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Western Harbour Tunnel

Plan of the Western Harbour Tunnel
Overview
Location	Sydney Harbour
Status	Under construction
Route
Start	Warringah Freeway, Cammeray
End	Rozelle Interchange, Rozelle
Operation
Work begun	2021
Opened	2028 (scheduled)
Owner	Transport for NSW
Operator	Ventia
Traffic	Vehicular
Technical
Length	6.5 km (4.0 mi)
No. of lanes	6

The Western Harbour Tunnel is an under construction tunnel in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The six lane, 6.5 kilometre twin tunnels will run from Cammeray to Rozelle, passing beneath Sydney Harbour. It is scheduled for completion in 2028.

The tunnel will form part of the M8 Motorway when it opens. It is expected to cost $14 billion.

Alignment

The Western Harbour Tunnel will start at the Warringah Freeway at Cammeray passing beneath North Sydney before crossing under Sydney Harbour between Balls Head and Birchgrove. It will then continue beneath Birchgrove and Balmain ending at the Rozelle Interchange, with connections to City West Link and WestConnex towards the M4 and M8 motorways.

History

Planning

The Western Harbour Tunnel was introduced as a single project with the Beaches Link, 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. The Government of New South Wales pledged $77 million in funding to evaluate the design and construction feasibility of the project. The design phase began in April 2017.

Community engagement and the environment assessment for both components were undertaken during 2020 and 2021. Planning approval was received in January 2021.

Tenders

In December 2020, three potential development partners to assist with the procurement and delivery of the project were shortlisted:

• Bechtel
• Harbour West Partners, a consortium comprising Macquarie Capital, Jacobs and RPS
• Laing O'Rourke

By September 2021, the search for a development partner had been scrapped.

In September 2021 the design and construction contract for the Warringah Freeway upgrade was awarded to a CPB Contractors and Downer Group joint venture. In January 2022, the tunnelling contract for stage one of the tunnel between Rozelle and Birchgrove was awarded to a John Holland / CPB Contractors joint venture.

Three bidders were shortlisted for the stage two between Cammeray and Birchgrove:

• Acciona
• Bouygues / Vinci joint venture
• John Holland / CPB Contractors / UGL joint venture

In December 2022, the contract was awarded to Acciona.

Construction

Early work activities commenced in March 2021, while major construction of the Warringah Freeway upgrade and the Western Harbour Tunnel began in late 2021 and 2022 respectively. Construction of stage two commenced in November 2023.

Originally it was planned to sink immersed tubes into the harbour bed. In November 2022 it was decided to instead use tunnel boring machines to bore out tunnels below the harbour floor.

The construction of stub tunnels at the Western Harbour Tunnel portals in Cammeray reserve a future connection to Beaches Link, should it be built by a future government.

Operations and maintenance

In April 2022, the state government signed a 15-year contract with Ventia for the asset management, operations and maintenance of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and the future Western Harbour Tunnel. Tolling arrangements of both tunnels were unrelated to the new agreement.

References

1. Kidd, Jessica (22 January 2021). "Western Harbour Tunnel gets go ahead but locals say NSW Government brushed off their concerns". ABC News. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
2. Western Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway Upgrade - Your guide to the Environmental Impact Statement Transport for NSW January 2020
3. ^ "Project - Infrastructure Pipeline". Infrastructure Pipeline. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
4. "Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link" (PDF). Roads & Maritime Services. November 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
5. "Project timeline". Roads & Maritime Services. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
6. "Planning approval for Western Harbour Tunnel". Transport for NSW. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
7. Development partner shortlist for Western Harbour Tunnel Transport for NSW 11 December 2020
8. Sydney’s new harbour road tunnel at risk of delay after contract U-turn Sydney Morning Herald 13 September 2021
9. Major Milestone for Warringah Freeway Upgrade Transport for NSW 11 September 2021
10. Construction of Western Harbour Tunnel to begin in mid-year Transport for NSW 19 January 2022
11. Stage is set for second package of Western Harbour Tunnel Project Transport for NSW 19 January 2022
12. Acciona to design and build Sydney’s Western Harbour Tunnel Acciona
13. New Sydney Harbour tunnel gets green light, construction starts 2022 Sydney Morning Herald 22 January 2021
14. Western Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway Upgrade - Community Update - January 2021 Transport for NSW January 2021
15. Noisy and as heavy as 27 elephants: the machine digging Sydney’s second harbour tunnel Sydney Morning Herald 20 November 2023
16. Major U-turn in construction plans for Sydney’s Western Harbour Tunnel Sydney Morning Herald 4 November 2022
17. "'In limbo': Home owners fear Beaches Link will eventually be resurrected". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 June 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
18. "Asset Manager confirmed for Harbour Tunnels". Transport for NSW. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.

External links

• Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link Project Information Transport for NSW
• Western Harbour Tunnel interactive portal Transport for NSW

• Road tunnels in Australia
• Sydney Harbour
• Toll tunnels in Australia
• Tunnels in Sydney
• Undersea tunnels in Oceania