By Tom Rabe
The ribbon has been cut on Australia's deepest road tunnel, Sydney's $3 billion NorthConnex, after almost a year of delays.
The long-anticipated "missing link", connecting the M1 Pacific Motorway to the M2 in Sydney's north will open to motorists in the early hours of Saturday.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian opens the $3 billion NorthConnex tunnel on Friday.Credit: Renee Nowytarger
First scheduled to open late last year, the project was earlier this year pushed back to the third quarter of 2020 , with commissioning delays then dragging out for another month amid coronavirus travel restrictions.
Motorists will be charged $7.99 for a car and $23.97 for a truck. Trucks will also be fined $194 for driving along Pennant Hills Road.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the twin tunnels, which burrow as deep as 90 metres, would prove "life changing" for Sydneysiders, as motorists would be able to travel from Newcastle to Melbourne without encountering a traffic light.
While truck drivers say they're being unfairly targeted by being funnelled onto a tollway, Mr Constance said the move would alleviate pressure on Pennant Hills Road, one of the state's most congested.
Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge cuts the ribbon on the NorthConnex tunnel on Friday as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Transport Minister Andrew Constance watch on.Credit: Renee Nowytarger
The government predicts the tunnel will remove 5000 trucks a day from Pennant Hills Road, and have the capacity to carry 100,000 vehicles over 24 hours.
More than 140 jet air fans line the roof of the tunnel, which also features 46 kilometres of heat sensing optical cable that triggers a segmented sprinkler system in case of fire.
Five thousand LED lights are dotted across the tunnel as well as 400 electric signs and close to 850 cameras.
The tunnel is slated to open at 2am on Saturday, although it could be pushed back if heavy rain impacts the final works.
Hundreds of workers from the NorthConnex project were on hand to watch the tunnel opening on Friday.Credit: Renee Nowytarger
The NSW government paid $577 million for the tunnel, with the Commonwealth pitching in $412 million. Tolling giant Transurban, which will operate the tunnel, paid $2 billion along with several private partners.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the project would inject $4 billion into the economy and had created more than 8000 jobs, many of which were sustained during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Even through the darkest months of the pandemic, this project kept pushing forward," Ms Berejiklian said.
Transport Workers Union NSW secretary Richard Olsen described the compulsory truck toll as exorbitant and said some drivers would soon need to pay $250 a week.
"Transurban is targeting heavy vehicles to raise profits for their infrastructure business but are not providing a 'congestion busting' solution," the union said in a statement.
Truck operator Rob Woolley said he was anticipating his fleet to incur roughly $60,000 in toll bills over one year following the opening of NorthConnex.
A one-way, eight-minute trip through the tunnel is expected to save motorists about 15 minutes.
NSW Environment Minister and member for Hornsby Matt Kean said it was appropriate the tunnel would open on Halloween "because finally the horror show of Pennant Hills Road is over".