WestConnex

History

The first comprehensive plan for Sydney motorways, the Cumberland County Plan, was released by the then county council in 1948 and adopted in 1951 by the NSW Government. The Plan envisaged a radial motorway network centred on Sydney's central business district (CBD). Though construction of the roads progressed slowly – by 1971 only isolated sections were complete – the Plan ensured corridors were reserved, providing property owners with certainty about future infrastructure.

This changed in 1976 with the election of the Australian Labor Party under Premier Neville Wran. Wran, faced with his predecessors' ambitious infrastructure plans, inner-city opposition to motorway projects (including a powerful 'Green Bans' movement) and a deteriorating financial situation, halted work on inner-city projects, scaled back the under-construction Eastern Suburbs railway line and eliminated a number of the Cumberland Plan's inner-city road reservations.

Though Wran's decision to sell off the M4 East corridor was later criticised, the Cumberland Plan's radial concept was anyway beginning to lose relevance. The city's passenger and freight gateway had shifted 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south of the CBD, with long-distance passengers increasingly arriving via Sydney Airport, not Circular Quay or Central Station; and Port Botany increasingly supplanting Sydney Harbour as the city's main shipping hub. At the same time, employment was decentralising. Retailers were clustering in new suburban shopping malls; factories were moving to less constrained greenfield sites in the outer suburbs; and many companies were moving to suburban campus-style office parks.

In 1987, the then Department of Main Roads released Roads 2000, which shifted the focus of motorway planning from completing the CBD-centric radial system and addressed the growing number of cross-suburban vehicle journeys instead. The Western Motorway, now known as the M4, was completed from the Blue Mountains to Concord in 1992. The South-Western motorway, known as the M5, reached from Prestons to Beverly Hills by 1995.

The unfinished M5 East section of the orbital, between Beverly Hills and the airport, remained contentious. Although a surface corridor had been reserved for much of the route, the government of Bob Carr was anxious to minimise the surface impact. After last-minute revisions to the design, the resulting motorway, opened in 2001, was too steep for laden trucks returning from Port Botany, significantly increasing vehicle emissions and frequently overwhelming the ventilation system. Options for the M4 East were exhibited in 2003, but the government was divided over the proposal and ultimately did not proceed with it.

"First things first" strategy

Elected in 2011 on a promise to create an integrated transport strategy for the city, the Liberal-led government of Premier Barry O'Farrell established an independent advisory body, led by former premier Nick Greiner, to assess projects and determine priorities. Greiner's Infrastructure NSW (iNSW) evaluated a number of long-standing motorway proposals, including the M4 East, the F6 extension and the M2-F3 link. iNSW released its strategy, entitled First Things First, the following year. The plan identified a 33-kilometre (21 mi) motorway scheme, which it named "WestConnex", as the state's top road priority. The creation of WestConnex was one of the major points of agreement between two competing strategic transport reports, commissioned simultaneously in 2011 by the NSW Government, from iNSW and Transport for NSW. O'Farrell accepted the recommendation, committing $1.8 billion to begin work.

The initial scheme called for:

The M4 South component would provide the first step towards an inner-city bypass. Transport for New South Wales, which released its long-term integrated transport plan around the same time, committed to further planning work on the northern section of the bypass. iNSW estimated the benefit-cost ratio for WestConnex at "more than 1.5", noting that the removal of freight traffic from Parramatta Road could also facilitate urban regeneration along the Inner West's main road link.

Focused as it was on journeys to and from the international gateways at Botany Bay, the scheme did not include a direct connection to the CBD. This proved a stumbling block in securing federal funding for the project, despite the risk of a motorway direct to the city competing with existing public transport services. With a change of government in 2013, the federal government's opposition was reversed.

