M8 Motorway (Sydney)

The M8 Motorway is a 13.4-kilometre (8.3 mi) tolled dual carriageway motorway in Sydney, New South Wales that is designated the M8 route marker. It consists predominantly of tunnels and includes tunnel connections to the future Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link and the M6 Motorway.

This article is about the motorway in New South Wales, Australia. For other motorways bearing the route M8, see M8 (disambiguation) § Roads.
M8 Motorway

New South Wales
Westbound view of the M8 tunnel
General information
TypeMotorway
Length13.4 km (8.3 mi)
Opened5 July 2020 (first stage)
20 January 2023 (second stage)
Route number(s) (2020–present)
Major junctions
West end South Western Motorway
Kingsgrove, Sydney
 
East end M4 East
Highway system

The M8 Motorway comprises two sections:

Both of these sections were constructed as part of the WestConnex project, and WestConnex tolls are applied.

Future sections of the M8 are being planned as the Western Harbour Tunnel & Beaches Link, which will connect the M8 at Rozelle to the A8 in the Northern Beaches.[3] Separate to WestConnex, these sections are expected to open between 2026 and 2028.

Route

WestConnex M8

From its western end at Kingsgrove, the route branches out of the M5 corridor and travels parallel to the M5 East. The route then curves to the north and runs parallel to Princes Highway before terminating at St Peters Interchange in St Peters, with further connections towards the Eastern Suburbs via Euston Road and Gardeners Road, and towards Sydney Airport via the proposed Sydney Gateway.[1]

The WestConnex M8 (first stage of M8) does not have any intermediate exits. However, tunnel connections to the future M6 Motorway towards Southern Sydney and Wollongong have already been built.[4]

This section of the M8 is currently marked at two lanes in each direction, with capacity for a third lane to be added if required.[5]

This section was estimated to have a project cost of A$4.335 billion in 2015.[6]

In September 2022, the New South Wales Government announced that the M4-M5 Link will be referred to as extensions of the M4 and M8 when the link opens in 2023.[2] The main tunnels between the M4 and M8 opened on 20 January 2023, with the M4 and M8 route markers extended to meet at Leichhardt, where the connection to Rozelle Interchange would branch off from the main tunnels. The connection to Rozelle Interchange (and a further extension of the M4 and M8 route markers) will open in late 2023.[7]

St Peters Interchange
St Peters Interchange under construction

St Peters Interchange opened to traffic when M8 opened on 5 July 2020. It was built on the site of the former Alexandria Landfill waste facility.[8]

At the time of opening, bridges and tunnel entrances/exits to the second stage of M8 and Sydney Gateway were already completed. The final bridge of the St Peters Interchange was put in place in October 2019.[9]

When the second stage of M8 (M4-M8 Link) opened in January 2023, the main M8 tunnels bypassed the St Peters Interchange, with the approach to the interchange becoming entry and exit ramps of the motorway.

When fully completed in 2025, the St Peters Interchange will be an interchange of five roadways, namely:

Exits and interchanges
LGALocationkm[10]miDestinationsNotes
Canterbury-BankstownKingsgrove00.0 South Western Motorway (west) – Liverpool, Campbelltown M8 Motorway southern terminus;
Road continues as M5 Motorway
Tunnel western terminus
BaysideArncliffe6.13.8M6 Motorway (south) – Kogarah, Miranda, SutherlandProposed;
M6 Motorway northern terminus;
Northbound entrance and southbound exit only
Cooks River6.54.0Cooks River tunnel
Inner WestSt Peters95.6WestConnex M8 northern terminus; M4–M8 Link southern terminus
Euston Road (north) – Alexandria, Waterloo, Randwick
Gardeners Road (east) – Mascot, Kingsford
Campbell Road (west) – Sydenham, Newtown
Campbell Road (east) – Alexandria, Mascot		St Peters Interchange
Leichhardt13.48.3 M4 Motorway (north) – Strathfield, Parramatta, PenrithM8 Motorway northern terminus;
Road continues as M4 Motorway along M4–M8 Link
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Toll
See also: WestConnex § Tolls

Motorists are charged WestConnex distance-based tolls to use the twin tunnels. The toll charge consists of:

Tolls for heavy vehicles are triple of cars and motorcycles. Toll prices increase by 4% or the consumer price index (CPI) every year, whichever is greater, until 2040, after which CPI will apply.[11]

As the M5 East and M8 are tolled under WestConnex, a vehicle travelling on the M5 East (between King Georges Road and M8) and M8 together will only incur a single toll.[12]

