NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay and Federal Assistant Infrastructure Minister Jamie Briggs today marked the start of work on the $3 billion NorthConnex project, which will link the M1 Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga to the M2 Motorway at West Pennant Hills.
They were joined at the sod turning by Transurban Chief Executive Scott Charlton, local MPs Matt Kean, Paul Fletcher and Philip Ruddock and NRMA President Kyle Loades.
Hornsby State Liberal MP Matt Kean said the project has been talked about for a generation and is finally happening.
"Pennant Hills road is regarded as one of the worst roads in NSW," Mr Kean said.
"Northconnex will improve travel times, reduce congestion, and make our roads safer,"
NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the NSW Government promised before coming into office that work would start on one of Sydney's missing links in this term of government.
"NorthConnex is the second missing link to be started by this government, after the M5 West widening which was completed in December," Mr Gay said.
"It is the first major infrastructure project in NSW to be delivered under the new unsolicited bids process put in place by this government and it is another example of our commitment to build for the future.
"NorthConnex will create 8,700 jobs for NSW, the bulk of them to come from Sydney with some sub-contractors expected from the Central Coast and Western Sydney.
"With an additional 1.6 million people expected to live in our global city within 20 years, NorthConnex will help ensure we meet the demands of a growing population and will provide benefits for nearby corridors the M7, M2 and Lane Cove Tunnel.
"It will operate in line with world's best practice and comes with unprecedented air quality safeguards for any tunnel project in NSW."
"This is an historic day for NSW. NorthConnex will deliver thousands of jobs, inject around $4 billion dollars into the NSW and national economies and create a new national freight route," Mr Briggs said.
"The twin nine kilometre tunnels running under Pennant Hills Road will save motorists 15 minutes of travel time compared to Pennant Hills Road, bypassing 21 sets of traffic lights and providing an alternative route to the Pacific Highway.
"This project is another example of the Australian Government getting on and delivering world class infrastructure to grow the NSW economy and create thousands of jobs."
"NorthConnex will provide wide ranging benefits for the community including improvements to local air quality and road safety and savings for the freight industry including time, fuel and maintenance," Mr Charlton said.
"The project will engage with local businesses throughout construction and will also establish a local business register given 7,500 jobs will be created during the construction phase alone with another 1,200 jobs directly created by the project.
"Construction will happen under strict conditions on hours of operation and noise as we clear sites and prepare construction compounds.
"A separate environmental management plan will be in place for when major tunnelling work is ready to begin later this year," Mr Charlton said.
Information will be updated on NorthConnex.com.au and provided to the community throughout the project.
