St Helena Tunnel


The St Helena Tunnel is a twin-tube road tunnel that forms part of the Pacific Highway near, New South Wales, Australia. The tunnel under St Helena Hill in the locality of Ewingsdale was built as part of the Tintenbar to Ewingsdale upgrade, which involved a new alignment of the highway.

Features

The tunnel was built to avoid the steep grades of St Helena Hill on the previous alignment of the highway, and the associated heavy truck noise and pollution. At its deepest point the tunnel is below the ridge line. There are two tunnels, with the northbound tunnel accommodating two traffic lanes and the southbound three traffic lanes, due to the gradient of the highway at this point. There is also a bicycle/pedestrian lane in each tunnel.
The cost of the Tintenbar-Ewingsdale upgrade project was $862 million, jointly funded by the New South Wales and Federal governments. It opened on 18 December 2015. The remaining tie in work at each end was completed in March 2016.
The St Helena Road passes over the top of the tunnel and provides local access between the Bangalow Road that is a link between and Byron Bay.

Milestones