Lane Cove Tunnel
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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected future tunnel. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the tunnel approaches, and more information becomes available. |
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The Lane Cove Tunnel is a AU$ 1.1 billion, 3.4km twin tunnel that is currently under construction in Sydney, Australia. The tunnels will link the Gore Hill Freeway with the M2 Motorway at North Ryde. When the tunnel construction is finished, then the tunnel will be due to open late this year or early next year, then the tunnel will form part of the Sydney Metroad 2 and complete the Sydney Orbital Motorway network. Currently motorists must drive along Epping Road through the suburb of Lane Cove, for the few kilometres between the two freeway sections. The tunnel is designed to improve the flow of traffic coming into the Sydney CBD from the fast-growing Northwest suburbs (the Hills District and the northern parts of Western Sydney).
A joint venture between Thiess and John Holland Construction were awarded the $1.1 billion dollar contract from the RTA to construct and run the tunnel for a 33 year lease.
The tunnel was heavily promoted by Lane Cove Council, particularly through the use of placards located prominently by the side of Epping Road. A more cost effective solution may have been to build three or four fly overs across Epping Road thereby increasing traffic flow without the need for the construction of the Tunnel.
Recently, it has been announced that the tunnel will be due to open late this year or early next year. Then there will be a one month long toll-free period. When this ends, lane reductions on the existing road which the tunnel will bypass (Epping road) will occur. Westbound general lanes will reduce from 3 to 1 for the rush hour, and eastbound from 2 to 1. In addition, traffic travelling eastbound off the M2 motorway, will have no choice but to use the tunnel unless an exit is made further west from the M2.
See Government pays tunnel operator $25m
[edit] Collapse
On 2 November 2005 at Lane Cove a hole appeared through the road all the way through to a branch of the main tunnel. The hole was six metres wide and between eight to ten metres deep.
Occurring next to the Pacific Highway overpass at the start of the Gore Hill Freeway, the collapse caused traffic chaos for a few days. This branch tunnel was for the Pacific Highway off-ramp. Workers excavating the tunnel using a roadheader struck a pocket of underground water at around 2am local time which then began to flood the tunnel. The workers fled and escaped injury, but the emptying of the pocket of water made the soft rock (while most of Sydney is sandstone, there are regions of shale, such as in the area of the collapse) and soil fall down to fill the hole. This area of the tunnel was directly below the corner of an old block of units, and opened up a ten metre deep hole from the surface to the tunnel floor. The unit block then began to fall into the hole, beginning with the ground floor corner unit directly above the hole.
Police evacuated the residents of the unit block in the middle of the night. As a result, no one has been injured or killed by this incident. After the evacuation police used robots to determine the stability of the units. One resident bird "Tweety" was rescued in the process. Workers then spent several days filling the hole with the contents of 180 concrete trucks, burying the AU$ 5 million dollar roadheader at the bottom of the tunnel in a concrete mausoleum. Efforts then began to shore up the unit block with steel supports, in the hope that it could be made stable enough that residents could safely return to collect their belongings.
With the closure of the offramp for the ensuing weeks, frequented bus services such as the 536 (Gladesville - Chatswood) service were re-routed, and the popularised bus stop along Epping Road was relocated.
Since then, Theiss has offered to purchase the unit and surrounding units.
As of September 2006, the unit block is still propped up by the metal support rods, and it is still closed off. The owners of the unit block apartments have albeit vanished from any deals Theiss may offer them. However, the entrance ramp is open and the road resealed.
[edit] External links
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| Major road infrastructure in Sydney | |
|---|---|
| Motorways | Cross City Motorway | Eastern Distributor | Lane Cove Tunnel | M2 Hills Motorway | M4 Western Motorway | M5 South Western Motorway | Westlink M7 |
| Freeways | Southen Cross Drive | Southern Freeway | Sydney-Newcastle Freeway | Warringah Freeway | Gore Hill Freeway |
| Metroads | Metroad 1 | Metroad 2 | Metroad 3 | Metroad 4 | Metroad 5 | Metroad 6 | Metroad 7 | Metroad 9 | Metroad 10 |
| Bridges & Tunnels | Sydney Harbour Bridge | Sydney Harbour Tunnel | Anzac Bridge | Gladesville Bridge | Fig Tree Bridge | Tarban Creek Bridge |
| Conceptual Plans | Sydney Orbital Motorway | Sydney Bypasses (past, present and proposed) |
| Categories | Category: Streets in Sydney | Category: Sydney highways |
| Other | M4 East (proposed) | Marrickville Tunnel (proposed) | North Western Expressway (abandoned) |
| Operators | Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales | Connector Motorways | State Wide Roads | Transurban |
| Transport in Sydney | [edit] | |