Later modifications

The scheme underwent a number of changes from the concept recommended by iNSW in 2012. In particular, the government realigned the proposed M4 South to accommodate a link to a future second harbour road tunnel, with a view to one day completing an inner-city bypass. This would mean a large interchange at the site of the abandoned Rozelle Rail Yards close to the Anzac Bridge. This interchange was later moved underground. A tunnel under Rozelle was added to bypass the congested Victoria Road corridor and connect with the Rozelle Rail Yard interchange. A large park will be built above the interchange. Stub tunnels have also been added as part of Stage 2 to connect to a proposed Southern Motorway to the St George and Sutherland Shire areas.

Objectives

The strategic objectives that the scheme was originally conceived to address have never been made public. The initial application for federal funding was made under the 'National Freight Network' category, and the new tunnels converge near Sydney's main container port (Port Botany) and airport. This suggests the primary objective was to improve road freight productivity. However, smaller truck-only toll tunnels would not have been financially viable. Therefore, general use toll tunnels were proposed instead, to generate toll revenue from passenger vehicles as well. This approach has been described as "suburban motorists ... paying for an inner-city freight project".

A list of objectives was included in the 2015 Business Case. However, the Business Case and list of objectives were written retrospectively, long after state and federal funding for the project was announced.

Infrastructure Australia has criticised the NSW Government for not adequately appraising alternative ways of meeting the project objectives. For example, road freight productivity could be improved, and congerstion reduced, simply by tolling the existing M4 and M5 motorways, which is being done anyway to cross-subsidise to the new tunnels.

Stage 1: M4 Widening and M4 East

This would include widening of the present M4 from two or three to four lanes in each direction between Parramatta and Homebush Bay Drive; and new, twin three-lane motorway tunnels between Homebush and Haberfield. The latter project, being delivered by a Leighton Samsung John Holland joint venture, will connect the M4 to the CBD via the City West Link Road, Anzac Bridge and Western Distributor. Stage 1 is expected to open to traffic in 2019 and is also linked to an urban renewal program for the Parramatta Road corridor, being managed by UrbanGrowth NSW.

Stage 2: King Georges Road Interchange, New M5 and Sydney Gateway

Includes upgrading the existing M5 interchange at King Georges Road and building the "New M5" between the M5 at Beverly Hills and St Peters. Stage 2 will be designed to allow for future connection to the Sydney–Wollongong motorway which connects to Waterfall.

In January 2016, the Wolli Creek Preservation Society raised concerns that complying offsets are unlikely to be available for the irreparable damage to the Beverly Grove bushland from the temporary use of 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres) as a construction compound. The 1.87-hectare (4.6-acre) Beverly Grove bushland was one of the larger remnant patches of the Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark ecological community (CCRIF). Further, the 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres) of critically endangered CCRIF cleared was an offset from the original M5 East.

On 11 July 2016, the Second Turnbull Ministry announced the environmental approval for Stage 2 of the WestConnex motorway with a captive breeding plan and construction and maintenance of additional habitat for the green and golden bell frog and offsets for damage to the critically endangered CCRIF.

This stage would also involve the construction of Sydney Gateway, a new high capacity link linking the planned New M5 and M4–M5 Link at St Peters to the northern end of Sydney Airport as well as upgrading local and arterial roads nearby. Initial construction on Sydney Gateway began in 2015 with further construction to begin around 2019 and be fully completed by 2023.

Stage 3: M4–M5 Link and Iron Cove Link

Currently in the early stages of planning, WestConnex's third and final stage is planned to be a new motorway tunnel between the M4 East at Haberfield and the "New M5" at St Peters, with direct connections to the Anzac Bridge and provision for a future Western Harbour Tunnel. A late addition, publicised in July 2016, includes a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) tunnel from the Iron Cove Bridge to the planned interchange at the Rozelle rail yards to bypass the congested Victoria Road corridor. Stage 3 would also form the southern section of an eventual Inner West bypass.

On 9 November a new route for the M4-M5 Link took it under Annandale and the Hunter Baillie Memorial Presbyterian Church. On 17 November it was confirmed that the mid-tunnel point would be in "the ‘triangle area’ bordered by Parramatta Road, Pyrmont Bridge Road and Mallet Street"

Support

WestConnex received support from third party organisations, such as the motoring lobby group the NRMA, which argued that it would help improve transport in Sydney's west and complete a plan from 1947. On 3 October 2012, press releases in support of the "missing motorway" were issued by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Sydney Business Chamber, and the Sydney Airport Corporation.

