‘Boulevard of broken dreams’: could Parramatta Road really become Sydney’s Champs-Élysées?

A summit this week raised hopes that trees and light rail could breathe new life into the notorious ‘scar through the heart’ of the city. But after so many failed plans, the roads minister says he won’t rush into ‘another vision’

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Abandoned shopfronts, bleak car yards, crumbling concrete, raw sewage and a reliable stream of traffic and smashed bus mirrors.

It sounds more like a war-ravaged dystopia than a key artery through Australia’s largest city – but premiers and planners have vowed to turn it into the Champs-Élysées of Sydney.