Western Harbour Tunnel Emu Plains construction support site: Residents hit out over 180 truck movements a day

Penrith commuters have accused Transport for NSW of trying to ‘sweeten’ residents – buying coffees while selling them plans for 180 trucks to operate 24 hours a day for the new Harbour Tunnel.

It may be more than 50kms away, but Penrith residents are set to bare the brunt of construction of the Western Harbour Tunnel in the heart of Sydney, with plans for a major construction site earmarked for Emu Plains.

It comes as commuters accused Transport for NSW of trying to “sweeten us up”, paying for Emu Plains residents’ coffees, while pitching a plan to see 180 trucks ferry pre-built segments of the Western Harbour Tunnel to the dig sites in the city’s east.

Commuters at Emu Plains station told The Penrith Press they were “concerned” that transport representatives were trying to “bribe us with coffee”.

Emu Plains residents will bare the brunt of construction for the Western Harbour Tunnel.

“If it is a bribe, it's a pretty poor one,” one commuter said at Emu Plains Station.

“You have to ask if this is an effort to sweeten us up in favour of the plans, because there is no benefit for Emu Plains locals – only hundreds of extra trucks on our roads for a tunnel we won’t use because it will be too expensive to get there.”

Transport documents reveal a purpose-built “precast facility” would be constructed in Emu Plains to manufacture concrete segments that fit together to line the Tunnel Boring Machine digging the 6.5km stretch in an effort to “reduce impact for local residents” in the city’s east.

“The Tunnel Boring Machine solution does not require marine cofferdams or construction sites

at Yurulbin Point and Berrys Bay, therefore residents can expect reduced environmental, noise and visual impacts,” planning documents said.

Artist's impressions of Western Harbour Tunnel

Original plans would have seen a construction support site for the tunnels on Glebe Island in Sydney Harbour, however, Transport representative said “Glebe island does not have the capacity to include the manufacturing of the tunnel components required for the Tunnel Boring Machine”.

“We have identified a new location for this construction support site at Railway Street in Emu Plains, on a portion of land that has operated as a quarry since the 1960’s,” notification to residents said.

“This site was chosen due to it being an existing industrial area that provided the amount of space and operational capacity needed to manufacture and store the precast concrete segments to line our tunnel walls.

Artists Impression. Work has started on the upgrade to the Warringah Freeway, which will pave the way for the future Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link, and transform the way the community moves between western Sydney and Sydney’s north. Supplied

“The location also provides more direct access to the project’s other construction support sites.”

A Transport for NSW spokeswoman said a contractor employed by the department “used a coffee cart as part of a conversation starter initiative to engage a new community who may be unfamiliar with the project” as part of community engagement for the Western Harbour Tunnel.

“The contractor’s project team was able to listen to concerns of community members and provide feedback about the project,” the spokeswoman said.

Transport for NSW refused to answer whether it was common practice for their contractors and staff to gift residents coffee as part of community engagement.

The department also refused to say how much the initiative cost taxpayers.