WestLink

WestLink
Basic data
Operator:	Leighton Holdings
Start of the street:	/ Hills Motorway Old Windsor Road Baulkham Hills ( NSW ) ( 33 ° 45 ′ S , 150 ° 57 ′ E ) ; ; ;
End of street:	South Western Freeway South Western Motorway Casula ( Sydney ) ( NSW ) ( 33 ° 57 ′ S , 150 ° 53 ′ E ); ; ;
Overall length:	40 km
States :	New South Wales
	WestLink head south on Cowpasture Road

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The WestLink (also Westlink M7 , formerly Western Sydney Orbital ) is an urban motorway in the western part of Sydney in the east of the Australian state of New South Wales . It connects the Hills Motorway and Old Windsor Road in Baulkham Hills with the South Western Motorway and the South Western Freeway in Casula . The Western Motorway is also connected halfway at Eastern Creek . This inner west brace of Sydney was opened to traffic on December 16, 2005, eight months before its planned completion.

history

The western part of Sydney is growing the fastest of any neighborhoods and suburbs in the greater Sydney area. The Ring Road 5 and State Road 55 - later State Road 77 -, which should have been a bypass of Sydney, mutated into important access roads to the western suburbs of the city.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, western Sydney ranked third in terms of Australian gross domestic product, after Sydney city center and Melbourne city . The growth of commercial and residential areas brought with it a massive increase in the volume of traffic on inner-city streets. This led to the planning of the Western Sydney Orbital , which was originally intended to serve as an approach to the planned second Sydney International Airport in Badgerys Creek .

In January 2001, the government committed to gradually making AU $ 356 million available for the M7 project, with the missing AU $ 1.5 billion coming from the private sector for planning and construction. The New South Wales Minister of Planning authorized the company in February 2002.

The M7 Motorway was privately funded using a new type of construction contract called DEED to facilitate the bid solicitation and award phases. Various DEEDs were based on plans based on suggestions from the providers. Under DEED refers to the total package of design, construction, operation and maintenance of the highway, over 40 km of concrete and asphalt roads and insisted the expansion of existing local roads. At that time the longest toll road in the world without toll booths was created, with over 90 bridges of four different types. The contract, worth at least AU $ 2.0 billion, was ultimately awarded to Western Sydney Orbital Pty. Ltd. (WSO) awarded. Planning and construction were given to a joint venture of ABI Group and Leighton Holdings (ALJF) for AU $ 1.8 billion , with a joint venture of Maunsell Australia and the Snowy Mountains Electricity Company (SMEC) carrying out the planning. The motorway was opened to traffic in 2005.

With the opening, the name Metroad 7 went from the Cumberland Highway between Beecroft and Liverpool to the Hills Motorway and the connection to the WestLink. The WestLink itself received the M7, the first alphanumeric street name in Sydney.

The first death on the M7 occurred on December 25, 2005, just nine days after it opened: A 12-year-old boy died in Cecil Park when the four-wheel drive car he was sitting in rolled down an embankment on Elizabeth Drive and almost buried another car there.

course

Light Horse Crossing

The M7 begins in Baulkham Hills as a continuation of the old Hills Motorway (Met-2 / Met-7) from Old Windsor Road (Met-2). Through Kings Langley and Quakers Hill it leads west to Deans Park , where it is connected to the Richmond Road (S63). There the motorway turns south and leads through Michinbury to the junction with the Great Western Highway (S44) and the Light Horse junction with the Western Motorway (Met-4) in Eastern Creek .

West of Liverpool , wherein Abbotsbury that are Wall Grove Road and Elizabeth Drive (S50) connected. Soon after, the M7 swings southeast and ends at the Roden-Cutler Junction in Casula , where it meets the South Western Motorway (Met-5) and the South Western Freeway (Hume Highway) (Met-5).

Light Horse Crossing

The Light Horse Junction is the connection of the WestLink to the Western Motorway. It is a fully developed motorway junction and was named after an Australian military formation from the First World War , the Australian Light Horse .

Tolls

The WestLink was created as a toll route without toll stations using an electronic toll system. The initial toll-free period ended on January 15, 2006. The toll was originally AU $ 0.2991 per km, but a maximum of AU $ 5.98 for 20 km. On April 1, 2006, it was increased to AU- $ / km 0.3007 (with a maximum amount of AU- $ 6.01). Currently (October 2011) it is AU - $ / km 0.3582 (with a maximum amount of AU- $ 7.16) and is adjusted quarterly according to the general price index.

Exits and interchanges

WestLink
Connections to the north	Distance to Brisbane (km)	Distance to Melbourne (km)	Connections to the south
At the end of WestLink, continue as Hills Motorway to Sydney / Newcastle / Brisbane	928	878	Start of WestLink from Hills Motorway
no exit	930	876	Seven Hills, Windsor Old Windsor Road
Bella Vista, Castle Hill Northwest Boulevard	931	875	no exit
Glenwood, Blacktown Sunnyholt Road	933	873	Blacktown, Glenwood Sunnyholt Road
no exit	937	869	Doonside, Quakers Hill Quakers Hill Parkway
Richmond , Blacktown Richmond Road	940	866	Blacktown, Richmond Richmond Road
Rooty Hill Rooty Hill Road North	940	866	Rooty Hill Rooty Hill Road North
no exit	942	864	Woodcroft, Plumpton Power Street
Rooty Hill, Glendenning Woodstock Avenue	943	863	no exit
no exit	946	860	Parramatta , Penrith Great Western Highway
Lithgow , Sydney Western Motorway	947	859	Sydney , Lithgow Western Motorway
Horsley Park, Rooty Hill Wallgrove Road	949	857	Horsley Park, Rooty Hill Wallgrove Road
Horsley Park, Fairfield The Horsley Drive	953	853	Fairfield, Horsley Park The Horsley Drive
Luddenham, Liverpool Elizabeth Drive	958	848	Liverpool, Luddenham Elizabeth Drive
Horningsea Park, Cecil Hills Cowpasture Road	964	842	Cecil Hills, Horningsea Park Cowpasture Road
Prestons, Hinchinbrook Bernera Road	966	840	Hinchinbrook, Prestons Bernera Road
Start WestLink on from the South Western Freeway	968	838	Bankstown, Sydney South Western Motorway
			Liverpool, Camden Camden Valley Way
			At the end of WestLink, continue as the South Western Freeway to Campbelltown / Canberra / Melbourne