Two of NSW biggest road projects connect under Sydney Harbour

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Two of the state’s biggest road projects have joined up with the completion of a tunnel linking the new harbour crossing with the Warringah Highway. Once complete it will deliver major time saving for motorists. But the price of tolls is still being decided.

Transcript

00:00For Sydney-siders accustomed to spectacular tunnel breakthroughs, this was on the boring

00:07side.

00:08But for commuters facing confusion and delays thanks to the Warringah Freeway upgrade, it's

00:13a major sign of progress.

00:15It's great to be here today, an absolute cracker of an announcement.

00:20Below the surface at North Sydney, the New Look Freeway has been joined up with what

00:24will be the Western Harbour Tunnel, after contractors dug through one million tonnes

00:28of rock.

00:29The equivalent weight of 7,000 blue whales, or 200,000 small buses, or a billion moderately

00:38sized border collies.

00:40I just made up that last one.

00:43Later this year, two giant tunnel boring machines will be delivered to complete the next phase

00:47under the harbour from Birchgrove to Waverton.

00:50Once the tunnel opens in 2028, it's forecast to save drivers up to 20 minutes from Olympic

00:55Park to North Sydney, up to 20 minutes from Leichhardt to North Sydney, and up to 15 minutes

01:01from North Sydney to the airport.

01:03There will be a cost to motorists, but the government won't give a dollar figure because

01:06it's still working on an overhaul of the entire toll road network.

01:11The opposition says it deserves credit for both projects.

01:14Chris Moons is great when it comes to cutting the ribbons on Liberals and Nationals projects

01:18that are still in the pipeline, but there are no big ideas of his own.

01:20Look, ultimately who cares who gets the credit as long as these projects get done.

01:25Tomorrow marks two years since the Minns government was elected, but the Premier says

01:29he's not expecting much credit from voters as his term passes the midway point.

01:34I haven't had much time to think about it and I'd suspect that your average voters thought

01:39about it even less.

01:40But as a fresh-faced government comes of age, voters are likely to sharpen their focus.

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