WestConnex


WestConnex is a predominately underground motorway scheme partially completed and partially still currently under construction in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The motorway scheme is a joint project of the New South Wales and Australian governments. The motorway scheme will create around of new tunnels between Homebush and Kingsgrove, passing underneath Inner West suburbs including Haberfield and St Peters. The first of the tunnels, the M4 East, opened to traffic on 13 July 2019. Stage 2 of the scheme, the M8 Motorway, opened to traffic on 5 July 2020.
The forecast cost of WestConnex has grown from 10 billion to over $18.6 billion. Once land acquisitions, network extensions development costs and the cost of operations are accounted for, the total cost is forecast to be at least $20 billion and possibly more than $45 billion. The NSW Government has announced its intention to sell at least 51 per cent of WestConnex; estimated by UBS to yield between $2 billion and $4 billion.
The project has bipartisan political support from the coalition and Labor parties, at both a federal and state level. Described as "the biggest transport project in Sydney and Australia since the Harbour Bridge" and costing "in current dollars, double the Snowy River scheme", the project has been criticised on economic, social and process grounds and has been the subject of public protest. It has faced opposition from residents, pro-public transport groups, anti-toll groups, and councillors from impacted suburbs, including the Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore, and the Greens. In June 2017, the City of Sydney called on the government to abandon the third and final stage of the project.

Staging

Works on the WestConnex are split up into three stages:
The Sydney Gateway project, separate to the WestConnex project, will be constructed in conjunction and will be completed at the same time as the M4–M5 link.

Stage 1: M4 Widening and M4 East

Stage 1 works included widening of the existing M4 Western Motorway from two or three to four lanes in each direction between Parramatta and Homebush Bay Drive; and the M4 East, new twin three-lane motorway tunnels between Homebush and Haberfield, connecting to the City West Link.
The widening of the M4 section east of Church Street, Parramatta, began construction in March 2015 and was completed in July 2017. WestConnex tolls were introduced on this section one month later on 15 August 2017.
The M4 East began construction in mid-2016 and opened on 13 July 2019. The M4 East was delivered by a Leighton Contractors Samsung John Holland joint venture.

Stage 2: King Georges Road Interchange, M8 Tunnel and St Peters Interchange

Stage 2 works included upgrading the existing M5 interchange at King Georges Road, and building the new M8 Motorway, a new set of tunnels between the M5 at Beverly Hills and St Peters. The M8, known as the New M5 during the planning and construction, was also designed to allow for future connection to the proposed M6 Motorway.
The King Georges Road Interchange Upgrade began construction in July 2015 and was open to traffic in December 2016.
The St Peters Interchange, located at the eastern end of the M8, is a viaduct road interchange that connects the WestConnex with local arterial roads such as Euston Road and Gardeners Road. It will also connect to the proposed Sydney Gateway towards Sydney Airport. Recreational spaces are provided surrounding the interchange. Additionally, Campbell Street and Campbell Road in St Peters was widened and extended eastwards over Alexandra Canal and link with Bourke Road in Mascot. A recreation parkland was built alongside the alignment of Campbell Street.
The M8, St Peters Interchange, and Campbell Road works started construction in mid-2016. The Campbell Road extension and the bridge over Alexandra Canal opened on 22 June 2020, and the M8 and the St Peters Interchange opened two weeks later on 5 July 2020. The M5 East Motorway also became tolled when the M8 opened, after being toll-free for 19 years since its opening in 2001. Prior to the toll, WestConnex had already taken over the operations and maintenance of the M5 East tunnels on 1 May 2020.

Stage 3: M4–M5 Link, Iron Cove Link and Rozelle Interchange

Stage 3 works include building M4–M5 link, a new motorway tunnel linking the M4 East and the M8; the Rozelle Interchange, an underground interchange at the site of Rozelle rail yards with direct connections to the Anzac Bridge; and Iron Cove Link, a tunnel from the Rozelle Interchange to Iron Cove Bridge bypassing the congested Victoria Road corridor. Stage 3 was officially approved in April 2018, began construction in 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2023. Construction of Rozelle Interchange and Iron Cove Link will be directly managed by Transport for NSW instead of WestConnex.
The Rozelle Interchange will be built to have future provision for the proposed Western Harbour Tunnel.
Unlike the rest of the WestConnex projects, the Iron Cove Link will be toll-free.
Stage 3 will form the southern section of an eventual Inner West bypass of Sydney's CBD. This stage also originally included Sydney Gateway, however the project is now a separate Transport for NSW project and is no longer part of the WestConnex scope. The Sydney Gateway, which connects to the St Peters interchange, will be completed alongside the M4–M5 Link in 2023.

