The Beaches Link is a proposed 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.
Beaches Link | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Motorway (Proposed) |
| Length | 9.2 km (5.7 mi) |
| Route number(s) |  |
| Major junctions | |
| North end | |
| |
| South end | |
| Location(s) | |
| Major suburbs / towns | Balgowlah, Seaforth, Northbridge, Willoughby, Naremburn |
| Highway system | |
The Beaches Link would consist 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 be built at Balgowlah linking between Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation, the Beaches Link tunnel entrance and exit, and Sydney Road. The road would divide the former Balgowlah Golf Club grounds.[1] The Beaches Link would follow abandoned extensions of the Warringah Freeway in the 1960s and 1970s and bypasses the heavily congested Spit Bridge.
The project was first 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
edit- ^ 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.