The M5 East project involves an extension to the already existant M5 Motorway, from King Georges Road at Beverly Hills to General Holmes Drive at the Cooks River, next to Sydney Airport. The new freeway will be a four lane divided carriageway, with two tunnels; a 4 kilometre tunnel between Bexley Road and Marsh Street and a 500 metre tunnel under the Cooks River. The new freeway will have no toll.
As part of the project, the existing M5 will be widened from two lanes to four between Fairford Road and King Georges Road. The motorway will pass underneath King Georges Road where there will be a full interchange. At Kingsgrove Road there will be east facing ramps, and at Bexley Road west facing ramps to allow entry and exit to the motorway. There will be a single exit ramp to Princess Highway for eastbound traffic, as well as an interchange at Marsh Street, with a further entry ramp at West Botany Street for westbound traffic. A further feature of the M5 East will be a shared cycle and pedestrian path along either side of the freeway between King Georges Road and Bexley Road.
Ventilation for the 4 kilometre tunnel will be through a 25 to 35 metre high single unfiltered emission stack located in a 300 by 200 metre industrial area in Turrella, in the Wolli Creek valley. Bellow is a photograph taken in August 2000 of the "industrial area" at Turrella. Note how close houses are in the background.
The aims of the M5 East project are:
- to reduce heavy traffic on Bay Street, Harrow Road and Stoney Creek Road, as well as around Bexley, Rochdale and Brighton-le-sands
- a 40% reduction in traffic on local residential streets
- less traffic and quicker trips along Canterbury, Stone Creek and Forest, Bexley and Moorefields Roads
- Lower traffic and noise pollution on local streets
The M5 East has been approved and work already begun, despite the issue of the ventilation stack still in debate, and is set to open in mid 2002.
For more information about the M5 East click here to view the official RTA brochure (pdf file 1.08MB), or visit the RTA website (www.rta.nsw.gov.au).