History

The first comprehensive plan for Sydney motorways, the Cumberland County Plan, was released by the then county council in 1948 and adopted in 1951 by the NSW Government. The Plan envisaged a radial motorway network centred on Sydney's CBD. Though construction of the roads progressed slowly – by 1971 only isolated sections were complete – the Plan ensured corridors were reserved, providing property owners with certainty about future infrastructure.
This changed in 1976 with the election of the Australian Labor Party under Premier Neville Wran. Wran, faced with his predecessors' ambitious infrastructure plans, inner-city opposition to motorway projects and a deteriorating financial situation, halted work on inner-city projects, scaled back the under-construction Eastern Suburbs railway line and eliminated a number of the Cumberland Plan's inner-city road reservations.
Though Wran's decision to sell off the M4 East corridor was later criticised, the Cumberland Plan's radial concept was anyway beginning to lose relevance. The city's passenger and freight gateway had shifted south of the CBD, with long-distance passengers increasingly arriving via Sydney Airport, not Circular Quay or Central Station; and Port Botany increasingly supplanting Sydney Harbour as the city's main shipping hub. At the same time, employment was decentralising. Retailers were clustering in new suburban shopping malls; factories were moving to less constrained greenfield sites in the outer suburbs; and many companies were moving to suburban campus-style office parks.
In 1987, the then Department of Main Roads released Roads 2000, which shifted the focus of motorway planning from completing the CBD-centric radial system and addressed the growing number of cross-suburban vehicle journeys instead. The Western Motorway, now known as the M4, was completed from to Concord in 1992. The South-Western motorway, known as the M5, reached from Prestons to Beverly Hills by 1995.
The unfinished M5 East section of the orbital, between Beverly Hills and the airport, remained contentious. Although a surface corridor had been reserved for much of the route, the government of Bob Carr was anxious to minimise the surface impact. After last-minute revisions to the design, the resulting motorway, opened in 2001, was too steep for laden trucks returning from Port Botany, significantly increasing vehicle emissions and frequently overwhelming the ventilation system. Options for the M4 East were exhibited in 2003, but the government was divided over the proposal and ultimately did not proceed with it.

"First things first" strategy

on a promise to create an integrated transport strategy for the city, the Liberal-led government of Premier Barry O'Farrell established an independent advisory body, led by former premier Nick Greiner, to assess projects and determine priorities. Greiner's Infrastructure NSW evaluated a number of long-standing motorway proposals, including the M4 East, the F6 extension and the M2-F3 link. iNSW released its strategy, entitled First Things First, the following year. The plan identified a motorway, which it named "WestConnex", as the state's top road priority. The creation of WestConnex was one of the major points of agreement between two competing strategic transport reports, commissioned simultaneously in 2011 by the NSW Government, from iNSW and Transport for NSW. O'Farrell accepted the recommendation, committing $1.8 billion to begin work.
The initial scheme called for:
The M4 South component would provide the first step towards an inner-city bypass. Transport for New South Wales, which released its long-term integrated transport plan around the same time, committed to further planning work on the northern section of the bypass. iNSW estimated the benefit-cost ratio for WestConnex at "more than 1.5", noting that the removal of freight traffic from Parramatta Road could also facilitate urban regeneration along the Inner West's main road link.
Focused as it was on journeys to and from the international gateways at Botany Bay, the scheme did not include a direct connection to the CBD. This proved a stumbling block in securing federal funding for the project, despite the risk of a motorway direct to the city competing with existing public transport services. With a change of government in 2013, the federal government's opposition was reversed.

Later modifications

The scheme underwent a number of changes from the concept recommended by iNSW in 2012. In particular, the government realigned the proposed M4 South to accommodate a link to a future second harbour road tunnel, with a view to one day completing an inner-city bypass. This would mean a large interchange at the site of the abandoned Rozelle Rail Yards close to the Anzac Bridge, now known as Rozelle Interchange. This interchange was later moved underground. A tunnel under was added to bypass the congested Victoria Road corridor and connect with the Rozelle Rail Yard interchange. A large park will be built above the interchange.
Stub tunnels were added as part of Stage 2 to connect to a proposed Southern Motorway to the St George and Sutherland Shire areas.
On 9 November 2016, a new route for the M4-M5 Link took it under Annandale and the Hunter Baillie Memorial Presbyterian Church. On 17 November it was confirmed that the mid-tunnel point would be in "the 'triangle area' bordered by Parramatta Road, Pyrmont Bridge Road and Mallet Street".
In August 2019, the right turn from The Crescent northbound to eastbound was also proposed to be modified to an overpass, with changes to surrounding pedestrian and cycling links and the layouts of surrounding intersections., the modification has not yet been approved.

