Work complete on new Gardeners Rd bridge
The final bridge being built as part of the $4.3 billion new M5 motorway has been craned into place, as work on the project ramps up. WATCH THE TIMELAPSE FOOTAGE.
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Structural work on the last of 10 new bridges added to Sydney’s inner west and southern suburbs has been completed as progress on the new M5 motorway nears its end.
The $4.3 billion project, the second stage of WestConnex, will deliver two links between St Peters and Mascot over the Alexandra Canal.
A 30-tonne beam was craned into place at the new side-by-side Gardeners Rd bridges this week, which Roads Minister Andrew Constance would be a congestion-buster for the area.
Mr Constance said the bridges would provide a direct route from suburbs including Mascot, Botany and Rosebery to the upgraded motorway.
It will have two branches - one leading to the new M5 and the other the future M4-M5 Link.
“After more than 80 years, the community around St Peters and Mascot will soon have access to two new connections across the Alexandra Canal,” he said.
“The Gardeners Rd bridges are an important connection and will help alleviate congestion on local roads.
“They’ll also allow drivers to directly connect to the New M5 and M4-M5 Link Tunnels from Mascot via the St Peters Interchange.”
There will be two new bridges connecting Gardeners Rd in Mascot across the canal, while a bridge has also been built just north at Campbell Rd.
There majority of the 10 bridges completed as part of the project are located within the St Peters Interchange — dubbed the ‘spaghetti junction’.
“Work on site has now turned to the construction of a major retaining wall within St Peters Interchange to help create the six hectares of new open space being delivered as part of the New M5,” Mr Constance said.
It is part of a revamp of the Alexandra Canal precinct, with Mr Constance announcing in May a 1.5km cycle and pedestrian link between Tempe and Mascot.
Drivers will be able to test out the new bridges when he M5 is completed in early 2020.
It would later connect to the new M4, opened in June, via the M4-M5 Link set to open in 2023.
Work on the $2.2 billion Sydney Gateway project at Sydney Airport will begin next year.
