Second Sydney Harbour Tunnel 

A second Sydney Harbour tunnel is in the pipeline in order to ease congestion on one of the city’s busiest growth corridors. The New South Wales Government has been deemed a national priority by Infrastructure Australia.

The Western Sydney Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway Upgrade have been added to the Infrastructure Priority List as a Priority Project.

The proposal involves:

• Constructing a 6.5 kilometre twin three-lane motorway from the Rozelle Interchange to the Warringah Freeway near North Sydney
• Upgrade of the Warringah Freeway between the northern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Willoughby Road.

Infrastructure Australia Chief Executive Romilly Madew said: “The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour Tunnel are critical transport links – carrying more than 250,000 vehicles each weekday as people travel into the CBD and through to other parts of the city. By 2031, this is expected to increase to 300,000 as Sydney’s population grows.

“Without an additional harbour crossing, we expect there to be additional traffic and delays around the Sydney CBD. Apart from impacting community access to school, work and other essential services, our 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit found that if not addressed, congestion on this part of the road network could cost the NSW economy more than $780,000 per day by 2031.

Infrastructure Australia’s role is to advise on national infrastructure priorities, assess the social, economic and strategic merits of proposals and support best practice business case development. To ensure the Priority List remains fit for purpose and provides clear and easy to understand advice, Infrastructure Australia has recently implemented some enhancements.

Infrastructure Australia will continue to review business cases where a funding commitment of $250 million or more has been made by the Australian Government.

All business case evaluation summaries can be found on the Infrastructure Australia website.

ENDS

Friday 7 May 2021 – Media Release

Read the Media Release here.

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