Sydney Harbour Tunnel
Encyclopedia
The Sydney Harbour Tunnel is a twin-tube road tunnel in Sydney
, Australia
. The tunnel was completed and opened to traffic in August 1992 to provide a second vehicular crossing of Sydney Harbour
to alleviate congestion on the Sydney Harbour Bridge
.
The tunnel joins the Warringah Freeway
at North Sydney
, and the Cahill Expressway
at the entrance to the Domain Tunnel. It has two lanes in each direction, and runs at an angle of approximately thirty degrees (North to South) to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which has eight lanes, with a tidal flow operation. In 2008, the tunnel was carrying around 90,000 vehicles per day.
(IMT) structure. The tunnel falls about 55 metres from the northern entrance and about 35 metres from the southern entrance to its deepest point, 25 metres below sea level.
The IMT structure consists of eight precast concrete
units. The units were constructed over 100 kilometres away in a casting basin at Port Kembla and then towed to Sydney Harbour. A trench was dredged before the arrival of the IMTs and then the IMTs were lowered into the trench by a system of pontoons and control towers. After the IMTs were in place the trenches were backfilled and then a rock armour was placed over the top to protect the units against marine hazards, such as anchors or sinking vessels.
The land tunnels were constructed by a combination of driving and cut-and-cover techniques. The total construction cost of the project was A$
554.25 million, and was designed to be strong enough to withstand the impact of earthquakes and sinking ships.
One of the northern end pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
was altered to allow for air exhaust from the tunnel to rise over the harbour. Bradfield Park on the northern side of the bridge also has hidden air intakes behind some conspicuously placed bushes.
Fresh air is drawn by an underground ventilation station on the north shore and is pumped to all sections of the tunnel through vented ducts. The air supply uses fourteen axial flow fans, each up to 2.5 metres in diameter. The exhaust uses sixteen (eight in each northern pylon tower) fans that draw exhaust air through two underground ducts from the tunnel ventillation station and transfer the air to the top of the pylon. They can expel it at up to 1500 cu M/sec - equivalent to changing all the air in the tunnel every two minuteswith the capability of running in reverse in an emergency and all fans are rated for smoke extraction. Each of the fans has a duty of 53 to 103 m3/sec. The testing of the fans was one of the most comprehensive ever, covering flowrate and pressure, power measurements, sound levels, bearing vibration, x-raying of all impeller components, high temperature tests at 200 °C for 2 hours, impeoller strain, and 24 hour run tests for reversals.
The tunnel was opened to the public to walk through from North Sydney (Falcon Street) to South Sydney (The Domain) on 30 August 1992. The proceeds of the tickets sold for this event were donated to the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children
. The tunnel opened to traffic on 31 August 1992.
and private investors by tender. Transfield Pty Limited
and Kumagai Gumi
formed a 50/50 joint venture company which constructed the tunnel under contract; with an operating contract, including revenue collection and maintenance, from 1992 until 2023. As a result of the 1997 separation of assets of Transfield and the creation of the Tenix group, the ongoing thirty-year operating contract for management of the tunnel is split between Kumagai Gumi (50%), Transfield (25%) and Tenix (25%). At the conclusion of the operating contract in June 2023, the tunnel is to be handed back to the NSW Government.
There was a lot of scepticism surrounding the appointment of Transfield to build the tunnel, after other projects including IMT tunnels, carried out by the group, developed structural problems resulting in leaks.
and e-pass video tolling arrangements in use, similar to technologies used the Westlink M7
, Cross City Tunnel
and the Lane Cove Tunnel
. This measure has substantially eased the traffic jams heading towards the electronic gantries, and providing increased convenience and time savings. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel attracts a varying toll (that was introduced in 2009) of between A$2.50 and A$4.00, depending on the time of day. The toll is levied on the southbound approach to the tunnel entrance.
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The tunnel was completed and opened to traffic in August 1992 to provide a second vehicular crossing of Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
to alleviate congestion on the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...
.
