourse and Centennial Park from 12 noon onwards.

With these events in Surry Hills, there will be some changes to parking conditions. From 8pm on Friday 18 to midday on Monday 21 July, holders of City of Sydney issued resident parking permits for areas 18, 25 and 29 in Surry Hills will be allowed to use their permit to park in the surrounding parking permit precincts with area numbers on parking signs as follows:

• North of Phillips and Crescent Streets, Redfern – areas 33 and 41
• South of Oxford Street only; in Surry Hills, Darlinghurst and Paddington – areas 15, 18, 25, 27 and 29.

For further details of the parking scheme zones visit the City of Sydney website. All other normal timed parking restrictions apply in the Surry Hills area.

For Surry Hills residents living on the walking routes noted above, and where access to the front or rear driveway cannot be maintained, WYDCA is providing a dedicated parking space (one per household) in nearby areas. Details of this scheme will be provided direct to impacted residents. Residents concerned about such impacts should contact WYDCA Community Relations on 1300 360 933 or email contactus@wydca.nsw.gov.au.

There will be changes to local traffic conditions in Surry Hills:

• vehicle traffic will not be able to cross over Albion Street from Friday 18 July at 10pm until Monday 21 July at 4am
• vehicle access entry into local streets in between Devonshire and Albion streets is available by travelling northbound on Crown Street (from Cleveland Street) to cross over the walking route at a managed access point on the intersection of Crown and Devonshire streets
• vehicle exit from within this area is available by using Foveaux Street then Elizabeth Street (southbound), where vehicle access across the walking route will be managed at the intersection of Elizabeth and Devonshire streets.

The local area access map shows how to access local Surry Hills streets. For full road closure information, refer to the RTA website.

As a result of these road closures, there will be changes to bus routes in Surry Hills. For specific route information, visit the Transport InfoLine website.

Related items:

World Youth Day - What's It All About?

Pilgrimage Walking Route - Saturday 19 July