Objectives

The strategic objectives that the scheme was originally conceived to address have never been made public. The initial application for federal funding was made under the 'National Freight Network' category, and the new tunnels converge near Sydney's main container port and airport. This suggests the primary objective was to improve road freight productivity. However, smaller truck-only toll tunnels would not have been financially viable. Therefore, general use toll tunnels were proposed instead, to generate toll revenue from passenger vehicles as well. This approach was described as "suburban motorists... paying for an inner-city freight project".
A list of objectives was included in the 2015 Business Case. However, the Business Case and list of objectives were written retrospectively, long after state and federal funding for the project was announced.
Infrastructure Australia criticised the NSW Government for not adequately appraising alternative ways of meeting the project objectives. For example, road freight productivity could be improved, and congestion reduced, simply by tolling the existing M4 and M5 motorways, which is being done anyway to cross-subsidise to the new tunnels.

Benefits

The 2015 business case predicted WestConnex will deliver $22.2 billion in benefits, before deducting operating expenses. These benefits are mostly non-cash. They are estimates of the value to users of such things as travel time saved and increased travel time reliability as well as reduced operating costs. All other factors are estimated to have a worth of $1.65 billion.
The 2015 business case estimated that building WestConnex will enable an extra 45,000 road trips per weekday by 2031. By 2031, Infrastructure Australia estimates that the population of Sydney will have grown by an extra 1.2 million people.
For the purpose of calculating benefits and costs of the scheme, tolling is considered to be "a transfer payment from the user to operator", the benefit to the operator is considered to cancel out the disbenefit to the user, and as such, tolling has a "neutral effect on overall benefits and costs".

Community feedback

Support

WestConnex has the ongoing support of the New South Wales Government, currently led by Premier Gladys Berejiklian of the New South Wales Liberal Party and the Australian Federal Government, currently led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Australian Liberal Party. Both levels of government have continually funded the planning and implementation of the WestConnex.
Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese, also previously the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, voiced his support of the project and announced over $1.2 billion in funding despite the motorway impacting on residents in his electorate of Grayndler. NSW Labor former leaders Luke Foley and Michael Daley and former Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten have both voiced support of the project.
WestConnex has also received support from multiple third party organisations, such as the motoring lobby group the NRMA, which argued that it would help improve transport in Sydney's west, significantly reduce travel times and complete a plan from 1947. On 3 October 2012, press releases in support of the "missing motorway" were issued by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Sydney Business Chamber, and the Sydney Airport Corporation. Lucy Turnbull, the chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission and wife of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, voiced her support for the project albeit with concerns for the preservation of heritage sites in Haberfield, stating that the development needs to "strike the right balance between protecting our homes and heritage and building a Greater Sydney that will work well for future generations".

Opposition

Elements of the WestConnex scheme encountered strident opposition from a range of stakeholders, among them academics, architects, resident action groups, an industry group, local councils, a developer lobby, the Greens, with some strongly opposed to the project in its entirety. Among the project's most high-profile opponents has been Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who commissioned a report to Council on the project. Almost 12,900 submissions were lodged with NSW Planning in response to the environmental impact statement, many highly critical of the project. Marrickville Council told WestConnex it will not approve preliminary work until the project as a whole is approved, but observers note that the "scope of the project... continues to expand", as does the cost.

Public transport

The Lord Mayor's report, released a month before the 2015 state election, criticised the project and recommended that a new railway line be built along the M4 Western Motorway and M4 East corridor instead, to parallel the existing Inner West Line. The impact of the project on public transport continued to be a matter of concern into 2016 with "no detail on what sort of public transport will be included on the road surface" and repeatedly expressed concerns that experience with motorways shows they generate traffic and increase congestion and that Westconnex will similarly add to congestion, rather than relieving it. The project is criticised as a "crude 1950s response to our complex 21st century transport needs".

