{"id":10002,"date":"2021-01-22T04:15:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T04:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=10002"},"modified":"2021-01-22T04:15:24","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T04:15:24","slug":"planning-approval-for-western-harbour-tunnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/01\/22\/planning-approval-for-western-harbour-tunnel\/","title":{"rendered":"PLANNING APPROVAL FOR WESTERN HARBOUR TUNNEL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Western Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway Upgrade has received planning approval from the NSW Government, in a major step towards delivering the third road crossing of Sydney Harbour.<br \/>\nMinister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance said the mega-project includes a 6.5 kilometre tunnel, with three lanes in each direction, which will help slash travel times from North Sydney to Sydney Olympic Park by up to 20 minutes.<br \/>\n\u201cThe Western Harbour Tunnel will take pressure off the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Harbour Tunnel, Anzac Bridge and Western Distributor corridors to revolutionise transport capacity in and around our city,\u201d Mr Constance said.<br \/>\n\u201cThe new tunnel will start at the new Rozelle Interchange and head under the Harbour to the Warringah Freeway, and will integrate new and existing public transport connections.<br \/>\n\u201cThis city-shaping piece of infrastructure will deliver a vital boost to the NSW economy, with the tunnel and freeway upgrade, along with Beaches Link, expected to support around 15,000 full time equivalent jobs.\u201d<br \/>\nMinister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said the project will transform the way people move across our harbour, with traffic volumes to be reduced on some of Sydney\u2019s busiest roads.<br \/>\n\u201cPlanning approval means the NSW Government can get on with delivering the first stage, which is an upgrade to one of Sydney\u2019s busiest and most complex road corridors, four kilometres of the Warringah Freeway,\u201d Mr Stokes said.<br \/>\n\u201cCommunity feedback on the project has been valuable in helping understand and deliver positive changes to the design and plan, and we will continue to work closely with local communities as the project gets underway.<br \/>\n\u201cConditions of the project include an investigation of more footpaths and cycleways in the area and a requirement that any trees removed need to be replaced at a ratio of two-to-one.\u201d<br \/>\nA survey of local residents and businesses will be carried out in early 2021, to ensure the project team understands and can mitigate the impact of construction.<br \/>\nFollowing the procurement process and contract awards, construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2021.<br \/>\nThe community is also being reminded to have its say on the Beaches Link Environmental Impact Statement which is on public exhibition until 1 March 2021.<br \/>\nFor more information and to see the interactive portal, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rms.nsw.gov.au\/projects\/western-harbour-tunnel-beaches-link\/index.html\">nswroads.work\/whtbl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Western Harbour Tunnel and Warringah Freeway Upgrade has received planning approval from the NSW Government, in a major step towards delivering the third road crossing of Sydney Harbour. Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance said the mega-project includes a 6.5 kilometre tunnel, with three lanes in each direction, which will help slash travel &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/01\/22\/planning-approval-for-western-harbour-tunnel\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;PLANNING APPROVAL FOR WESTERN HARBOUR TUNNEL&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}