Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link

The Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link is a planned underground motorway scheme in Sydney, New South Wales. It consists of a series of motorway tunnels running north-south between Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation (A8) at Balgowlah and the WestConnex at Rozelle Interchange, providing direct access from the Northern Beaches to the Inner West at Rozelle[1] The six-lane motorway is planned to be approximately 18 km long and to be built (with both State and Federal funding).[2]

This article is about the motorway in Sydney. For the tunnel in Hong Kong, see Western Harbour Crossing.

Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link

New South Wales
General information
TypeMotorway  (Proposed)
Length17.8 km (11 mi)
Opened2026–2028 (expected)
Route number(s)
Major junctions
North end
 
South end
Location(s)
Major suburbs / townsBalgowlah, Seaforth, Northbridge, Willoughby, Naremburn, North Sydney, Waverton, Birchgrove, Balmain & Rozelle
Highway system

Components

The scheme (from north to south) consists of:[3][4]

  • Beaches Link and Gore Hill Freeway Connection (expected completion 2028)[5]
  • Western Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway Upgrade (expected completion 2026)

The Beaches Link and the Western Harbour Tunnel will be built as tunnels with 3 lanes each direction, with the exception of the 2.5 km branch between Beaches Link and Wakehurst Parkway which will be two lanes per direction. The Gore Hill Freeway Connection will also be two lanes each direction.

Alignment

The Beaches Link consist of two branches, the main branch starting from Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation at Balgowlah and the second branch starting from Wakehurst Parkway at Seaforth. It will connect with Gore Hill Freeway and Warringah Freeway in its southern end.[6]

A new connection road will be built at Balgowlah linking between Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation, the Beaches Link tunnel entrance and exit, and Sydney Road. The road will divide the former Balgowlah Golf Club grounds.[6]

Western Harbour Tunnel

The Western Harbour Tunnel will start at Warringah Freeway at Cammeray in the north, joining up with the southern end of Beaches Link. The tunnel ends at the Rozelle Interchange in the south, with connections to City West Link and the M4–M5 tunnels towards the M4 and M8 motorways.[7]

History

Planning

The Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link is aimed at reducing the level of traffic congestion in the greater Sydney area. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour Tunnel corridor currently carry 80 percent of all vehicles crossing Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River, greatly increasing traffic congestion.[2] The Government of New South Wales has pledged $77 million in funding to evaluate the design and construction feasibility of the project. The design phase began in early April 2017[2] and is scheduled to be completed by mid-2018.[8]

The Beaches Link proposal follows similarly to abandoned extensions of the Warringah Freeway in the 1960s and 1970s.

Community engagement and the environment assessment for both components were undertaken during 2020 and 2021.[9] The Western Harbour Tunnel received planning approval in January 2021[10] Early work activities will begin in March 2021, while major construction of the Warringah Freeway upgrade and the Western Harbour Tunnel are planned to start in late 2021 and 2022 respectively.[11][12]

Construction

In December 2020, the NSW Government announced a shortlist of a potential Development Partner to assist with the procurement and delivery of the Western Harbour Tunnel project.[13] The potential Development Partner will not be managing the financing of the project. The shortlist is:

The announcement of the potential Development Partner will be made in 2021.

Cost

The forecast cost of the entire project is A$14 billion.[14] Both the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link will be tolled.[15]

References
  1. NSW. "Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link". Roads and Maritime Services. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  2. "Project - Infrastructure Pipeline". Infrastructure Pipeline. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  3. "Western Harbour Tunnel - Project update" (PDF). Roads and Maritime Services. August 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  4. "Beaches Link - Project update" (PDF). Roads and Maritime Services. August 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  5. "Sydney's Beaches Link toll road to open two years later than initially proposed, report reveals". ABC News. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  6. "Beaches Link and Gore Hill Freeway Connection - Community guide to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)" (PDF). Transport for NSW. December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  7. "Western Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway Upgrade - Your guide to the Environmental Impact Statement" (PDF). Transport for NSW. January 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  8. "Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link" (PDF). Roads and Maritime Services. November 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  9. "Project timeline". Roads and Maritime Services. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  10. "Planning approval for Western Harbour Tunnel". Transport for NSW. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  11. "New Sydney Harbour tunnel gets green light, construction starts 2022". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  12. "Western Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway Upgrade - Community Update - January 2021" (PDF). Transport for NSW - Roads and Maritime. Transport for NSW. January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  13. "Development partner shortlist for Western Harbour Tunnel". Transport for NSW. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  14. "The toll tunnel to Sydney's northern beaches is set to cost $1 billion per kilometre". Business Insider. 18 July 2017.
  15. "Sydney's West Harbour tunnel gets approval". The West Australian. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
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