Planning and approval processes

The planning and approval process for A of the scheme was criticised by Grant Hehir, the NSW Auditor-General, for failing to abide by the Government's own assurance arrangements for major projects. While Hehir made clear it was not his intention to assess the merit or value of the project per se, he identified "a number of deficiencies in governance and independent assurance over the early stages" and made recommendations for change.
In response to Hehir's recommendations, the RMS only committed to addressing them for "future more complex stages", leaving the governance arrangements for the current stages unaltered.
The methods by which the project's value, its cost and benefits as well as the fairness of their distribution have all been challenged. In particular, it is argued that the projections of the economic benefits brought by the project use modelling "...devised by highway agencies in the 1960s to justify the massive cost of urban motorways". The government, although "urged" to consider the fairness of the process of compulsory acquisition for the land required for the project and act on recommendations in a legal report to improve it, decided to take "no further action".

Environmental impacts

The project has been criticised for its potential impact on the green and golden bell frog at Kogarah golf club. Protests have been strong against the felling of mature heritage trees in preparation for "the 40-hectare spaghetti interchange - as big as Sydney Park itself".
In January 2016, the Wolli Creek Preservation Society raised concerns that complying offsets are unlikely to be available for the irreparable damage to the Beverly Grove bushland from the temporary use of as a construction compound. The Beverly Grove bushland was one of the larger remnant patches of the Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark ecological community. Further, the of critically endangered CCRIF cleared was an offset from the original M5 East.
On 11 July 2016, the Second Turnbull Ministry announced the environmental approval for Stage 2 of the WestConnex motorway with a captive breeding plan and construction and maintenance of additional habitat for the green and golden bell frog and offsets for damage to the critically endangered CCRIF.

Heritage impacts

The destruction of heritage properties in Haberfield, a suburb listed in its entirety as a Conservation area, has been the subject of specific criticism, especially when the chair of the Greater Sydney Commission said she was unaware of it. The compulsorily acquisition of residential properties in inner-city suburbs for the project, including "at least 50 listed heritage buildings" has been the subject of much criticism and opposition on grounds of disruption, loss of heritage and unfairness of process, including the Government's decision to release only the executive summary of the project's business case.

Secrecy

After the WestConnex Authority was closed in October 2015, the project's transfer to the Sydney Motorway Corporation was criticised on the basis that this there were then no representatives from transport agencies on the board of the new "private corporation" and also that information about the project would no longer need to be disclosed in the same way that government entities normally did. A proposal in 2016 for an additional tunnel between Iron Cove Bridge and an interchange at Rozelle, required the acquisition of further residential properties. Residents whose homes were affected reportedly received letters about such acquisitions on the same day that the responsible Government Minister said final decisions on them "had yet to be made". The Russell Review of the acquisition system in 2012 had not been released by 2016.

Funding

Funding uses a combination of government subsidy, tolls on new tunnel sections, and tolls on some existing motorways. The finance was to mostly be loans from the private sector, with $2 to $3 billion worth of loans and grants from the State and Federal Governments. All loans are to be repaid by privatising each section as it is completed.

Tolls

The Government's tolling strategy is based on distance-based charging. Tolling on new sections of WestConnex will begin as each section opens. Tolling on the existing M4 began in August 2017. Tolling on the existing M5 East will begin in 2020 when the M8 opens.
Once tolling on a section starts, the charge will consist of a flagfall plus a charge per kilometre, with a maximum charge, calculated as follows.
For each elapsed year between 2012 and 2040, the toll will increase by 4% or by CPI, whichever is higher. From 2041 onwards, the toll will increase by CPI.
, the charges are:
Additionally:
, the maximum tolls charged on existing and completed motorways are:
There were plans by the government to implement WestConnex tolling on the M5 South-West from 2026, when the current concession was due to end. Under the plan, tolling on M5 Southwest would continue until 2060. The plan has not been confirmed by the government.

