Contractor completes Sydney Airport underpass

A new $156 million road underpass at Sydney Airport, has now opened and is hoped to improve access to the airport and Port Botany.

John Holland were awarded the contract for the airport east project which included the underpass in 2016.

Federal Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure Alan Tudge said the state and federal government-funded project replaced the railway level crossing at General Holmes Drive.

“Traffic will now be able to smoothly travel between Botany Road and General Holmes Drive by passing through a new underpass under the rail line at Wentworth Avenue,” Mr. Tudge said.

He said the underpass is part of a suite of Airport East improvements. These include the upgrade of the Mill Pond Road intersections, and the widening of parts of Joyce Drive and General Holmes Drive to three lanes in each direction.

NSW Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance said the first motorists travelled through the underpass on Saturday 29 June, with around 25,000 motorists expected to use the underpass each day.

“This is a major milestone for the project, which involved complex work to build the project under the flight path restrictions and minimise traffic and rail freight disruptions,” Mr. Constance said.

He said works to rebuild the intersection of Botany Road and Wentworth Avenue was carried out across 56 consecutive hours during one weekend, to lower the intersection by almost two metres.

“Crews shifted 1,000 tonnes of concrete, 4500 tonnes of sand, 1800 tonnes of stabilised base material, more than a 1000 tonnes of asphalt and 410 tonnes of drainage stone,” Mr. Constance said.

He said a new freight rail bridge with duplicated tracks across the extended section of Wentworth Avenue will also be built.

“Work is also currently being carried out to create a new shared path to link to the existing cycleway on Wentworth Avenue at Todd Reserve,” Mr. Constance said.

With the underpass open, finishing work for the project will be carried out across the coming months, weather permitting.

Final works include building new medians, kerbs and footpaths, new drainage, paving, line marking, installing signage and landscaping.