Lane Cove Tunnel

 

Length: 3.4km

 

Location:

Inner northern Sydney from the end of the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon to the end of the M2 at North Ryde.

 

Project Status: Under construction (June 2005)

 

Project Details:

The need for a freeway standard road through the Lane Cove area has been closely examined since the completion of the Gore Hill Freeway in 1992 and the M2 in 1997. An early study in 1990 was done with the idea of major improvements to intersections along Epping Road. The Epping Road Options Study was conducted in 1994, which considered widening and grade separating interchanges and crossings along the route of Epping Road it also suggested the possibility of various tunnel options. Further studies were conducted in 1995 to investigate the tunnel options.

 

In 1997 the NSW Transport Minister established the M2-Epping Road Task Force (consisting of the mayors of Ryde, Lane Cove, Willoughby and North Sydney councils).

 

The Task Force came up with six possible upgrade options were considered and

exhibited to the public:

 

• H1: A long tunnel from the Lane Cove River to the Gore Hill Freeway under Mowbray Road West.
• H2: A short tunnel from Sam Johnson Way to the Gore Hill Freeway under Mowbray Road West.
• H3: A long tunnel from the Lane Cove River to the Gore Hill Freeway under Epping Road.
• H3A: Two short tunnels: one from the Lane Cove River to the western side of Stringybark Creek and another from the eastern side of Stringybark Creek to the Gore Hill Freeway.
• H4: A short tunnel from Johnson Cr under Epping Road to the Gore Hill Freeway.
• H5: A short tunnel from Tantallon Road under Epping Road to the Gore Hill Freeway.

 

The H3 option was preferred by the Task Force and the community following consultation. This option was also preferred by the RTA. The RTA released an Overview Report in 1999 containing the six options, and detailed the preferred option. The EIS exhibited by the RTA and Sinclair Knight Merz from November 2001 to February 2002 refined the original plans and has made some modifications.

 

The current proposed Lane Cove Tunnel will be 3.4km long and consists of twin two-lane tunnels running largely under Epping Road from just east of Mowbray Road West to the western end of the Gore Hill Freeway. The tunnels will be mostly three lanes. This was changed from earlier proposals because of safety concerns relating to the merging of entry ramps. Some community concerns raised the question of whether four lanes would be enough to handle traffic demand. They were concerned that if the tunnel became too crowded it would overflow back onto Epping Road, thus defeating its intended purpose. It was also found that a six-lane facility was likely to create bottlenecks on the narrower portions of the Gore Hill and Warringah Freeways. Projections show that four lanes would be adequate to serve the needs for this road well into the future. The argument is that building roads with greater capacity than is adequate encourages greater traffic movement and is contrary to sustainable growth principles and demand management.

 

The Lane Cove Tunnel project is part of the Action for Transport 2010 public works program. The project will be funded by the private sector with an estimated total cost of $815 million. It will have many similarities to the Eastern Distributor project.

 

The main components of the preferred tunnel option are:

 

• Twin, mostly 3 lane tunnels from the M2 at East Ryde to the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon.
• Upgrading the Pacific Hwy/Gore Hill Freeway/Longueville Road interchange.
• Upgrading the Epping Road/Mowbray Road West intersection.
• Reducing Epping Road from 6 to 4 lanes and reinstating parking and right-hand turns.
• Adding Transit Lanes on Epping Road.
• Adding an additional westbound lane on Epping Road between the Lane Cove River and Wicks Road.
• Widening the Gore Hill Freeway to include a Transit Lane in each direction.
• Adding north-facing ramps from Falcon St onto the Warringah Freeway.

 

Access to the new tunnel will be directly from both the Gore Hill Freeway and the M2. Epping Road will access it eastbound via a merge lane. Westbound traffic will be able to exit the tunnel to Epping Road. The western tunnel portals will be just east of the Epping Road/Mowbray Road intersection.

 

The Epping Road/Mowbray Road W intersection will remain signalised and will allow all movements. There will be no access to the M2 or Tunnel from this intersection.

 

At the Pacific Hwy a single lane eastbound tunnel will leave the main tunnel near Parklands Avenue and will then follow the north side of Longueville Road surfacing to connect to the existing loop ramp around the Northview Apartments.

From the Pacific Highway, westbound traffic will be able to enter the tunnel from a new ramp at Broughton Road on the eastern side that will loop clockwise before entering a new tunnel east of Alto BMW before joining the main tunnel.

 

To make room for the new Transit Lanes, the Gore Hill Freeway will be widened using land on its northern side between the Pacific Hwy and Merrenburn Road. This will largely be within the existing road reserve, although some acquisition of Crown Land and commercial properties will be required. At Naremburn the widening will be provisioned by tunneling under Willoughby Road to prevent dislocating the Naremburn shops.

 

There will be two tunnel vent stacks in the project. One will be located just south of the Shell Service Station on Epping Road. The other will be at Marden Street West, Artarmon.

 

A number of modifications were made to the original proposal following the public exhibition of the EIS in 2001-2002.

 

Significant modifications to the project include:

• Replacing a merge lane with a through lane to have three continuous eastbound lanes between the Pittwater Road intersection and the eastbound tunnel access ramp. This is to improve traffic flow to the Epping Road bus lanes.
• A bus interchange at the Longueville Road/Parklands Avenue intersection.
• A new pedestrian bridge over Longueville Road at the above location.
• Elevating the cycleway 200m west of the Reserve Road bridge to limit the impact on adjacent properties. The Flat Rock Creek cycleway will be realigned providing a buffer allowing for screening to adjacent residences.
• A new pedestrian footpath on the southern side of Falcon Street to improving access between Merlin Street and St Leonards Oval.
• Addition of an extra lane on the Falcon Street offramp to reduce queuing on the southbound Warringah Freeway exit ramp to Falcon Street.
• The ventilation stack at the western end of the project will be moved.

 

Planning approval for the project was granted by the NSW Minister for Planning in December 2002.

 

On 1 October 2003, it was announced that the Lane Cove Tunnel Consortium (sponsored by Thiess Pty Limited, John Holland Pty Limited, Transfield Holdings Pty Limited and ABN AMRO), was the preferred consortium to design, build, maintain and operate the Lane Cove Tunnel.

 

Construction on the project officially began on 24 June 2004 when Premier Bob Carr and Roads Minister Carl Scully launched the first of seven giant road headers that will tunnel beneath Epping Road.

 

For further details on this project visit the RTA Website and the official Lane Cove Tunnel website.

 

Information Sources:

Lane Cove Tunnel Overview Report, Roads & Traffic Authority 1999

Environmental Impact Statement, Sinclair Knight Merz/RTA 15 October 2001

www.rta.nsw.gov.au Lane Cove Tunnel website 4 December 2002 & 9 June 2005

 

Page created Nov 2001. Last modified 9 June 2005.