Finance

By 2015, $1.5 billion has been raised from the private sector.
$7.1 billion has been provided by the State and Federal governments. The Federal government has contributed a grant of $1.5 billion, and committed to a concessional loan of $2.0 billion. The NSW Government initially planned to contribute $1.8 billion. It has since increased its contribution to $3.6 billion, of which $1.8 billion is from the 'Restart NSW' infrastructure fund and $1.8 billion is from the State's Consolidated Fund.
In August 2018, a consortium led by Transurban won the bidding to buy 51% of WestConnex for 9.3 billion. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said that 5.3 billion of that would be spent on delivering Stage 3. The Transurban consortium will contribute another 0.7 billion towards the cost of Stage 3, and the remainder of the cost is to be funded by borrowing.
By the end of State 3, the project is expected to be carrying $8.2 billion of debt.
In 2013 Julia Gillard, Prime Minister at the time, offered a grant of $1.8 billion which was rejected by then Premier O'Farrell, as a "stunt", because it came with three conditions not reimposing tolls on the existing M4 motorway even if it were widened; a direct connection to the Sydney city centre; and a direct connection to Port Botany. In particular, not tolling existing roads was not acceptable as it would deny the project billions of dollars in toll revenue. Following a change of federal government, incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott approved a grant of $1.5 billion, followed by a loan of $2.0 billion.

Costs

When first proposed in 2012, the WestConnex was to cost approximately $10 billion.
By 2015, direct costs were forecast to be $16.8 billion, with estimates that total costs could be up to $45 billion, or more.
The $16.8 billion figure originally including $800 million for the Airport Gateway. In August 2017, Premier Berejiklian announced the $16.8 billion, did not including the Airport Gateway. The cost of the Gateway had by then grown to $1.8 billion and has since grown to $2.6 billion.
The $16.8 billion figure does not include "land acquisition, network extensions, and development costs", or indirect costs such as alleged environmental damage and shortfalls between prices being paid for compulsory acquisitions and market values.
Land acquisition costs are known to be at least $1.5 billion.
The cost of network extensions to support the WestConnex has never formally been disclosed and neither has the cost or nature of 'development costs'.
Operating costs have been estimated at the equivalent of $1.465 billion.
Leaked documents show that contractors have lodged over $1 billion in claims for variations to contracts.
According to a report commissioned by the City of Sydney, once excluded factors are properly considered, the full cost of the project may be more than $45 billion.

Sale

Under the original financing strategy the NSW was to retain ownership of WestConnex until 2025, so as to maximise the sales price.
On 12 May 2017 the NSW Government announced its intention to sell at least 51% of Sydney Motorway Corporation, the holding company for the WestConnex project. At the time, UBS estimated that the 51% stake might fetch between 2 billion and 4 billion. In August 2018, the 51% stake was sold for 9.26 billion to Sydney Transport Partners, a consortium led by Transurban and included AustralianSuper, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s Tawreed Investments. The NSW Government retained the other 49% of Sydney Motorway Corporation.

Governance

Audits and other inquiries

In 2014, the NSW Auditor-General, Grant Hehir at the time, conducted a performance assurance audit covering the period from the development of the concept in October 2012 through to the pre-tender phase for Stage 1 in March 2014 and concluded that:
In May 2016, it was announced that the Federal Government decision to commit $3.5 billion to WestConnex project will be investigated by the Commonwealth Auditor-General. Hehir, who was now the Commonwealth Auditor-General, released his report on 14 February 2017 and was highly critical of upfront payments made by the Gillard and Abbott governments and an 2 billion loan made in advance of scheduled milestones "did not adequately protect the Australian government's financial interests". The estimated cost to the Commonwealth Government of providing funding before it was needed was $20 million. Paul Fletcher, the federal Minister for Urban Affairs and Cities, claimed that the report was not critical of the project:
In October 2017 it was reported that Margaret Crawford, the new NSW Auditor-General, will conduct another audit of the WestConnex project. The audit, entitled WestConnex: Changes since 2014, will assess whether Transport for NSW and Infrastructure NSW effectively assessed and justified major scope changes to the WestConnex project since December 2014. The report is anticipated to be published in 2020.

NSW Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Inquiry

On 21 June 2018 the NSW Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee established an Inquiry into the Impacts of WestConnex. On 17 December 2018 the Inquiry released its report which included the following findings:
The WestConnex Delivery Authority was a NSW Government agency established in November 2013 to plan and manage delivery of the WestConnex motorway scheme. WDA's functions had previously been performed by a project office within Roads and Maritime Services. WDA was established by the Transport Administration Amendment Regulation 2013. Its founding chairman was businessman Tony Shepherd and its founding chief executive was Dennis Cliche. The Authority was merged into the Sydney Motorway Corporation in October 2015 with the Corporation responsible for all aspects of the project. Following the resignation of Shepherd, Peter Brecht became chair, with claims that information about the project is less available to the public since Brecht's appointment.