M5 South Western Motorway

Australian motorway
motorway logo=NSW_M5.png width= 100px
motorway= M5 South Western Motorway
length-km= 26
direction= Northeast-Southwest
start=
destinations= Bankstown, Liverpool
end=
opening-date= August 1992
completion-date= January 2002 (M5 East)
junctions=
motorway owner= Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), Interlink Roads Pty Ltd
motorway operator= RTA, Interlink Roads Pty Ltd

The M5 South Western Motorway (also known as the M5 South West Motorway, M5 Motorway or simply M5) is a motorway in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 5 and the Sydney Orbital Network. The M5 South Western Motorway incorporates the M5 South West Motorway toll road (completed August 1992) and the government-built M5 East Freeway (completed January 2002).

History

M5 South West Motorway

The M5 South Western Motorway replaces the Hume Highway (Liverpool Rd) from Liverpool to the city. Originally, in the 1980s, the Hume Highway (National Highway 31) ended at Cross Roads, just before Liverpool. This stretch of freeway (Campbelltown to Cross Roads) was previously known as South Western Freeway designated F5. The M5 extends and supersedes F5.

From then on, to proceed to the city, the alternatives were either Liverpool Road (then National Route 31) or Newbridge Road (State Route 54) via Bankstown. Both routes have many traffic lights and are frequently heavily congested.

An initial stretch was built in the mid-1980s to link Heathcote Road at Moorebank and the Hume Highway at Casula, including a bridge across the Georges River near Casula. Although built as dual-carriage way at near freeway standard, this initial stage included a traffic light controlled, at-grade intersection at Moorebank Avenue.

After years of proposals and political promises, a privately constructed and operated motorway – the M5 South West Motorway – was built under a "Build-Operate-Transfer" agreement. It was constructed on a publicly owned freeway reservation, between the existing road at Heathcote Road, Moorebank, to King Georges Road, Beverly Hills. Opened in August 1992, it was "completed" months ahead of schedule, even though the proposed link between the Cross Roads and Casula had yet to be constructed, and a third of the "motorway" existed only as single lane road between the Fairford Road interchange and the King Georges Road interchange, remarkably located at the busier city end of the road. Privately operated by Interlink Roads, the South Western Motorway is tolled at Hammondville, and will be transferred to the New South Wales State Government in 2023. Regular users of the motorway can claim a rebate from the state government for the cost of the toll, excluding GST, as part of an 1995 election commitment by former New South Wales premier Bob Carr.

M5 East Freeway

In 1994, the link between the Cross Roads and Casula was finally completed. However, the motorway still abruptly ended at King Georges Road, meaning that motorway traffic was forced onto congested roads to complete the journey into the city. In response, a publicly built link, known as the "M5 East Freeway" was constructed between the existing motorway at King Georges Road and General Holmes Drive (Metroad 1) at Mascot, adjacent to Sydney Airport, and includes two stretches of tunnel, a 4 km long tunnel between Kingsgrove and Arncliffe, with another tunnel under the Cooks River. Construction was commenced in August 1998 and the M5 East was opened in January 2002.

Controversy surrounded the construction of the M5 East concerning the effect of the freeway on the local environment, especially upon parts of Wolli Creek, and the construction of ventilation stacks required to remove pollution from the tunnel, which, ostensibly due to cost, lack filtration systems. Since its opening, the M5 East has attracted criticism for its lack of capacity, given that the tunnels only provide 2 lanes of traffic in either direction, and no provision has been made for future expansion. Most congestion problems occur at the western end of the main tunnel, which is long and steep. An addition lane for slow traffic begins at the western tunnel exit for a short distance, to remove slow and heavy traffic. Had this been extended into the tunnel for a few hundred metres, the capacity would be far greater. These steep entrances to the tunnelled section are also the site of frequent vehicle accidents, usually involving heavy traffic. Pollution and smog inside the tunnel has also been a major concern, after it was revealed that the New South Wales Department of Health advised the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority that pollution levels in the tunnel exceeded acceptable limits during peak hours of use, and urged motorists using the tunnel to keep their windows up and putting their car's ventilation system on "recirculate". [South Eastern Sydney Public Health Unit & NSW Department of Health, "M5 East Tunnels Air Quality Monitoring Project Report" July 2003, page 50.]

As part of the construction of the M5 East, the eastern single laned section of the South Western Motorway was widened to a full 4 lanes, finally bringing most of the M5 up to complete freeway standard.

However, the at-grade intersection at Moorebank Avenue still remained, posing a constraint on traffic flow. Finally in 2003, the state government opened a new, completely grade separated interchange at Moorebank Avenue, meaning that not only the entire length of Metroad 5 is now freeway standard, but the entire route from Canberra to Sydney is now high speed dual carriageway. It should be noted however, that traffic entering the South Western Motorway from Moorebank Avenue at its southern on-ramp still has to merge with traffic leaving the South Western Motorway intending to use the Hume Highway exit at Liverpool.

Westlink M7

With the completion of the Westlink M7 motorway in December 2005, and the reassignment of Metroad 7 from Cumberland Highway to the Westlink M7, a Metroad 7 interchange was added at Prestons to allow traffic from the south to access western Sydney or bypass the city altogether.

Criticism

The M5 Motorway has been beset by many closures, due to accidents and computer failures, which have caused gridlock and havoc among Sydney motorists. Between 2002 and 2008 there were 6 closures attributed to technical and computer failures alone.cite news |first=Linton |last=Besser |coauthors=Robinson, Georgina |title=Millions lost in the M5 black hole |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/millions-lost-in-the-m5-black-hole/2008/09/22/1221935546566.html |publisher="The Sydney Morning Herald" |date=2008-09-23 |accessdate=2008-09-23 ]

The Government of New South Wales must pay penalties to the operators of the M5, BHBB, due to more traffic using the M5 than originally forecast. The penalties were expected to amount to $13 million by 2011. The increase in demand was caused by the State Government's "Cashback" scheme, which involves public money subsidising motorists for using the M5.

Exits and Interchanges

ee also

*Freeways in Australia
*Freeways in Sydney
*Metroad 5

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.m5motorway.com.au M5 South Western Motorway] Official website of the private operators of the South Western Motorway.
* [http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/m5east RTA M5 East] Official website of the M5 East.
* [http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/constructionmaintenance/completedprojects/m5east/m5eastcurrentairqualitydata/graphs/pm10graphs.html RTA M5 East Air Quality] Current Air Quality readings from the M5 East ventilation stacks.
* [http://rta.nsw.gov.au/trafficreports/southsydcameras/m5_liverpool.html RTA Webcam (Liverpool)]
* [http://rta.nsw.gov.au/trafficreports/southsydcameras/m5_east.html RTA Webcam (Beverly Hills)]
Road infrastructure in Sydney