Opposition

Elements of the WestConnex scheme encountered strident opposition from a range of stakeholders, among them academics, architects, resident action groups, an industry group, local councils, a developer lobby, the Australian Labor Party and the Greens, with some strongly opposed to the project in its entirety. Among the project's most high-profile opponents has been Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who commissioned a report to Council on the project. Almost 12,900 submissions were lodged with NSW Planning in response to the environmental impact statement, many highly critical of the project. Marrickville Council told WestConnex it will not approve preliminary work until the project as a whole is approved, but observers note that the "scope of the project ... continues to expand", as does the cost.

Public transport

The Lord Mayor's report, released a month before the 2015 election, criticised the project and recommended that a new railway line be built along the M4 Western Motorway and M4 East corridor instead, to parallel the existing Inner West Line. The impact of the project on public transport continued to be a matter of concern into 2016 with "no detail on what sort of public transport will be included on the road surface" and repeatedly expressed concerns that experience with motorways shows they generate traffic and increase congestion and that Westconnex will similarly add to congestion, rather than relieving it. The project is criticised as a "crude 1950s response to our complex 21st century transport needs".

Planning and approval processes

The planning and approval process for Stage 1A of the scheme (widening the M4) was criticised by Grant Hehir, the NSW Auditor-General, for failing to abide by the Government's own assurance arrangements for major projects. While Hehir made clear it was not his intention to assess the merit or value of the project per se, he identified "a number of deficiencies in governance and independent assurance over the early stages" and made recommendations for change.

In response to Hehir's recommendations, the RMS only committed to addressing them for "future more complex stages", leaving the governance arrangements for the current stages unaltered.

The methods by which the project's value, its cost and benefits as well as the fairness of their distribution have all been challenged. In particular, it is argued that the projections of the economic benefits brought by the project use modelling "...devised by highway agencies in the 1960s to justify the massive cost of urban motorways". The government, although "urged" to consider the fairness of the process of compulsory acquisition for the land required for the project and act on recommendations in a legal report to improve it, decided to take "no further action".

Environmental impacts

The project has been criticised for its potential impact on the green and golden bell frog at Kogarah golf club. Protests have been strong against the felling of mature heritage trees in preparation for "the 40-hectare spaghetti interchange - as big as Sydney Park itself".

Heritage impacts

The destruction of heritage properties in Haberfield, a suburb listed in its entirety as a Conservation area, has been the subject of specific criticism, especially when the chair of the Greater Sydney Commission said she was unaware of it. The compulsorily acquisition of residential properties in inner-city suburbs for the project, including "at least 50 listed heritage buildings" has been the subject of much criticism and opposition on grounds of disruption, loss of heritage and unfairness of process, including the Government's decision to release only the executive summary of the project's business case.

Secrecy

After the WestConnex Authority was closed in October 2015, the project's transfer to the Sydney Motorway Corporation was criticised on the basis that this there were then no representatives from transport agencies on the board of the new "private corporation" and also that information about the project would no longer need to be disclosed in the same way that government entities normally did. A proposal in 2016 for an additional tunnel between Iron Cove Bridge and an interchange at Rozelle, required the acquisition of further residential properties. Residents whose homes were affected reportedly received letters about such acquisitions on the same day that the responsible Government Minister said final decisions on them "had yet to be made". The Russell Review of the acquisition system in 2012 had not been released by 2016.

Funding

Funding uses a combination of government subsidy, tolls on new tunnel sections, and tolls on some existing motorways (M4, M5 East and M5 South-West). The finance was to mostly be loans from the private sector, with $2 to $3 billion worth of loans and grants from the State and Federal Governments. All loans are to be repaid by privatising each section as it is completed.

