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Workshop August 2014 Slide 2 Process of approval State Significance Infrastructure Application Director General provides environmental assessment requirements Preparation of EIS Department of Planning and Environment reviews EIS Public exhibition of EIS Department of Planning and Environment sends submissions to RMS RMS prepares a submissions report Department of Planning and Environment prepares assessment report Minister for Planning decides to approve the project and conditions of approval 2 Slide 3 3 About NorthConnex In 2012, the NSW Government received an unsolicited proposal from Transurban and the Westlink M7 Shareholders to design, construct, operate, maintain and finance the NorthConnex project The unsolicited proposal process provides the opportunity for NorthConnex to be delivered in a manner that offers value for money to Government and built much earlier by the private sector for the benefit of the NSW community 3 Slide 4 4 About NorthConnex NorthConnex would link Sydney's north to the Orbital road network and form part of the National Highway route. It comprises of: Twin nine-kilometre long tunnels (built for 3 lanes, marked for 2) A southern interchange at the Hills M2 Motorway/Pennant Hills Road A northern interchange at the M1 Pacific Motorway/Pennant Hills Road Tie-in work on the M1 Pacific Motorway and integration work on the Hills M2 Motorway Ventilation outlets at the southern and northern interchange Two mid-tunnel support facilities A motorway control-centre at the southern interchange Provision for future east facing connections to the Hills M2 Motorway 4 Slide 5 5 Stakeholder issues During the engagement activities the following issues have been raised by stakeholders: Air quality Noise and vibration Property values and acquisitions Outlet and portal locations Health impacts Local road disruption 5 Slide 6 6 Northern outlet location 6 Northern ventilation outlet within M1 Pacific Motorway road corridor Slide 7 7 Air quality Sydney has very good air quality Total exhaust emissions from motor vehicles have decreased over the past two decades and are expected to continue to fall An air quality assessment was carried out in accordance with the Approved Methods for the Modelling and Assessment of Air Pollutants (approved Methods) (DEC, 2005a) 7 Slide 8 8 What does this mean? Wood fires are by far the largest single source of particles from human activity In comparison heavy vehicle and light duty diesel exhaust contribute 5.3 and 2.2 per cent respectively Petrol vehicles exhaust emissions contribute less than one per cent 8 Source: Air emissions inventory for the Greater Metropolitan Region in NSW 2008 calendar year (EPA, 2012) Human made particulate matter PM2.5 sources in Sydney Slide 9 9 EIS findings Air quality Any changes in air quality are well below the established criteria for all key pollutants Modelling predicts an improvement of air quality along Pennant Hills Road Emissions from the northern and southern ventilation outlets would have a very small impact on local air quality In-tunnel visibility is predicted to be to be a clear air tunnel under PIARC guidelines Analysis demonstrates that in-tunnel visibility would be better than current and historical performance of the M5 East 9 The air quality assessment concluded that across the project corridor there would be an overall net improvement in air quality as a result of NorthConnex 24-hour average PM2.5 in 2029 Slide 10 10 EIS findings Air quality Air quality in the vicinity of the project would be monitored for a specified time following opening Air quality within the tunnels would be monitored to ensure in-tunnel air quality is maintained Slide 11 11 EIS findings Health The health assessments included conservative assumptions. The air quality changes due to the ventilation outlets is negligible The calculated health effect is much smaller than the natural variability and would be undetectable The assessment concluded that potential health impacts are essentially negligible near the ventilation outlets Overall, taking a significant number of vehicles, in particular trucks off Pennant Hills Road, and managing emissions through the tunnel ventilation system, would lead to a net benefit to health within the community 11 Slide 12 12 EIS findings - Health The calculated net benefit of the NorthConnex project is 10 times larger than the very small health risk of the ventilation outlets, with air quality on Pennant Hills Road likely to improve by up to 38% The ventilation outlets do not present a measurable health risk to any members of the community including young children, the elderly and individuals with pre-existing health conditions. 