A $2.1 billion motorway to Sydney’s new international airport will open to motorists in the early hours of Saturday morning – almost eight months before the first passenger flights are due to take off.
After four years of construction, the ribbon will be cut on the main section of the 16-kilometre M12 motorway on Monday morning ahead of the first motorists driving along it early on Saturday.
The 14-kilometre section of the M12 to be opened connects Elizabeth Drive in the east to the Northern Road in the west, allowing motorists to travel at 100 kilometres an hour directly to the airport precinct without having to pass through intersections.
The final component to be opened in mid-June will be a major interchange linking the M12 to the M7 motorway at Cecil Hills, near Bonnyrigg.
The M12 is two lanes in each direction and comprises 17 bridges, the longest of which is a 700-metre span over South Creek. Up to 30,000 vehicles a day are forecast to travel along the M12.
A steel sculpture up to 30 metres high has been built next to the M12 where the motorway connects to a road link to the airport. Designed by Indigenous design studio Balarinji, the “the Great Emu in the Sky” sculpture will be the centrepiece of the drive to and from the airport, and serves as a welcome to Dharug country.
The bill for construction of the M12 has steadily risen – mostly under the previous Coalition government – since late last decade, when it was budgeted at $1.25 billion.
In 2019, the cost of acquiring properties was cited as a major reason for the budget rising to $1.8 billion, while design changes two years later pushed it to more than $2 billion.
Premier Chris Minns said the direct gateway to Western Sydney Airport would ease pressure on local roads, cut travel times and improve links with the rest of the city’s road network.
“From Saturday, thousands of motorists will have the chance to use this new motorway for the very first time to more quickly and easily get to where they need to go,” he said.
Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the M12 would play a critical role in getting passengers to the new airport’s terminal and freight to planes.
The first cargo aircraft are due to take off from Western Sydney Airport in July, while it will open to passenger flights at the end of October.
A 16-kilometre shared pathway for pedestrians and cyclists has been built alongside the M12, connecting an existing path at Cecil Hills near the M7 to the Northern Road at Luddenham. It includes a dedicated cycle and pedestrian path to the new airport.
The federal government is covering 80 per cent of the cost of the M12, while the state is paying the rest and delivering the project.
Toll road operator Transurban also told investors last month that a widened section of the M7 motorway from two to three lanes in either direction would be progressively opened from late this month until June.
The work on 26 kilometres of the M7 has required 41 bridges to be widened along a stretch between Richmond Road at Oakhurst and the M5 motorway at Prestons.
Motorists will pay tolls on the M7 for an extra three years until 2051 as part of a deal with Transurban to widen the highway and build the new interchange with the M12.
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Matt O’Sullivan is transport and infrastructure editor at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.