Cross-city tunnel

Cross-city tunnel
Basic data
Operator:	Cross City Motorway Ltd.
Start of the street:	/ Western Distributor Darling Harbor ( Sydney ) ( NSW ) ( 33 ° 52 ′  S , 151 ° 12 ′  E )
End of street:	New South Head Road Rushcutters Bay ( Sydney ) ( NSW ) ( 33 ° 53 ′  S , 151 ° 14 ′  E )
Overall length:	2.1 km
States :	New South Wales
Exit the Cross City Tunnel to Sir John Young Crescent in Wooloomooloo

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The Cross City Tunnel is a double-section tunnel under the inner city of Sydney in the east of the Australian state of New South Wales . It connects the Western distributor in Darling Harbor with the New South Head Road in Rushcutters Bay , an eastern suburb of the city.

course

The Cross City Tunnel branches off in Darling Harbor from the Western Distributor (Met-4, S40) to the east. The two tubes initially run under Bathurst Street (heading west), or Druitt Street and '' Park Street '' (heading east). Both tubes meet under the Australian Museum and run side by side along William Road to the east. The Eastern Distributor (Met-1) crossing in north-south direction is connected approx. 400 m further east.

Under Kings Cross Road the tunnel continues east between the districts of Kings Cross and Darlinghurst . The tunnel ends west of Rushcutters Bay Park and the New South Head Road (S76) continues east from there.

construction

The tunnel system consists of two separate tunnel tubes, each with one direction of travel on two lanes each. In between there is a small ventilation tunnel. From the tunnel to the east, you can turn south into the Eastern Distributor (to Kingsford Smith International Airport ). From the Eastern Distributor heading north, you can turn west into the Cross City Tunnel to bypass the city center. There are no other connection options at this intersection.

In 2005, the tunnel was Sydney's first toll road with fully electronic toll collection.

history

In 2002, the government commissioned Bob Carr , the Cross City Motorways Ltd. to build and operate an east-west tunnel under downtown Sydney.

Construction began in January 2003, and the tunnel was supposed to open in October 2005. In April 2005, the government announced that the tunnel would open four months earlier, on June 12, 2005. However, there were delays in the work, so that the official opening actually took place on August 28, 2005.

No toll was levied in the following three weeks and the operators announced that they would not increase the toll in the first twelve months. Users who did not yet have an electronic recording device for the toll did not ultimately have to pay. However, this led to negative publicity and thus to low traffic. Efforts were made to increase the acceptance of the tunnel among the population.

The toll-free period (for everyone) was then extended to November 2005.

Tunnel entrance at Darling Harbor

In February 2006 speculation began about a "buy-out" by the New South Wales government. A sum of AU $ 1 billion was traded, with the construction of the tunnel costing only AU $ 680 million. The government announced that there was no negotiation, and the Cross City Tunnel Consortium announced that it was not considering selling the tunnel and, on the contrary, was preparing for a long period of operation. At that time, around 30,000 vehicles were using the tunnel every day.

Shortly thereafter, a New South Wales House of Lords committee, led by Fred Nile, called for tolls to be lowered and road closures to be lifted. These demands could not be enforced, but the Cross City Tunnel consortium has now negotiated with the government and then announced a discount on the toll and other changes for March 3, 2006. In particular, the toll should be halved to AU $ 1.78 for three months, some planned road closings should not be implemented and some existing ones should be lifted. NSW Prime Minister Morris Iemma ended negotiations with the consortium two days before the end of the three-month half-toll period .

In November 2006 it was heard that the operating company of the tunnel was in financial difficulties and that an additional payment was required from the investors in order to avoid bankruptcy. At the same time it was calculated that a daily traffic volume of 60,000 - 90,000 vehicles would be necessary to enable the consortium at least to pay the loan interest. The government of New South Wales then announced that they neither intended to buy the tunnel nor to provide financial support.

On December 27, 2006, a syndicate of 16 Australian and foreign banks announced that KordaMentha would be managing Cross City Motorway Ltd. as liquidator. would take over after a deficit of AU $ 560 million from the operation of the tunnel. The tunnel was later sold.

In 2030 the tunnel is slated to fall to the state of New South Wales.

financing

The AU $ 680 million needed to build the tunnel originally came from the issuance of private bonds that were sold both in Australia and abroad.

Web links

• Cross City Tunnel website
• Cross City Tunnel . RTA .
• NRMA maps with alternative routes to the Cross-City-Tunnel .
• Four Corners - Wheeling and Dealing. Cross City Tunnel . ABC Net

source

• Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing. Archerfield QLD 2007. ISBN 978-1-74193-232-4 . P. 21 + 22

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cross City Tunnel heads for the bargain basement bin . The Sydney Morning Herald
2. ↑ Receivers take over Cross City Tunnel . ABC News Online ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ 2 km cross-city tunnel sold for nearly $ 700 million . News Ltd.