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The new freeway to Sydney Airport has completed a major step ahead of its opening later next year.
The $2.6 billion Sydney Gateway project has laid the last of the 86 steel girders on the flyover bridge into the airport’s domestic terminals, which will separate drivers going to the airport from those bound for Mascot and Port Botany.
The flyover is one of 19 bridges being built as part of the Gateway project, with the first of two arch bridges across the Alexandra Canal to the international terminal slated to be constructed mid-year.
“The toll-free Sydney Gateway remains on schedule to offer motorists faster and more reliable trips from St Peters Interchange to Sydney Airport, the M5 and the Eastern Distributor by the end of next year,” said NSW Roads Minister John Graham.
“This project is a key part of cutting journey times from Western Sydney, with estimated time savings from Parramatta to Sydney Airport to be 20 minutes in peak hour after the Gateway opens.”
The news comes a month after the new $2 billion freeway to the future Western Sydney Airport marked one year of construction.
The 16-kilometre M12, slated to open in 2026, is expected to carry 52,000 vehicles per day within the first 10 years, and according to federal Transport and Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, is part of a wider strategy to grow Western Sydney.
“The M12 is an important part of the $4.4 billion Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan and is jointly funded, with the Australian Government committing over $1.6 billion to the project,” she said.
“This road is an essential part of the strategy to ensure Western Sydney International Airport enjoys good transport connections from the outset.”
Road grading works, culverts, and bridges are already under construction on the M12, with “complex interchanges starting to take shape”, said Minister Graham.
“To understand why this road is essential to the success of the new airport you need to remember it will take more than a quarter of an hour off the journey if you were to use the existing road network which is primarily Elizabeth Drive,” he said.
“It has also been built to accommodate future freight movements and growing economic zones such as the Aerotropolis and employment zones stretching from Liverpool to Erskine Park and beyond.”