This table is an excerpt from Toll roads in Australia
Toll prices as of 1 July 2023[13]
Toll roadClass A toll prices[lower-alpha 1]Class B toll prices[lower-alpha 1]Toll increase[15]Toll concessionaireExpiry of toll concession[16]
FlagfallCharge per kmToll cap
WestConnex
(M4, M5 East, M8)		 $1.57 $0.5814 $11.11 3 x of Class A prices Annually on 1 January, by the greater of CPI or 4% until December 2040, then by CPI only Sydney Transport Partners
(9% Tawreed Investments Limited, 10.5% CPPIB, 10% Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), 20.5% Australian Super, 50% Transurban)		 2060
  1. Class A vehicles are typically cars and motorcycles; Class B vehicles are all other vehicles including trucks and heavy vehicles[14]

History
See also: WestConnex

New M5

In 2009, the government released the M5 Transport Corridor Feasibility Study, which investigated strategic options for improving the M5 Motorway corridor. The study identified a preliminary preferred option, being the M5 East Duplication, consisted of duplicating the M5 East and construction of a new connection from the M5 East at Arncliffe to Euston Road, Qantas Drive and Gardeners Road.[17] The strategic concept for the M5 East Duplication was placed on public exhibition between November 2009 and March 2010 for community and stakeholder feedback. Feedback received was used to further develop and refine the scheme. In 2012, the scheme become the King Georges Road Interchange Upgrade and New M5 projects, the second stage of WestConnex. The New M5 would consist of separate tunnels parallel to the M5 East tunnels.

The New M5 had the potential to impact the critically endangered Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark ecological community and the green and golden bell frog, which are listed under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999. Environmental approval[1] from the federal Minister for the Environment was granted on 11 July 2016 and construction commenced later that month.[18][19] On 3 June 2020, M8 was revealed as the new name and route designation for the New M5, and it opened on 5 July 2020.[3]

Route numbering
M8 Motorway signage concept at Rozelle Interchange

The M8 Motorway was first named in Section 300-2 of the Road Rules 2014, as amended in 2019, to be the tunnels between Beverly Hills and St Peters, and St Peters and Rozelle Interchange.[20] The modification report for The Crescent overpass released in April 2020 showed an image of the proposed signage "M8 North Sydney", indicating that M8 is to continue from Rozelle Interchange towards North Sydney via the Western Harbour Tunnel.[21] The official announcement of the M8 route designation in June 2020 confirmed that M8 will further continue along the Beaches Link Tunnel and connect with the A8 in the Northern Beaches.[3]

The next section of the M8 that opened, the M4-M8 Link, is the third stage of the Westconnex project and has a long history in similar forms. It was previously known as the “M4 South”[22] and follows much of the alignment of the Inner West Motorway which originally formed the northern end of the F6 Freeway in the 1948 Cumberland County Plan to build an inner-city bypass and link the airport and shipping terminals.

See also

References
  1. "WestConnex M8". WestConnex. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  2. "M4 and M8 link to open ahead of schedule". Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. 19 January 2023.
  3. "New driver animations - As work ramps up on New M5 Tunnels" (Press release). WestConnex. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  4. "F6 Extension Stage 1 - New M5 Motorway at Arncliffe to President Avenue at Kogarah" (PDF). Transport for NSW: Roads and Maritime. NSW Government. June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  5. "WestConnex M8". WestConnex. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  6. "M8". WestConnex. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  7. "WestConnex nears completion with new 7.5km tunnel opening tomorrow under Sydney's inner west". ABC News. 19 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  8. "Remediation and closure of Alexandria Landfill, St Peters" (PDF). WestConnex. 4 October 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2018.
  9. "Final Piece in Place on New M5 Bridges" (Press release). WestConnex. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  10. "East Cut Kingsgrove to 20 Coleridge St, Leichhardt NSW 2040". Google Maps. 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  11. "Tolling". WestConnex. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  12. "Sydney Motorways Toll Calculator". Transport for NSW. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  13. "Toll costs by road". NSW Government. 1 January 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  14. "What is my vehicle class?". Linkt. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  15. "When and how do toll prices increase". Linkt. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  16. "Road tolling in New South Wales" (PDF). New South Wales Parliament. Portfolio Committee No.2 – Health and Community Services. October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  17. "WestConnex New M5 - Environmental Impact Statement - Chapter 4". WestConnex. November 2015. p. 4-5. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  18. Hunt, Greg (11 July 2016). "Federal Government approves Stage 2 of WestConnex motorway" (PDF) (Press release). Department of the Environment. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2016.
  19. "Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion". Department of the Environment and Energy. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016.
  20. "Road Rules 2014 Act as amended November 2019". Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  21. "Modification: The Crescent overpass and active transport Design amendment report". Major Projects - Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. April 2020. p. 56. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  22. "WestConnex State Significant Infrastructure Application Report". November 2013.
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