WestConnex


WestConnex in Sydney, Australia is the largest and longest road tunnel in Australia, with a length of 22 km. A joint project of the New South Wales and Australian federal governments, the motorway scheme created around motorway with 6-10 lanes between Homebush and Kingsgrove, passing underneath Inner West suburbs including Haberfield and St Peters. The first of the tunnels, the M4 East, opened to traffic in July 2019. The second of the tunnels, the M8 Motorway, opened to traffic a year later in July 2020. The third of the tunnels which extend the M4 and M8 opened to traffic in January 2023. The final component of the scheme, the Rozelle Interchange, opened to traffic in November 2023.
The forecast cost of WestConnex has grown from 10 billion to over $45 billion. Once land acquisitions, network extensions development costs and the cost of operations are accounted for, the total cost is forecast to be at least $20 billion and possibly as much as $45 billion. In August 2018, the NSW government sold 51 percent of WestConnex to a consortium led by Transurban for 9.26 billion.
The project has bipartisan political support from the Coalition and Labor parties, at both a federal and state level. Described as "the biggest transport project in Sydney and Australia since the Harbour Bridge" and costing "in current dollars, double the Snowy Mountains Scheme", the project has been criticised on economic, social and process grounds and has been the subject of public protest. It has faced opposition from residents, pro-public transport groups, anti-toll groups, and councillors from impacted suburbs, including the Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore, and the Greens. In June 2017, the City of Sydney called on the government to abandon the third and final stage of the project.

Staging

Works on the WestConnex are split up into three stages:
  • Stage 1
  • * M4 Western Motorway widening – completed in July 2017
  • * M4 East, also known as New M4, an eastern extension of the M4 – completed in July 2019
  • Stage 2
  • * M5 Interchange at King Georges Road upgrade – completed in December 2016
  • * M8 Tunnel, including St Peters Interchange – completed in July 2020
  • Stage 3
  • * M4–M8 Link, a new inner western bypass of the Sydney CBD connecting the M4 and M8 – completed in January 2023
  • * Rozelle Interchange – completed in November 2023
  • * Iron Cove Link – completed in November 2023
The Sydney Gateway project, now separate to the WestConnex project, was initially planned to be constructed and completed at the same time as the M4–M8 extensions. The Sydney Gateway's targeted opening date has since been pushed back one year to late 2024.

Stage 1: M4 Widening and M4 East

Stage 1 works included widening of the existing M4 Western Motorway from two or three to four lanes in each direction between Parramatta and Homebush Bay Drive; and the M4 East, new twin three-lane motorway tunnels between Homebush and Haberfield, connecting to the City West Link.
The widening of the M4 section east of Church Street, Parramatta, began construction in March 2015 and was completed in July 2017. WestConnex tolls were introduced on this section one month later on 15 August 2017.
The M4 East began construction in mid-2016 and opened on 13 July 2019. The M4 East was delivered by a Leighton Contractors, Samsung and John Holland joint venture.

Stage 2: King Georges Road Interchange, M8 Tunnel and St Peters Interchange

Stage 2 works included upgrading the existing M5 interchange at King Georges Road, and building the new M8 Motorway, a new set of tunnels between the M5 at Beverly Hills and St Peters. The M8, known as the New M5 during the planning and construction, was also designed to allow for future connection to the proposed M6 Motorway.
The King Georges Road Interchange Upgrade began construction in July 2015 and was open to traffic in December 2016.
The St Peters Interchange, located at the eastern end of the M8, is a viaduct road interchange that connects the WestConnex with local arterial roads such as Euston Road and Gardeners Road. It will also connect to the Sydney Gateway towards Sydney Airport. Recreational spaces are supposed to be provided surrounding the interchange. Additionally, Campbell Street and Campbell Road in St Peters was widened and extended eastwards over Alexandra Canal and link with Bourke Road in Mascot. A recreation parkland was built alongside the alignment of Campbell Street.
The M8, St Peters Interchange, and Campbell Road works started construction in mid-2016. The Campbell Road extension and the bridge over Alexandra Canal opened on 22 June 2020, and the M8 and the St Peters Interchange opened two weeks later on 5 July 2020. The M5 East Motorway also became tolled when the M8 opened, after being toll-free for 19 years since its opening in 2001. Prior to the toll, WestConnex had already taken over the operations and maintenance of the M5 East tunnels on 1 May 2020.

