Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link

The Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link is a planned north-south motorway in Sydney, between Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation (A8) at Balgowlah and the WestConnex at Rozelle interchange.[1] The six-lane motorway is planned to be approximately 18 km long and to be built (with both State and Federal funding).[2] It is intended to provide direct access from the Northern Beaches to the Inner West at Rozelle.

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 (expected)
Major junctions
North end
 
South end
Location(s)
Major suburbs / townsBalgowlah, Seaforth, Northbridge, Willoughby, Naremburn, North Sydney, Waverton, Birchgrove, Balmain & Rozelle
Highway system

The main route consists of:[3][4]

  • Beaches Link (Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation (A8) to Warringah Freeway) - 7.2 km
  • Warringah Freeway upgrade - 4 km
  • Western Harbour Tunnel - 6.5 km

The Beaches Link and the Western Harbour Tunnel will be built as tunnels with 3 lanes each direction.

A 2.5 km branch will be built at the eastern end of Beaches Link to connect the main motorway to the Wakehurst Parkway at Seaforth, while a 2 km branch will be built at the western end of Beaches Link to connect the motorway to Gore Hill Freeway. Both branches will be two lanes each direction. Gore Hill Freeway and Wakehurst Parkway will also be upgraded to integrate with the motorway.

History

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.[5]

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

Community engagement and the environment assessment are ongoing as of 2019.[6]

Cost

The forecast cost is $14bn.[7]. The road is very likely to be tolled, similar all other motorway tunnels in Sydney area.

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. "Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link" (PDF). Roads and Maritime Services. November 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  6. "Project timeline". Roads and Maritime Services. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  7. "The toll tunnel to Sydney's northern beaches is set to cost $1 billion per kilometre".
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