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Westlink M7 | |
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Westlink M7 heading southbound, Elizabeth Hills | |
Coordinates |
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General information | |
Type | Motorway |
Length | 39.8 km (25 mi) [1] |
Opened | 16 December 2005 [2] |
Gazetted | 17 January 2003 [3] |
Route number(s) | M7 (2005–present) |
Major junctions | |
North end | M2 Hills Motorway Seven Hills, Sydney |
South end | M5 South-West Motorway Hume Motorway Prestons, Sydney |
Location(s) | |
Major suburbs | West Pennant Hills, Baulkham Hills, Quakers Hill, Blacktown, Eastern Creek, Prestons |
Highway system | |
The Westlink M7 is a 40-kilometre (25 mi) tolled urban motorway in Sydney, New South Wales that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by the NorthWestern Roads (NWR) Group, it connects three motorways: the M5 South-West Motorway at Prestons, the M4 Western Motorway at Eastern Creek, and the M2 Hills Motorway at Baulkham Hills.
Westlink M7 begins at the Roden Cutler Interchange, a Y-junction with the M31 Hume Motorway and M5 South-West Motorway at Prestons, and weaves to the west of Liverpool to the junction of Elizabeth Road and Wallgrove Road in Abbotsbury. From then on it runs parallel to Wallgrove Road north towards the Great Western Highway and the Light Horse interchange, a stack junction with the M4. Continuing north, it leads to Minchinbury and follows alongside Rooty Hill Road up to Dean Park at an exit with Rooty Hill Road North and Richmond Road.
From this junction, Westlink M7 turns eastward along the preserved Castlereagh Freeway corridor through Quakers Hill and Kings Langley up to the interchange with Old Windsor Road to Norwest Business Park and continues southeast to reconcile with the existing M2 Hills Motorway in Baulkham Hills. It is 4 lanes (2 lanes each way) for its entire length.
The M7 cycleway runs parallel to Westlink M7.
The Light Horse Interchange is the junction of the M4 and M7 motorways. The stack interchange is the largest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. It was named in honour of an Australian World War One formation, the Australian Light Horse. [4]
Western Sydney is the fastest growing part of the Sydney metropolitan area. Pennant Hills and Woodville Roads (signed as Ring Road 5, then as State Route 55), then later Cumberland Highway (State Route 77), were originally built as bypasses for Sydney, had instead become primary arteries through the western suburbs.
In the late 1980s, with the intended construction of a BHP steel mill in Rooty Hill, Blacktown City Council required BHP to construct an arterial route that allowed industrial traffic to bypass the Rooty Hill CBD and the newly opened Davis Overpass. A 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) two-lane road named Phillip Parkway was constructed between Woodstock Avenue and Eastern Road and opened to traffic in July 1992. The alignment of Phillip Parkway would eventually be the preferred alignment of the Western Sydney Orbital two years later in 1994. [5] [6]
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, Western Sydney had become the third-biggest producer of Australia's GDP, after the Sydney CBD and Melbourne. The growth of industrial and residential areas brought about a massive increase in traffic on its local roads. This led to the planning of the Western Sydney Orbital, which, among its original purposes, was to serve the stillborn second international airport at Badgerys Creek.
In January 2001 the federal government made a commitment to progressively contribute A$356 million to the Western Sydney Orbital project, with the remaining A$1.5 billion required for the design and construction provided by the private sector. Planning approval was given by the NSW Minister for Planning in February 2002. [7] [8] The project was renamed Westlink M7 in July 2003. [9]
The motorway was privately funded through an innovative construction contract method known as a “deed” to facilitate the expedition of the tendering phase; several deeds were drawn up based on the contractors proposals. The deed was for the full design, construction, operation and maintenance of the motorway including more than 40 kilometres (25 mi) of continuously reinforced concrete (CRCP) and asphalt roads, upgrading of local roads, the longest free-flowing (no toll booths) toll road in the world at the time. More than 90 bridges (of four different types) and the largest shared path network in the Southern Hemisphere. The design, construct, operate and maintain contract worth at least A$2.0 billion was awarded to WSO (Western Sydney Orbital Pty Ltd) by the Roads & Traffic Authority. The design and construct portion of the contract valued at A$1.8 billion was awarded to a joint venture between Abigroup and Leighton Contractors (ALJV) with design work undertaken by a further joint venture by Maunsell AECOM and SMEC (Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation) with further subcontracting to other designers (Arup) and independent verification by Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM). [10]
The passing of the Roads Act of 1993 [11] updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, the Roads & Traffic Authority (later Transport for NSW) declared the Western Sydney Orbital as Tollway 6009, from its interchange with M2 Hills Motorway in Seven Hills to the interchange with the M5 South-West Motorway in Prestons, on 7 January 2003, nearly two years before it had officially opened. [3] Now known as Westlink M7, the tollway still retains this declaration. [12]
The motorway was opened to traffic on 16 December 2005, eight months ahead of schedule. [2] WSO (commonly known as Westlink) operate the motorway with maintenance subcontracted to Westlink Services and tolling to ROAM. With its opening, Metroad 7 between Liverpool and Beecroft was transferred from Cumberland Highway to Westlink M7. Westlink M7 was the first Sydney motorway to be marked with an alphanumeric shield (M7) rather than the hexagonal Metroad shield.