12 Slide 13 13 EIS findings 13 Secondary health impacts Changes in bronchodilator use (eg asthmatics): Southern ventilation outlet only increase of 0.07 days per year Northern ventilation outlet only increase of 0.1 days per year Net impact of NorthConnex is positive, with a reduction of between 0.08 and 0.1 days per year Slide 14 14 EIS findings - Traffic Existing and future Pennant Hills Road conditions Pennant Hills Road currently carries up to 80,000 vehicles per day. Thirteen major intersections along the NorthConnex corridor: of these three are currently rated as highly congested, and four are susceptible to decreases in performance from a small growth in traffic demand Without NorthConnex most intersections are predicted to be highly congested by 2019, and all but one by 2029 14 Slide 15 15 EIS findings - Traffic Construction phase traffic impact Daily vehicle movements associated with the construction phase: Pennant Hills Road - 2,675 heavy and 1,240 light vehicles M2 Hills Motorway - 686 heavy and 115 light vehicles Heavy congestion is expected to continue on Pennant Hills Rd during construction Note: one vehicle entering and then exiting the worksite is considered to be two vehicle movements 15 Slide 16 16 EIS findings - Traffic (construction) Most construction traffic would be from the four worksites. Vehicle movements from these worksites would occur up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week during peak construction tunnelling work A Traffic Management Plan would be developed to minimise the impact of construction vehicles on existing traffic. The Project team would work closely with impacted residents and businesses to identify appropriate management strategies to minimise impact. Slide 17 17 Northern interchange traffic movements VEHICLE MOVEMENTS AT CONSTRUCTION PEAK AMPMVehicle movements per day vehicle movements Heavy vehicle52581140* Light vehicle20 200* * One vehicle entering and the exiting the site is considered two movements. Slide 18 18 Compound sites Slide 19 19 EIS findings - Traffic (operational) Traffic has been assessed for an expected opening year in 2019 and a future year of 2029. The project will deliver general improvements in the performance of Pennant Hills Road particularly in 2019. Regulations will be implemented to ensure through trucks use the tunnel rather than Pennant Hills Road Opportunities to further alleviate peak congestion on Pennant Hills Road (over and above the NorthConnex project) are under development to assist with the expected traffic volumes anticipated across Sydney by 2029. Slide 20 20 A detailed noise and vibration assessment has been carried out Where possible, construction would take place during standard construction hours to minimise impacts Acoustic treatments used at worksites to further mitigate noise levels Respite measures would be identified for affected residents 20 EIS noise and vibration (construction) Slide 21 21 EIS noise and vibration (tunneling ) Conservative assessment concludes tunnelling work may exceed night time ground-borne noise goals (up 10dBA above) at up to 90 properties (not all at once and for short periods) spread over various stages of work Impact is short term (around one week) based on tunnelling rates Respite and Relocation Protocol would be developed to assist residents unduly affected by construction noise and vibration Pre-construction condition surveys will be offered to all properties and structures within 50 metres from the outer edge of the tunnels or within 50 metres of surface work Slide 22 22 EIS noise and vibration (operational) Measures would be put in place to mitigate predicted 2029 operational traffic noise levels Low-noise pavement design to minimise noise levels Noise monitoring would be carried out once operational to validate impacts and mitigation measures 10 existing noise walls would be replaced and the height of two walls will be extended New noise walls will be erected and a range of architectural acoustic treatments proposed 129 properties eligible for architectural acoustic treatments (82 at the northern interchange and 47 at southern interchange/Hills M2 integration work). 22 Slide 23 23 Key design elements (Lessons Learnt) NorthConnex is considerably higher than the M5 tunnel (5.3m versus 4.6m) this assists with air circulation and dilution of emissions providing a better in tunnel experience NorthConnex will be wider (built for three lanes marked for two) - this assists with air circulation and dilution of emissions providing a better in tunnel experience Unlike M5, the ventilation system for NorthConnex will not re-circulate air from one tunnel to another Gradient out of the tunnel is shorter and less steep than M5 reducing incidents of slow moving, labouring trucks which produce significantly higher emissions. Exit from tunnel is motorway to motorway minimising queuing within the tunnel Smoky vehicle camera installed from Day 1 acting as effective deterrent to stop defective trucks using the tunnel this has been successful on M5. 23 Slide 24 24 EIS findings Safety and amenity Major benefits Using NorthConnex rather than Pennant Hills Road, drivers would be FIVE times less likely to be involved in a crash and about FOUR times less likely to be involved in an injury crash Time savings for commuters, tradesmen and heavy vehicle operators Fuel savings for heavy vehicle operators Productivity improvements for the state and Eastern seaboard Quality of life improvements from time savings and avoidance of up to 21 sets of traffic lights Net reduction in emissions for residents living and working on Pennant Hills Road Removal of heavy vehicles from surface roads Return of local streets to local residents 24 Slide 25 25 Timeline for construction 25 * Subject to approvals and may change. Slide 26 Issues Council focus is on northern portal area of the project Location of ventilation stacks Number of ventilation stacks Concentration of pollutants Vibration issues with tunnel work Tunnelling under houses Construction traffic issues and impact on local roads Possible heritage impacts Biodiversity impacts Noise impacts height of noise walls Purchase of properties 26