The final part of the WestConnex motorway project linking the M4 and M5 motorways will be widened from three to four lanes in each direction, and exit and entry ramps at Camperdown in Sydney's inner west ditched, under new design plans.
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The Baird government says the designs for stage three of the controversial $16.8 billion project could also allow the new twin tunnels for the M4-M5 Link to be opened in 2022, a year earlier than planned.
Under the new plans for the toll road to be unveiled on Thursday, the tunnel alignment has also been shifted west to make a more direct route between interchanges connecting to the M4 at Rozelle and the M5 at St Peters.
The government said the changed alignment of the tunnels meant Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Camperdown and its Cyclotron medical facility, and the University of Sydney, would not be impacted.
Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the twin tunnels from Haberfield to St Peters could be built as a stand-alone project and initially operate independently from the interchange at Rozelle and a link to Iron Cove. This would potentially allow the tunnels to open to motorists in 2022, he said.
"This stage of WestConnex is the most important because it's the missing link which finally joins the M4 and M5 motorways together," he said.
Mr Gay said increasing the number of lanes from three to four in the tunnels would "help future-proof" Sydney's road network as it linked to other major projects.
Those other projects include a proposed Western Harbour Tunnel to Sydney's north, and the F6 to the city's south.
The government says the latest plans will not alter the $7 billion cost of the final stage.
But Labor's roads spokeswoman, Jodi McKay, said it was yet another change to WestConnex and accused the government of "making it up as it goes along".
"The community can't believe anything that this government says when it comes to the state's largest roads building project," she said.
Fairfax Media reported in May that the motorway ramps planned for Parramatta Road at Camperdown near Sydney University might be scrapped. Traffic modelling showed the WestConnex portal at Camperdown was expected to generate extra traffic in the Broadway area – an increase of about 20,000 vehicles a day.
The designs for the final stage of WestConnex come a day after the Baird government released its final strategy for a $31 billion redevelopment of Parramatta Road, which includes the construction of 27,000 homes along a 20-kilometre corridor.
A sticking point for the plan for Parramatta Road has been the state government's assumption that development will be facilitated by a major easing of congestion along the busy thoroughfare following the completion of WestConnex.
"We think a return of traffic congestion to Parramatta Road will inevitably be its undoing," said Labor's planning spokesman, Michael Daley.
The government has touted a daily reduction of 60,000 cars and trucks upon the completion of WestConnex. And Mr Gay said the designs for stage three would help significantly reduce traffic on Parramatta Road between Haberfield and the CBD.
Sydney University transport management expert Geoffrey Clifton said traffic on Parramatta Road could initially be expected to shift to Westconnex.
But Dr Clifton said whether it continued to do so would depend on the degree of pent-up demand for the road and whether the government would proceed with plans to narrow it and widen its footpaths to make it less attractive than the option of a faster commute with a toll.
Compulsory acquisition of homes for WestConnex has met stiff community opposition from residents in Sydney's inner west.
The government said no further residential properties would need to be acquired for the link between the M4 and M5. However, a "small number" of commercial properties would need to be bought for a tunnelling site on Parramatta Road at Camperdown.
The latest designs for the final stage of WestConnex come four months after the government decided to add a 1.1-kilometre tunnel under Victoria Road to the project.
It also announced at the time that large parts of a motorway interchange at Rozelle, planned to allow motorists to connect to and from the new toll road to the Anzac Bridge and Victoria Road, will be built underground to allow surface parkland on top.
The interchange at Rozelle was one of the more contentious elements of the 33-kilometre motorway.
An environmental impact statement for the final stage of WestConnex will be released next year.