The tunnel joins the Warringah Freeway
Warringah Freeway
The Warringah Freeway is a major road in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This freeway forms part of the Sydney Orbital Network to provide access to most of the suburbs in Sydney and is also a major route to the north, south, east and west of the metropolis.-History:Planning began in 1951...
at North Sydney
North Sydney, New South Wales
North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney...
, and the Cahill Expressway
Cahill Expressway
The Cahill Expressway is the first true freeway constructed in Sydney, Australia. It starts from the Eastern Distributor and Cross City Tunnel in Woolloomooloo, and runs through a series of sunken cuttings and tunnels between the Royal Botanical Gardens and The Domain...
at the entrance to the Domain Tunnel. It has two lanes in each direction, and runs at an angle of approximately thirty degrees (North to South) to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which has eight lanes, with a tidal flow operation. In 2008, the tunnel was carrying around 90,000 vehicles per day.
Construction
The tunnel is made up of three sections: twin 900-metre land tunnels on the north shore, twin 400-metre land tunnels on the south shore and a 960-metre immersed tubeImmersed tube
An immersed tube is a kind of underwater tunnel composed of segments, constructed elsewhere and floated to the tunnel site to be sunk into place and then linked together. They are commonly used for road and rail crossings of rivers, estuaries and sea channels/harbours...
(IMT) structure. The tunnel falls about 55 metres from the northern entrance and about 35 metres from the southern entrance to its deepest point, 25 metres below sea level.
The IMT structure consists of eight precast concrete
Precast concrete
By producing precast concrete in a controlled environment , the precast concrete is afforded the opportunity to properly cure and be closely monitored by plant employees. Utilizing a Precast Concrete system offers many potential advantages over site casting of concrete...
units. The units were constructed over 100 kilometres away in a casting basin at Port Kembla and then towed to Sydney Harbour. A trench was dredged before the arrival of the IMTs and then the IMTs were lowered into the trench by a system of pontoons and control towers. After the IMTs were in place the trenches were backfilled and then a rock armour was placed over the top to protect the units against marine hazards, such as anchors or sinking vessels.
The land tunnels were constructed by a combination of driving and cut-and-cover techniques. The total construction cost of the project was A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
554.25 million, and was designed to be strong enough to withstand the impact of earthquakes and sinking ships.
One of the northern end pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...
was altered to allow for air exhaust from the tunnel to rise over the harbour. Bradfield Park on the northern side of the bridge also has hidden air intakes behind some conspicuously placed bushes.
Fresh air is drawn by an underground ventilation station on the north shore and is pumped to all sections of the tunnel through vented ducts. The air supply uses fourteen axial flow fans, each up to 2.5 metres in diameter. The exhaust uses sixteen (eight in each northern pylon tower) fans that draw exhaust air through two underground ducts from the tunnel ventillation station and transfer the air to the top of the pylon. They can expel it at up to 1500 cu M/sec - equivalent to changing all the air in the tunnel every two minuteswith the capability of running in reverse in an emergency and all fans are rated for smoke extraction. Each of the fans has a duty of 53 to 103 m3/sec. The testing of the fans was one of the most comprehensive ever, covering flowrate and pressure, power measurements, sound levels, bearing vibration, x-raying of all impeller components, high temperature tests at 200 °C for 2 hours, impeoller strain, and 24 hour run tests for reversals.
The tunnel was opened to the public to walk through from North Sydney (Falcon Street) to South Sydney (The Domain) on 30 August 1992. The proceeds of the tickets sold for this event were donated to the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children
Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children
The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children in Sydney provides a range of educational services for students with vision and/or hearing impairment, including specialist schools for signing deaf students, oral deaf students, and students with sensory and intellectual disabilities.RIDBC offers...
. The tunnel opened to traffic on 31 August 1992.
