Works to dig Australia’s longest and deepest road tunnels, as part of the $3 billion NorthConnex project in Sydney, is now complete.
NSW Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said tunnelling started back in mid-2016 when the project’s first road header entered the ground at West Pennant Hills.
“Fast forward two years, 14 breakthroughs, 2.4 million cubic metres of spoil and the twin nine-kilometre tunnels are ready to be paved,” Mr. Constance said.
Around 2,550,000 cubic metres of spoil has been excavated across the project sites and almost 300,000 cubic metres of shotcrete and concrete has been poured.
The project aims to reduce congestion and provide more efficient journeys for vehicles and freight by allowing drivers to travel between Newcastle and Melbourne without stopping at a single set of traffic lights.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian noted the impact the project will have on the state’s roads.
“For too long the clogged Pennant Hills Road has been a headache for locals and a bottleneck for trucks delivering goods around our State,” Ms. Berejiklian said.
“NorthConnex will remove 5,000 trucks a day from Pennant Hills Road, bypass 21 sets of traffic lights and save drivers up to 15 minutes in travel time.”
NorthConnex has an anticipated completion date of late 2019.
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