This article was originally published in the The Daily Telegraph.
As the first passenger flights begin taking off from Western Sydney International Airport, a new city named after John Bradfield is emerging alongside it, forming the foundations of one of the most significant economic and urban development projects in modern Australia.
Bradfield designed the Harbour Bridge for a Sydney that didn't exist yet, with room for far more road and rail traffic than the city had at the time. His foresight helped build a transport network that supported movement, productivity and generations of economic growth.
Western Sydney’s transformation presents an opportunity to plan with that same ambition. The completed M7-M12 is helping drivers save time on a range of journeys throughout the region, including to the new airport. Building on that progress, we’re now working with NSW Government and our partners on the proposed M2-M7 widening, continuing those improvements further along the motorway to give families and businesses faster, more reliable access to the jobs and opportunities growing around them.
As Sydney's west grows, high-quality road infrastructure that connects homes, jobs, schools, airports and freight hubs becomes increasingly important, helping people access employment, education and opportunity while keeping communities connected.
Transurban’s motorways give motorists the choice to make faster, safer and more reliable trips, giving them something increasingly precious in a growing city: time. Keeping people and goods moving efficiently is critical to the productivity and liveability of our city.
Can you imagine Sydney today without major motorways like the M2, M7, NorthConnex and WestConnex? Together with the rest of our Sydney roads and tunnels, they support more than one million trips every day, connecting people to jobs, businesses and opportunities across the city. And the time savings are significant. In the morning peak, someone driving from Parramatta to Sydney Airport can save up to 40 minutes on their journey.
But value matters too, which is why targeted relief is important and why we’re looking for ways to help motorists save beyond efficient trips on our roads. Our fuel savings offers have been particularly popular with Western Sydney drivers, and this October, Linkt Rewards members who make 10 or more toll road trips can receive a 26 cents-per-litre discount at 7-Eleven in November. That’s around $20 off a tank of fuel for a Ford Ranger.
Beyond individual car journeys, reliable freight movements are critical to Sydney’s economy. WestConnex links Western Sydney with Sydney Airport and Port Botany, and the M7 joins the M5, M4 and M2 across the west, giving businesses greater certainty about getting goods where they need to go. Every truck on a motorway is one less on a suburban street.
This is what good transport infrastructure can deliver: saving people time, supporting businesses and improving the communities around our roads.
These benefits will become even more important as Sydney grows.
Over the past two decades, Transurban and our partners have invested $36 billion in Sydney’s roads. That’s money the State did not have to find up front, equivalent to 51 hospitals or 1,300 schools. This is what government and industry can achieve working together.
Bradfield planned for the city Sydney would become. As Western Sydney’s economy takes off, we have the same opportunity, and responsibility, to build the connections that will support the city’s next century of growth.
