Groundwork on 14 of 17 bridges is underway on Sydney’s M12 Motorway ahead of pouring more than 50,000 tonnes of concrete and complete further earthworks.
This represents a construction milestone for Western Sydney where the state government will spend $4.3 billion from the Connecting Sydney Roads Program. Currently 2.5 million live in the region.
A third of construction is now complete on the motorway which will provide direct access to the future Western Sydney International Airport and connect to the city’s existing motorway network.
Around 2000 people from the area are employed on the delivery of this project along with 526 under 25 years of age.
The next stage of work will focus on completing the majority of earthworks and pouring of 52,000 tonnes of concrete, according to the NSW Minister for Roads John Graham.
“This project is creating more jobs in Western Sydney for workers and will help drive economic opportunities across this region,” he said.
“We are working on building and upgrading the roads now before the next phase of growth in this area. The M12 is an important part of the infrastructure strategy to ensure [the airport] has effective transport links from day one, so progress on bridge building is a very positive project milestone.”
Image: Cosgroves Creek bridge structure looking south. Source: Transport for NSW.
About the author
Desi Corbett
Desi is our weekly news journalist and the editor of Concrete in Australia magazine for 10 years. She has been heavily involved in all forms of engineering since 2013; part of a 30-year writing career across a range of subjects and media.