Skip to main content

Transurban announces preferred contractor for NorthConnex

Melbourne-based toll-road operator Transurban Group has announced that the consortium Lend Lease Bouygues is set to design and build the Sydney, Australia, NorthConnex tunnel link between the M1 and M2 motorways in the city’s northwest. The nine kilometre, 80 km/h tolled link involves two motorway tunnels, built with a three lane capacity for future growth but initially marked for two lanes each way. It provides the missing link in the National Highway Network and offers a safe and more efficient way of
March 18, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Melbourne-based Toll-road operator 600 Transurban Group has announced that the consortium Lend Lease Bouygues is set to design and build the Sydney, Australia, NorthConnex tunnel link between the M1 and M2 motorways in the city’s northwest.

The nine kilometre, 80 km/h tolled link involves two motorway tunnels, built with a three lane capacity for future growth but initially marked for two lanes each way.  It provides the missing link in the National Highway Network and offers a safe and more efficient way of moving freight from Sydney’s north-west and upper north shore and connects the Sydney orbital motorway to the M1 Pacific Motorway, the Central Coast and the north.

The tunnel design features a clearance height of 5.3 metres, higher than any other tunnel to minimise the likelihood overhead impacts.

Transurban approached the New South Wales Government in 2012 under the Government’s unsolicited proposal regime to design, build, operate and finance the link. In May last year the proposal moved to stage three which involved negotiating and submitting a final binding offer. With the announcement the project moves into the planning approval stage with the public display of the Environmental Impact Assessment.

If approved work on NorthConnex would expect to begin in 2015 with the project open for use in 2019.

Transurban’s Chief Executive Officer, Scott Charlton, said: “We have gone through a unique and innovative competitive tender process to select Lend Lease Bouygues as the design and construction contractor. The twin tunnels will provide significant travel time savings for commuters and the freight network benefiting the NSW and Australian economies.”

The Australian and New South Wales governments will each invest as much as US$367 million, with Toll charges funding the rest, a statement from the state government said.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Construction begins on $1 billion I-95 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia
    August 8, 2012
    Surrounded by elected officials, transportation engineers, and dignitaries, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday to begin construction of the I-95 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia. The project will build 29 miles (46.7kms) of express lanes on I-95 from Garrisonville Road in Stafford County to Edsall Road in Fairfax County, and will connect the I-95 Express Lanes to the I-495 Express Lanes currently under construction to provide a seamless network of new lanes to reduce
  • Ohio Turnpike launches $250m modernised toll collection system
    April 12, 2024
    E-ZPass entry and exit gates have been removed at 20 toll plazas on 241-mile route
  • Balfour Beatty consortium preferred bidder for Aberdeen road project
    June 13, 2014
    The Connect Roads consortium, comprising Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Galliford Try, has been selected as preferred bidder for the design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) contract to deliver the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie-Tipperty project for Transport Scotland in partnership with Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils. Balfour Beatty will invest up to US$34 million, which represents a one third share of the sponsor’s investment requirement, with Carillion and Galliford Try also inv
  • Reauthorization 2012: the facts laid bare
    September 12, 2012
    A reauthorization bill for transportation came into law in July 2012, rubber stamping federal funding increases through the 2014 financial year, among other things. The new bill presents the good, the bad and the ugly of transportation infrastructure in the US, writes Pat Jones On June 29 this year, the US House of Representatives and Senate both approved the conference report on the ‘Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act’ or MAP-21. President Obama signed this legislation into law on July 6.