Operator
The Harbour Tunnel is a partnership between the Government of New South WalesGovernment of New South Wales
The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...
and private investors by tender. Transfield Pty Limited
Transfield Services
Transfield Services Limited is an Australian publicly listed corporation providing operations and maintenance, asset management, project and capital management outsourcing and infrastructure development services to the resources and industrial, infrastructure services and property and facilities...
and Kumagai Gumi
Kumagai Gumi
is a construction company founded in Fukui, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. The company still has registered headquarters in Fukui, but the actual head office is located in Shinjuku, Tokyo.Kumagai Gumi was removed from the Nikkei 225 index on Oct...
formed a 50/50 joint venture company which constructed the tunnel under contract; with an operating contract, including revenue collection and maintenance, from 1992 until 2023. As a result of the 1997 separation of assets of Transfield and the creation of the Tenix group, the ongoing thirty-year operating contract for management of the tunnel is split between Kumagai Gumi (50%), Transfield (25%) and Tenix (25%). At the conclusion of the operating contract in June 2023, the tunnel is to be handed back to the NSW Government.
There was a lot of scepticism surrounding the appointment of Transfield to build the tunnel, after other projects including IMT tunnels, carried out by the group, developed structural problems resulting in leaks.
Tolling
In 2006, the New South Wales Government announced that all cash tolls on the Sydney Orbital Network will cease by 2010. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel went fully electronic in July 2007 with both e-TAGE-TAG
e-TAG is an electronic toll collection system used on tollways throughout Australia. Based upon the DSRC protocol, it was originally developed by Transurban for use on their CityLink tollway in the early 1990s, with the system since adopted by all electronic tolled roads, bridges and tunnels in...
and e-pass video tolling arrangements in use, similar to technologies used the Westlink M7
Westlink M7
Westlink M7 - formerly Western Sydney Orbital - is one of Sydney, Australia's urban motorways and a part of Metroad 7 and the Sydney Orbital Network. It connects three Metroads: M5 at Prestons, M4 at Eastern Creek and M2 at Baulkham Hills...
, Cross City Tunnel
Cross City Tunnel
The Cross City Tunnel is a 2.1 km-long tunnel located in Sydney, Australia. It links Darling Harbour on the Western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs...
and the Lane Cove Tunnel
Lane Cove Tunnel
The Lane Cove Tunnel is a A$1.1 billion, 3.6 km twin tunnel tollway in Sydney, Australia, connecting the M2 Motorway at North Ryde with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 2 and the 110 km Sydney Orbital Network...
. This measure has substantially eased the traffic jams heading towards the electronic gantries, and providing increased convenience and time savings. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel attracts a varying toll (that was introduced in 2009) of between A$2.50 and A$4.00, depending on the time of day. The toll is levied on the southbound approach to the tunnel entrance.
Exits and interchanges
Sydney Harbour Tunnel  |
|||
| Northwestbound exits | Distance to Brisbane (km) |
Distance to Sydney Airport (km) |
Southeastbound exits |
| End Sydney Harbour Tunnel continues as Warringah Freeway Warringah Freeway The Warringah Freeway is a major road in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This freeway forms part of the Sydney Orbital Network to provide access to most of the suburbs in Sydney and is also a major route to the north, south, east and west of the metropolis.-History:Planning began in 1951... to Newcastle Newcastle, New South Wales The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas... / Brisbane Brisbane Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of... |
932 | 15 | Start Sydney Harbour Tunnel from Warringah Freeway Warringah Freeway The Warringah Freeway is a major road in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This freeway forms part of the Sydney Orbital Network to provide access to most of the suburbs in Sydney and is also a major route to the north, south, east and west of the metropolis.-History:Planning began in 1951... |
| PORT JACKSON CROSSING | -- | -- | PORT JACKSON CROSSING |
| Start Sydney Harbour Tunnel continues from Cahill Expressway Cahill Expressway The Cahill Expressway is the first true freeway constructed in Sydney, Australia. It starts from the Eastern Distributor and Cross City Tunnel in Woolloomooloo, and runs through a series of sunken cuttings and tunnels between the Royal Botanical Gardens and The Domain... |
935 | 12 | End Sydney Harbour Tunnel continues as Cahill Expressway Cahill Expressway The Cahill Expressway is the first true freeway constructed in Sydney, Australia. It starts from the Eastern Distributor and Cross City Tunnel in Woolloomooloo, and runs through a series of sunken cuttings and tunnels between the Royal Botanical Gardens and The Domain... to Wollongong Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney... / Canberra Canberra Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...  |