First stage of WestConnex to open to traffic this weekend
The first major stage of WestConnex will open to traffic this weekend but there will be no toll-free period, the NSW government has announced.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the M4 East will open at 2am on Saturday adding she wanted people to "spend less time in traffic and more time doing what they want".
"We are now just days away from drivers benefiting from the first underground section of WestConnex," Ms Berejiklian said.
The M4 East, which runs as twin three-lane motorway tunnels, is part of the state government's $16.8 billion WestConnex which it says will ease congestion along arterial routes such as Parramatta Road.
Ms Berejiklian said the government had decided against implementing a toll-free period due to congestion concerns.
"We did consider it," Ms Berejiklian said. "But on this occasion we thought it would be detrimental to do that simply because of concerns about backed-up traffic. We didn't want to see long queues of kilometres [of traffic] in the new tunnels."
Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the tunnels would cut travel time by 20 minutes for motorists travelling to the city from western Sydney.
"For motorists from Penrith, it means you won't get your first traffic light until you on the Western Distributor at Haberfield."
The M4 East and the widened M4, which was completed two years ago, will allow motorists to skip about 40 sets of traffic lights between Parramatta and the central city.
The 33-kilometre WestConnex motorway is made up of three sections: the widened M4 motorway and new M4 East tunnels; another M5 East tunnel, to be opened early next year; and the new M4-M5 tunnel linking the two, to be completed by 2023.