Beaches Link
Beaches Link New South Wales | |
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| General information | |
| Type | Motorway (Proposed) |
| Length | 9.2 km (5.7 mi) |
| Route number(s) |  |
| Major junctions | |
| North end |
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| South end |
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| Location(s) | |
| Major suburbs / towns | Balgowlah, Seaforth, Northbridge, Willoughby, Naremburn |
| Highway system | |
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The Beaches Link is a planned underground motorway scheme in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It would consist of a series of motorway tunnels running north-south between Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation at Balgowlah and the Warringah Freeway at Cammeray, providing direct access from the Northern Beaches to the Sydney central business district.
The Beaches Link would have consisted of two branches, the main branch starting from Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation at Balgowlah and the second branch starting from Wakehurst Parkway at Seaforth. Both branches would have joined at Seaforth, and the tunnel crossed Middle Harbour to Northbridge to the west of the current main crossing, the Spit Bridge. From Northbridge, it would have connected with Gore Hill Freeway and Warringah Freeway at its southern end.[1]
A new connection road would have been built at Balgowlah linking between Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation, the Beaches Link tunnel entrance and exit, and Sydney Road. The road would have divided the former Balgowlah Golf Club grounds.[1] The Beaches Link would have followed abandoned extensions of the Warringah Freeway in the 1960s and 1970s and was to bypass the heavily congested Spit Bridge.
The project was announced in December 2020 by the Berejiklian government as a single project with the Western Harbour Tunnel.[2] In June 2022, the Perrottet government announced that the project would be shelved indefinitely, due to market constraints and labour shortages.[3] Following a change of government, the project was cancelled by the Minns government in September 2023.[4] However, Transport for NSW will retain ownership of acquired properties and the construction of stub tunnels at the Western Harbour Tunnel portals in Cammeray reserve a future connection to Beaches Link, should it be built by a future government.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Beaches Link and Gore Hill Freeway Connection - Community guide to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)" (PDF). Transport for NSW. December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ Tunnel open by 2028 Northern Beaches Advocate 10 December 2020
- ^ "NSW government puts Beaches Link and Blue Mountains tunnel on ice". ABC News Australia. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ^ "'Irresponsible' Northern Beaches link cancelled by Minns". Nine.com.au. 8 September 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
- ^ "'In limbo': Home owners fear Beaches Link will eventually be resurrected". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 June 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
External links
- Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link - Project Information Transport for NSW
- Beaches Link interactive portal - Transport for NSW