The Government's tolling strategy is based on distance-based charging. Tolling on new sections of WestConnex (the M4 East, the New M5 and the M4-M5 Link) will begin as each section opens. Tolling on the existing M4 (widened section between Parramatta and Homebush) will begin in 2017. Tolling on the existing M5 East will begin in 2020. Tolling (by WestConnex) on the M5 South-West will begin in 2026, when the current concession was due to end. Tolling will continue until 2060.

Once tolling on a section starts, the charge will consist of a flagfall plus a charge per kilometre, with a maximum charge, calculated as follows.

For each elapsed year between 2012 and 2040, the Theoretical Toll will increase by 4.16% or by CPI, whichever is higher. From 2041 onwards, the Theoretical Toll will increase by 4.00% or by CPI, whichever is higher.

And:

The new tolls that will be charged on existing motorways will be as follows:

The tolls for the existing M4 and M5 East will be included in the WestConnex toll cap. The toll for the M5 South-West will not be included in the WestConnex toll cap, meaning the toll on the M5 (as a whole) is set to reach $13.50 in 2026. The NSW Government has not committed to extending the current M5 South-West cashback scheme beyond 2026.

So far, $1.5 billion has been raised from the private sector.

$7.1 billion has been provided by the State and Federal governments. The Federal government has contributed a grant of $1.5 billion, and committed to a loan of $2.0 billion. The NSW Government initially planned to contribute $1.8 billion. It has since increased its contribution to $3.6 billion, of which $1.8 billion is from the 'Restart NSW' infrastructure fund and $1.8 billion is from the State's Consolidated Fund.

In 2013 Julia Gillard, Prime Minister at the time, offered a grant of $1.8 billion which was rejected by then Premier O'Farrell, as a "stunt", because it came with three conditions not reimposing tolls on the existing M4 motorway even if it were widened; a direct connection to the Sydney city centre; and a direct connection to Port Botany. In particular, not tolling existing roads was not acceptable as it would deny the project billions of dollars in toll revenue. Following a change of federal government, incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott approved a grant of $1.5 billion, followed by a loan of $2.0 billion.

The 2015 business case predicts WestConnex will deliver $22.2 billion in benefits, before deducting operating expenses.

These benefits are mostly non-cash. They are estimates of the value to users of such things as travel time saved ($12.9 billion) and increased travel time reliability ($1.47 billion) as well as reduced operating costs ($6.18 billion). All other factors are estimated to have a worth of $1.65 billion.

For the purpose of calculating benefits and costs of the scheme, tolling is considered to be "a transfer payment from the user to operator", the benefit to the operator is considered to cancel out the disbenefit to the user, and as such, tolling has an "neutral effect on overall benefits and costs".

The estimated cost of WestConnex has not been disclosed but is around $20 billion.

As of 2016, construction costs are $16.8 billion, not including "land acquisition, network extensions, and development costs". Land acquisition costs are "set to easily exceed $1.5B". The cost of network extensions has not been disclosed and neither has the cost of 'development costs', both are said to be significant.

In addition, there will be operating costs which have been estimated at 1.465 billion.

This does not include indirect costs, such as environmental damage or alleged shortfalls between prices paid for compulsory acquisitions and current market values.

When first proposed, WestConnex was to cost approximately $10 billion, including property acquisition and construction.

In May 2016, it was announced that the Federal Government decision to commit $3.5 billion to WestConnex project will be investigated by the Commonwealth auditor-general.

Responsibility

The WestConnex Delivery Authority (WDA) was a NSW Government agency established in November 2013 to plan and manage delivery of the WestConnex motorway scheme. WDA's functions had previously been performed by a project office within Roads and Maritime Services. WDA was established by the Transport Administration (General) Amendment (WestConnex Delivery Authority) Regulation 2013. Its founding chairman was businessman Tony Shepherd and its founding chief executive was Dennis Cliche. The Authority was merged into the Sydney Motorway Corporation in October 2015 with the Corporation responsible for all aspects of the project. Following the resignation of Shepherd, Peter Brecht became chair, with claims that information about the project is less available to the public since Brecht's appointment.