Western Sydney is the fastest growing part of the Sydney metropolitan area. The Ring Road 5 and State Route 55 – and later State Route 77 – originally meant to bypass Sydney, had instead become primary arteries for the western suburbs. By the late 1990s and first decade of the 21st century Western Sydney had become the third biggest producer of Australia's GDP, after the Sydney CBD and Melbourne. The growth of industrial and residential areas brought about a massive increase in traffic on its local roads. This led to the planning of the Western Sydney Orbital which, among its original purposes, was to serve the stillborn second international airport at Badgerys Creek. In January 2001 the federal government made a commitment to progressively contribute A$356 million to the M7 project, with the remaining A$1.5 billion required for the design and construction provided by the private sector. The NSW Minister for Planning authorised the undertaking in February 2002. The M7 Motorway was privately funded through an innovative construction contract method known as a "deed" to facilitate the expedition of the tendering phase; several deeds were drawn up based on the contractors proposals. The deed was for the full design, construction, operation and maintenance of the motorway including more than of continuously reinforced concrete and asphalt roads, upgrading of local roads, the longest free-flowing toll road in the world at the time. More than 90 bridges and the largest shared path network in the southern hemisphere. The design, construct, operate and maintain contract worth at least A$2.0 billion was awarded to WSO by the Roads & Traffic Authority. The design and construct portion of the contract valued at A$1.8 billion was awarded to a joint venture between Abigroup and Leighton Contractors with design work undertaken by a further joint venture by Maunsell AECOM and SMEC with further subcontracting to other designers and independent verification by Sinclair Knight Merz. The motorway was opened to traffic in 2005. WSO operate the motorway with maintenance subcontracted to Westlink Services and tolling to ROAM. With its opening, Metroad 7 between Liverpool and Beecroft was transferred from Cumberland Highway to Westlink M7. Westlink M7 was the first Sydney motorway to be marked with an alphanumeric shield rather than the hexagonal Metroad shield. On 25 December 2005, just 9 days after opening, the M7 suffered its first fatality: a 12-year-old boy died at Cecil Park when the four-wheel drive he was travelling in rolled down an embankment and onto Elizabeth Drive, almost crushing another car.
The Light Horse Interchange is the junction of the M4 and M7 motorways. The stack interchange is the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere. It was named in honour of an Australian World War One formation, the Australian Light Horse.
Tolls
The Westlink was built as a fully tolled, gateless motorway employing electronic payment, with an initial toll-free period that ended on 15 January 2006. The toll was originally 29.91 cents per kilometre, capped after at $5.98. On 1 April 2006, this increased to 30.07 cents per kilometre, capped after at $6.01., the toll was 38.31 cents per kilometre, capped at $7.66, and adjusted quarterly according to the CPI.
