NSW to build 'Australia's longest road tunnel'

The New South Wales Government it is to build what it says is Australia's longest road tunnel, with work due to start early next year.

The tunnel will connect Blackheath and Little Hartley in the Blue Mountains and will be 11 kilometres long in total.

The Government also confirmed there will be no toll charged and predicts it will slash travel times by as much as 30 minutes.

“In May last year, we started investigating plans to join the two to create the longest road tunnel in the entire country – and today, we’re locking that plan in as the preferred option," said Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW, Paul Toole.

“This is a history-making legacy project that will deliver safer and more efficient journeys for locals, tourists and freight travelling between the Central West and the East Coast.”

The upgraded roadway has been designed with two separate twin tunnels, providing dual carriageways heading both east and west at a gentler gradient to help cut travel times for motorists – with the hope it will especially speed up the transport of freight.

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Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway said the Blue Mountains tunnel would deliver a ‘raft of benefits’ that would transform the connection between Sydney and western NSW.

“This tunnel project, as part of the major upgrade of the Great Western Highway between Lithgow and Katoomba, will help improve the economic development, productivity and accessibility in and through the Blue Mountains, Central West and Orana regions,” Farraway said.

“It will improve the resilience of the state’s major road corridor across the Blue Mountains during traffic incidents and natural disasters and will be built to accommodate future population growth west of the Blue Mountains.

“Once the full upgrade to the Great Western Highway is complete, it is predicted to save motorists up to 30 minutes between Katoomba and Lithgow during busy periods.”

Transport for NSW says it will continue to consult the Blue Mountains, Central West, Wiradjuri, Dharug and Gundungurra communities through a series of online and face-to-face information sessions about the tunnel project in coming weeks, with a more formal process due later this year.