Joint Media Statement

Premier Berejiklian

Minister Ayres

Minister Fletcher

26  July 2017

First breakthrough on New M4 tunnels

Tunnelling on the New M4 has reached a major milestone with the first underground breakthrough achieved this morning between two tunnelling sites at Concord.

NSW Premier Berejiklian, Minister for WestConnex Stuart Ayres and Federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure Paul Fletcher witnessed the breakthrough 40 metres below ground, marking 70 per cent completion of mainline tunnelling.

“In a little over one year, New M4 crews have carved out an impressive nine kilometres of future

WestConnex tunnel which will unclog suburban streets and provide seamless travel between Haberfield and Homebush and beyond from 2019,” Premier Berejiklian said.

“We have 21 roadheaders working 24 hours a day to deliver new road tunnels between Homebush and Haberfield, and we’re proud of our progress on this massive engineering feat which is an absolute first for Sydney.”

The New M4 tunnels will connect to the widened M4 and extend it underground, three lanes in each direction, from Homebush to Haberfield, allowing motorists to bypass the current bottleneck where the M4 ends at Parramatta Road, Concord.

Minister for WestConnex Stuart Ayres said the flow on benefits from WestConnex are enormous with more than $1 billion in contracts signed for goods and services on the New M4 section alone.

“WestConnex has created a veritable jobs boom – more than half of people involved in the New M4 hail from greater Western Sydney and more than 10,000 people will be employed across the life of the project.

“The next significant phase of work - tunnel fit out – gets underway in the coming months, while the Powells Creek on-ramp, is scheduled to open to traffic later this year,” Minister Ayres said.

Minister for Urban Infrastructure Paul Fletcher said when completed, WestConnex will enable motorists to travel along the M4 between Penrith and the edge of the CBD without passing through a single set of traffic lights.

“Congestion relief and an integrated motorway network for Sydney is fast becoming a reality and the Commonwealth is pleased to be supporting WestConnex with $1.5 billion in grant funding and a $2 billion concessional loan to the NSW Government.

“WestConnex is representative of a record commitment of $75 billion announced by the Turnbull Government over the next decade for road and rail infrastructure projects around Australia,” Mr Fletcher said.