Premier Mike Baird and minister for roads Duncan Gay watched as the equipment made its way down a ramp at Cintra Park in Concord to start tunnelling. The road header will be one of four based at the site, working underground in both directions to create the 5.5km tunnels that will link Homebush with Haberfield, in the first stage of WestConnex.
“This is a milestone event for the congestion-busting WestConnex motorway, which will deliver more than $20 billion [£11.5bn] in benefits to NSW and create 10,000 jobs during construction,” said Baird.
“Sydney can’t wait a minute longer for WestConnex which will cut 40 minutes from a typical journey between Parramatta and Sydney Airport, and bypass up to 52 sets of traffic lights,” he added.
When complete, WestConnex joining the M4 and M5 in a continuous motorway with connections at Rozelle, Camperdown, St Peters and Sydney Airport.
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