Sydney’s new tunnel link opening

Sydney’s new tunnel link is now opening to traffic.
By MJ Woof July 10, 2020 Read time: 1 min
New tunnel links are helping cut congestion in Sydney - image © courtesy Sjankauskas, Dreamstime.com

The opening of the new tunnels that form a stretch of Sydney’s M8 motorway is reducing journey times for drivers in the city. A massive rise in vehicle use in Sydney over the years has seen existing routes suffering heavy congestion, resulting in a need for additional road connections. The 9km twin tube tunnels connect the south side of the city of Sydney, with the western suburb of Liverpool.

With the twin tunnel tubes being opened, this helps cut journey times by as much as 30 minutes. The tunnels cost S$6.95 to use and run parallel with the existing M5 East route, which links Sydney’s central business district with the international airport as well as Port Botany and the south-western suburbs. The new tunnels connect Kingsgrove with the newly constructed interchange at St Peters.

The new tunnels form the second phase of the massive WestConnex project, which is costing some A$16.8 billion in all. The first stage of the WestConnex project included the opening of the M4 tunnels and a widened stretch of motorway. Future stages of the project will see the M8 linked with the M4 by further tunnel sections as well as to other new routes still being planned.

Road Structures

Related Content

  • Tunnel construction benefits from improved visibility
    November 14, 2012
    Major new tunnel construction projects will, on completion, help secure more reliable journey times for hundreds of thousands of people across the world. Meanwhile, as Guy Woodford reports, leading ITS solution companies have been providing vital equipment for major road tunnels The Martina Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), a 4,500tonne Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance Shield said to have a world record diameter of 15.55m, has required just under a year to build the first of two tunnel tubes for the 2.5km lon
    Read More
  • Kenya moves ahead with double-decker road to address costly city traffic jams
    December 11, 2013
    New double deck roads could cut congestion in Kenyan capital Nairobi – Shem Oirere reports Arapid increase in urban population and diminishing land for infrastructure expansion has forced Kenya to devise ways of addressing the worsening human and vehicular traffic problems in its capital Nairobi. The country national highways agency recently announced progress in the planned construction of the country’s first double-decker highway.
    Read More
  • Solving Sao Paulo's traffic congestion problems
    July 10, 2012
    The Brazilian city of Sao Paulo suffers a heavily congested road network. Huge traffic jams up to 100km long are common and can be even 200km long in bad weather or at weekends and holidays. Of the 1.1 million vehicles that drive into Sao Paulo every day, almost a third are passing through and the new Rodoanel Mario Covas orbital route is intended to tackle the problem. This is a 170km long highway around the city that will connect the 10 highways linking Sao Paulo and allow many vehicles to avoid the conge
    Read More
  • Slow progress for Cameroon’s Yaoundé-Douala highway
    March 25, 2019
    Progress remains slow for the construction of the highway connecting Cameroon’s two largest cities, Douala and Yaoundé. The two cities are some 202km apart and the new route is intended to improve transport between Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, and its key commercial city and port, Douala. The existing National Road No3 linking the two cities currently suffers from heavy congestion and the new route will help alleviate the problem and cut journey times, boosting both capacity and safety. Around 30km of the
    Read More

Highlighted Content