Stage 3: M4–M8 Link, Iron Cove Link and Rozelle Interchange

Stage 3 works include building a new motorway tunnel linking the M4 East and the M8; the Rozelle Interchange, an underground interchange at the site of Rozelle rail yards with direct connections to the Anzac Bridge; and Iron Cove Link, a tunnel from the Rozelle Interchange to Iron Cove Bridge bypassing the congested Victoria Road corridor. In September 2022, it was announced that the M4–M5 Link would be renamed to extensions of the M4 and M8 when operational.
Stage 3 was officially approved in April 2018, began construction in 2019. In February 2021, roadheaders carved from the M4-M5 Link tunnels into the M8 tunnel, connecting the two stages of the WestConnex project for the first time. The main tunnels extending the M4 and M8 opened on 20 January 2023, while the rest of Stage 3 opened on 26 November 2023. Construction of Rozelle Interchange and Iron Cove Link was directly managed by Transport for NSW instead of WestConnex.
The Rozelle Interchange was built to have future provision for the proposed Western Harbour Tunnel.
Unlike the bulk of the WestConnex projects, the Iron Cove Link is toll-free.
Stage 3 forms the southern section of an eventual Inner West bypass of Sydney's CBD. This stage also originally included Sydney Gateway, however the project is now a separate Transport for NSW project and is no longer part of the WestConnex scope. The Sydney Gateway, which connects to the St Peters interchange, will be completed in 2024 instead.

History

The first comprehensive plan for Sydney motorways, the Cumberland County Plan, was released by the then county council in 1948 and adopted in 1951 by the NSW Government. The Plan envisaged a radial motorway network centred on Sydney's CBD. Though construction of the roads progressed slowly – by 1971 only isolated sections were complete – the Plan ensured corridors were reserved, providing property owners with certainty about future infrastructure.
This changed in 1976 with the election of the Australian Labor Party under Premier Neville Wran. Wran, faced with his predecessors' ambitious infrastructure plans, inner-city opposition to motorway projects and a deteriorating financial situation, halted work on inner-city projects, scaled back the under-construction Eastern Suburbs railway line and eliminated a number of the Cumberland Plan's inner-city road reservations.
Though Wran's decision to sell off the M4 East corridor was later criticised, the Cumberland Plan's radial concept was anyway beginning to lose relevance. The city's passenger and freight gateway had shifted south of the CBD, with long-distance passengers increasingly arriving via Sydney Airport, not Circular Quay or Central station; and Port Botany increasingly supplanting Sydney Harbour as the city's main shipping hub. At the same time, employment was decentralising. Retailers were clustering in new suburban shopping malls; factories were moving to less constrained greenfield sites in the outer suburbs; and many companies were moving to suburban campus-style office parks.
In 1987, the then Department of Main Roads released Roads 2000, which shifted the focus of motorway planning from completing the CBD-centric radial system and addressed the growing number of cross-suburban vehicle journeys instead. The Western Motorway, now known as the M4, was completed from Lapstone to Concord in 1992. The South-Western motorway, known as the M5, reached from Prestons to Beverly Hills by 1995.
The unfinished M5 East section of the orbital, between Beverly Hills and the airport, remained contentious. Although a surface corridor had been reserved for much of the route, the Labor government of Bob Carr was anxious to minimise the surface impact. After last-minute revisions to the design, the resulting motorway, opened in 2001, was too steep for laden trucks returning from Port Botany, significantly increasing vehicle emissions and frequently overwhelming the ventilation system.

Labor proposals in the 2000s

The Labor government proposed a number of schemes in the 2000s.

M4 East

In July 2002, the M4 East scheme was proposed with three options:
  • short tunnel option: a tunnel between the M4 at Concord and City West Link and Parramatta Road at Haberfield
  • long tunnel option: a tunnel between the M4 at Concord and City West Link at Lilyfield
  • slot option: a sunken trench road similar to the Eastern Distributor, between the M4 at Concord and Parramatta Road at Haberfield
All three options would run below or parallel to Parramatta Road and/or City West Link. The short tunnel option was preferred for having lower costs both during construction and operation. The long tunnel option was considered to have the potential to increase congestion on the approaches to Anzac Bridge, causing eastbound queues to extend into the tunnels. The slot option could be constructed at a similar cost to the short tunnel, however, it was considered to not provide the same level of traffic benefits as the short tunnel option. Additionally, the option would need to acquire additional properties and the construction period for this option would be longer.
Between 2003 and 2004, the preferred short tunnel option for M4 East was exhibited. The preferred option would also widen the existing motorway between Homebush Bay Drive and Concord Road. Members of the government were divided over the M4 East proposal and ultimately did not proceed with it in early 2005 due to community opposition. The preferred option eventually formed the basis of the concept design for the M4 East project of the WestConnex.
Despite the M4 East and Marrickville Tunnel not eventuating, the government continued to develop the schemes. In October 2007, the government was considering a '3-in-1' tolled motorway being dubbed the Gateway. The proposal was estimated to cost at least $7 billion, and would be funded by a proposed retail sale of electricity. The three motorway sections that make up the proposal were:
  • The first section would head north and connect to Victoria Road, possibly around Iron Cove bridge
  • The second section would extend the M4 to the city CBD via the Anzac Bridge
  • The third section would link the M4 to the Airport through a 5 km tunnel
The government continued to develop the schemes secretly in 2009, with funding to be provided by the federal Labor government. The M4 East failed to receive funding in the 2009/10 federal budget.