Skip to main content

Another tunnel for Australia’s WestConnex toll road project?

The size of Australia’s largest infrastructure project could get bigger with the addition of another tunnel, according to media reports. The New South Wales state government is considering another tunnel, around 1km long, in the inner west, expanding the size of Sydney's WestConnex toll road project, according to the Sydney Motorway Corporation, which along with its state government client, Roads and Maritime Services, is in charge or the US$12.74 billion project. Sydney Motorway was set up in 2014 an
July 21, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The size of Australia’s largest infrastructure project could get bigger with the addition of another tunnel, according to media reports.

The New South Wales state government is considering another tunnel, around 1km long, in the inner west, expanding the size of Sydney's WestConnex toll road project, according to the Sydney Motorway Corporation, which along with its state government client, Roads and Maritime Services, is in charge or the US$12.74 billion project.

Sydney Motorway was set up in 2014 and awarded the design-build-own-operate contract by the NSW Government. The latest tunnel would run from Iron Cove Bridge to an interchange at Rozelle, where it would link to the WestConnex motorway.

Roads minister Duncan Gay said that no decision has yet been taken on the final design of the link between the M4 and M5 motorways, "but we are always looking for the best options to fix traffic congestion in Sydney".

It is also unclear if the cost of the new tunnel will come from the WestConnex budget, the Herald reported.

About 200 properties are being acquired for the first stage of WestConnex, and 159 for the second.

Sydney Motorway announced in January that it had award 2376 Egis Projects and 6191 Fulton Hogan Construction a contract for the operation and maintenance of WestConnex.
 
SMC – whose shareholders are Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight and the Treasurer of NSW – is carrying out work in three stages. The first is for the widening the existing M4 Motorway as well as constructing a 5.5km tunnel extension. The second stage (WestConnex M5) includes building a new 9km road tunnel, which will more than double capacity of the existing M5 East motorway corridor and provide a new interchange, north of the city’s airport. The third stage (WestConnex M4-M5 Link) will link stages 1 and 2 through a new road tunnel, connecting the M4 and M5 corridors.

The contract term for stages 1 and 2 is 10 years. Operation and maintenance will start in 2019. In addition, the contract comprises the operation and maintenance of the existing M5 East Motorway, which had been previously operated and maintained by Egis (as part of the BHEgis joint venture) from 2001 to 2011. M5 East is a 10km motorway with 4.5km of tunnels.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Uganda toll road deal awarded to Egis
    April 27, 2021
    Uganda has awarded its first toll road deal to Egis Group.
  • Work to start on Fehmarn Belt link to start in autumn
    April 4, 2019
    Construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link between Denmark and Germany should start this autumn for completion in 2028, according to the Danish government. Danish company Femern, which is responsible for the construction of the link, will begin negotiations with two contractor consortiums for the first of the project’s works which will start on the Danish side. A tunnel element fabrication yard and a works harbour must be built in Rødbyhavn, as well as a tunnel portal on Lolland. An autumn start wou
  • Alleviating Moscow's ring road congestion
    April 10, 2012
    The US$10.5 billion CKAD (Moscow Region Ring Road), being planned and procured under the direction of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, is just one of the roads highlighted at the Moscow Forum.
  • Solving congestion in Brisbane
    August 2, 2012
    Rapid growth in a major Australian city in recent years has created new problems for the infrastructure and especially transport Expansion in the city of Brisbane, the Queensland state capital and the third largest city in the country, is set to continue and some 1,500 people arrive/week from within Australia and from other parts of the world. At this rate by 2026 the city's population should increase by 1.4 million: at present it is 1.8 million. To cope, the Queensland government and city council have ini