On 25 December 2005, just 9 days after opening, the motorway suffered its first fatality: a 12-year-old boy died at Cecil Park when the four-wheel drive he was travelling in rolled down an embankment and onto Elizabeth Drive, almost crushing another car.
In 2020, WSO – then already a business of the NorthWestern Roads Group – submitted an unsolicited proposal to the NSW government to widen the M7 and construct the M7 and M12 Motorway interchange simultaneously. [13] This was aimed to reduce the disruption to M7 traffic and provide project delivery efficiencies for the M7–M12 interchange. In August 2020, the proposal has moved to Stage 2 of the process with further progression to Stage 3 in May 2022. [14] [15]
When first incorporated, WSO Co. Pty Limited (commonly known as Westlink) was a consortium owned by Transurban (40%), Macquarie Investment Group (MIG) (40%), Leighton (10%) and Abigroup (10%). [9] [16] The consortium was awarded the bid to develop Westlink M7 in October 2002, and entered into a 34-year concession period on 14 February 2003. [17] Leighton and Abigroup were the contractors for the construction of M7.
When the M7 opened in December 2005, Transurban and MIG purchased an additional 5% equity interest in Westlink M7 from Leighton and Abigroup. Subsequently, in 2006-2007, Abigroup sold its stake to Transurban and MIG, with the latter two having a 47.5% shareholding each and Leighton having a 5% shareholding. [18]
In August 2008, Transurban and MIG exercised their pre-emptive rights and acquired Leighton's 5% stake equally, increasing their shareholding to 50% each. [19] [20] In December 2008, MIG announced it would sell its 50% stake of Westlink to Western Sydney Road Group (WSRG), of which MIG owned 50% and Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) owning the other 50%. [21] Transurban had the pre-emptive right to acquire MIG's share, but declined in January 2009 due to its high price. [22] [19] The sale to WSRG proceeded, and QIC and MIG each had 25% ownership of Westlink.
MIG was later restructured into Intoll and then acquired by the CPP Investment Board in December 2010. [23] Since then, the Westlink M7 is owned by Transurban (50%), QIC (25%) and CPP (25%). [14] [24] In 2015, Westlink was reorganised under a new umbrella entity, NorthWestern Roads Group (NWR), with no changes in ownership. [25] [26] The NWR Group would also deliver and now tolls and operates the NorthConnex, opened in October 2020.
The 34-year concession to construct, operate and toll the M7 was originally due to expire on 14 February 2037. [9] However, the concession was extended as part of the NorthConnex agreement between NWR and the NSW government and will expire in June 2048 instead. [27] [28]
The Westlink was built as a fully tolled, gateless motorway employing electronic payment, with an initial toll-free period that ended on 15 January 2006. The toll for a car or motorcycle was originally 29.91 cents per kilometre, capped after 20 kilometres (12 mi) at $5.98. On 1 April 2006, this increased to 30.07 cents per kilometre, capped after 20 kilometres (12 mi) at $6.01.
Tolls are adjusted quarterly according to the CPI and heavy vehicle tolls are three times the toll for a car and motorcycle. [29]
Toll road | Class A toll prices [lower-alpha 1] | Class B toll prices [lower-alpha 1] | Toll increase [32] | Toll concessionaire | Expiry of toll concession [33] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Flagfall | Charge per km | Toll cap | |||||
Westlink M7 | – | $0.4853 | $9.71 | 3 x of Class A prices | Quarterly on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July, and 1 October, by quarterly CPI | NorthWestern Roads (NWR) Group | June 2048 |
LGA | Location | km [1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Hills Shire | Winston Hills–Baulkham Hills boundary | 0.0 | 0.0 | Hills Motorway (M2) – Sydney, Hornsby, Newcastle, Brisbane | North-eastern terminus of Westlink M7 and route M7; continues east as Hills Motorway |
Bella Vista | 1.9 | 1.2 | Old Windsor Road (A2) – Seven Hills, Windsor | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
Blacktown | Glenwood | 3.5 | 2.2 | Norwest Boulevard, to Old Windsor Road – Bella Vista, Castle Hill | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
Glenwood–Kings Langley–Kings Park–Acacia Gardens quadripoint | 5.6 | 3.5 | Sunnyholt Road – Blacktown, Glenwood | ||
Quakers Hill | 9.7 | 6.0 | Quakers Hill Parkway – Doonside, Quakers Hill | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
Colebee–Dean Park–Glendenning–Oakhurst quadripoint | 12.2 | 7.6 | Richmond Road – Richmond, Blacktown, Rooty Hill | Northbound exit via Rooty Hill Road North | |
Glendenning–Plumpton boundary | 14.3 | 8.9 | Power Street – Plumpton, Woodcroft | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
Glendenning–Plumpton–Rooty Hill tripoint | 15.2 | 9.4 | Woodstock Avenue – Rooty Hill, Glendenning | Northbound exit and southbound exit | |
Eastern Creek | 18.9 | 11.7 | Great Western Highway (A44) – Parramatta, Penrith | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
19.9 | 12.4 | Western Motorway (M4) – Sydney, Lithgow | Light Horse Interchange | ||
