Northconnex achieves ‘Excellent’ IS As Built Rating
The NorthConnex project is a 9-kilometre multi-lane motorway linking the M1 Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga to the Hills M2 Motorway at West Pennant Hills. NorthConnex delivers significant benefits to local communities by easing congestion and removing around 5000 trucks daily from Pennant Hills Road. This helps to improve safety, local air quality and reduce traffic noise. Motorists can now travel from Newcastle to Melbourne without a single set of traffic lights, reducing travel times for motorists and delivering state and national freight efficiencies.
NorthConnex is committed to sustainable and responsible operations and has delivered a range of sustainable outcomes through the IS Rating tool. Key achievements include establishing a robust management and governance system, delivering creative and meaningful community engagement, establishing high standards of environmental protection, and innovative design within the tunnel’s systems and equipment that make it a next generation tunnel. The range of sustainability initiatives will provide benefits for the community and environment now and for future generations.
PROJECT KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:
Spoil was beneficially reused from the NorthConnex tunnel excavation at the Hornsby Quarry, saving 3.7 million kilometres of transport distance, and in turn significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This beneficial reuse of spoil lays the foundations for the Hornsby Quarry Rejuvenation Project, where an abandoned quarry will be turned into new recreational parkland by Hornsby Shire Council.
Through redesign and changes to the construction footprint, the project has successfully saved more than one hectare of threatened vegetation, including 742 individual Epacris (Epacris purpurascens var. purpurascens) on the Hills M2 Motorway.
NorthConnex has used more than 5,500 LED lights in place of traditional high-pressure sodium (HPS) or fluorescent lighting technology to reduce electricity consumption by 18 per cent. This innovation equates to an overall reduction in carbon emissions of approximately 350 tonnes during the first year of operations alone.