21.5 | 13.4 | Wallgrove Road – Horsley Park, Rooty Hill | |||
Fairfield | Horsley Park | 24.9 | 15.5 | The Horsley Drive – Horsley Park, Fairfield | |
Fairfield–Liverpool boundary | Abbotsbury–Cecil Park–Cecil Hills tripoint | 29.0 | 18.0 | Elizabeth Drive – Liverpool, Luddenham | Northbound entry via Wallgrove Road |
Liverpool | Middleton Grange–Len Waters Estate–Hoxton Park tripoint | 34.3 | 21.3 | Cowpasture Road – Cecil Hills, Horningsea Park | |
Prestons | 36.6 | 22.7 | Bernera Road – Prestons, Hinchinbrook | ||
Prestons–Casula boundary | 39.8 | 24.7 | South-West Motorway (M5 north-east) – Bankstown, Sydney, Sydney Airport Camden Valley Way (west) – Bringelly, Narellan, Camden, Picton Hume Motorway (M31 south) – Campbelltown, Goulburn, Canberra, Melbourne | Southern terminus of Westlink M7 and route M7 | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
|
Cumberland Highway is a 34-kilometre (21 mi) long urban highway located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The highway links Pacific Highway and Pacific Motorway (M1) at Pearces Corner, Wahroonga in the northeast with Hume Highway at Liverpool in the southwest. This name covers a few consecutive roads and is widely known to most drivers, but the entire allocation is also known – and signposted – by the names of its constituent parts: Pennant Hills Road, James Ruse Drive, Briens Road, Old Windsor Road, Hart Drive, Freame Street, Emert Street, Jersey Road, Betts Road, Warren Road, Smithfield Road, Palmerston Road, (New) Cambridge Street, Joseph Street and Orange Grove Road. The entire length of Cumberland Highway is designated part of route A28.
The Sydney Orbital Network is a 110 kilometre motorway standard ring road around and through Sydney, the capital of New South Wales in Australia. It runs north from Sydney Airport, underneath the CBD to the North Shore, west to the Hills District, south to Prestons and then east to connect with the airport. Much of the road is privately owned and financed by tolls.
Atlas Arteria, formerly known as Macquarie Atlas Roads, is one of the world's largest developers and operators of private toll roads.
Transurban is a road operator company that manages and develops urban toll road networks in Australia, Canada and the United States. It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), and is the world’s largest toll road operator.
M1 Pacific Motorway is a 127-kilometre motorway linking Sydney to Newcastle via the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales. Formerly known but still commonly referred to by both the public and the government as the F3 Freeway, Sydney–Newcastle Freeway, and Sydney–Newcastle Expressway, it is part of the AusLink road corridor between Sydney and Brisbane.
The Eastern Distributor is a 4.7-kilometre-long (2.9 mi) motorway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Part of the M1 and the Sydney Orbital Network, the motorway links the Sydney central business district with the south-east and Sydney Airport. The Eastern Distributor separates Sydney's Eastern Suburbs from Sydney's Inner-Southern Suburbs. The centre-piece is a 1.7 km (1.1 mi) tunnel running from Woolloomooloo to Surry Hills. Built as a build-own-operate-transfer project, it is 75.1% owned by Transurban.
The Lane Cove Tunnel is a 3.6-kilometre (2.2 mi) twin-tunnel tollway in Sydney, New South Wales that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by toll road operator Transurban, It connects the M2 Motorway at North Ryde with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon and forms part of Sydney's M2 route, with the M2 Hills Motorway constituting the rest of the M2 route.
Pennant Hills Road is a 16.1-kilometre-long (10.0 mi) arterial road located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The road links the suburb of Wahroonga in the northeast, to the major central business district of Parramatta in the southwest. Apart from a small section at its southwestern end, it is a constituent part of Cumberland Highway, and is designated part of route A28.
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The Light Horse Interchange is a motorway interchange located in Eastern Creek, Sydney, Australia at the junction of the M4 and M7 motorways. The interchange is the largest in Australia and was opened to traffic in December 2005. The interchange was named in honour of the Australian Light Horse Brigades of World War I, who trained at the Wallgrove Army camp that was located near the site of the interchange prior to deploying overseas.
The Sir Roden Cutler VC Memorial Interchange, often shortened to Roden Cutler Interchange and sign-posted as Cutler VC Interchange, is a three-level motorway interchange located in Prestons in South-West Sydney. The interchange forms the junction of the Westlink M7, M5 South-West and M31 Hume Motorways, opening to traffic in December 2005 along with the Westlink M7. It is a major urban feature of the National Highway network with roads linking Sydney south to Canberra and Melbourne and north to Newcastle and Brisbane converging at the interchange.
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