The M5 Motorway is a series of tolled motorways located in Sydney, New South Wales, designated as route M5. It is part of the Sydney Orbital Network.
The M5 Motorway comprises two connected parts: South West Motorway is a toll road operated by Interlink Roads, between the Roden Cutler Interchange in Prestons (where the M5 meets Westlink M7 and Hume Motorway) and the interchange with King Georges Road at Beverly Hills. The section between Hammondville and Beverly Hills is tolled under the M5 South West tolls. The M5 East is an above-ground road from King Georges Road east to Bexley Road which continues into a tunnel from Bexley North to that opened in December 2001 to connect with General Holmes Drive at Mascot. The section between King Georges Road and Marsh Street is tolled since July 2020.
The M8 Motorway also runs roughly parallel to the M5 East and links it at Kingsgrove to the Rozelle Interchange along separate twin tunnels. Both the M5 East and M8 motorway are tolled as part of WestConnex, separate to the M5 South West tolls. This results in two separate tolls when travelling along the M5 between Moorebank and Mascot.
Route South West Motorway commences at the Roden Cutler Interchange (where it meets Hume Motorway and Westlink M7) in Prestons and heads in a northeasterly direction as a six-lane, dual-carriageway road, widening to 8 lanes at the interchange with Hume Highway in southern Liverpool and heading in an easterly direction, crossing the Main Southern railway line and then the Georges River into Moorebank, then narrowing back to six lanes at the interchange with Heathcote Road at Wattle Grove. It becomes the M5 East at the interchange with King Georges Road in Beverly Hills, and just east of this interchange it widens to ten lanes to accommodate the portals to the M8 Motorway, then narrows back to four lanes afterwards and enters the M5 East tunnels at the interchange with Bexley Road, emerging four kilometres later in Arncliffe. It then crosses under the Cooks River to eventually terminate with General Holmes Drive at Mascot.
The M5 cycleway is located on the breakdown lanes of the M5 South West Motorway, and runs off-road parallel to the M5 East between King Georges Road and Arncliffe.
History South West Motorway
South West Motorway replaced Hume Highway (Liverpool Road) as the primary route from to the Sydney CBD. In the 1980s, the Hume Highway (National Highway 31) ended at Crossroads, just before Liverpool. This stretch of freeway (Campbelltown to Crossroads) was previously known as South Western Freeway, designated F5.
The South Western Freeway is different to the M5 South West Motorway. From then on, to proceed to the city, the alternatives were either Liverpool Road (then National Route 31) or Newbridge and Canterbury Roads (then State Route 54) via Bankstown. Both routes had many traffic lights and were (and still are) heavily congested.
An initial stretch of the motorway was built and completed in February 1985 to link Heathcote Road at Moorebank and Hume Highway at Casula, including a bridge across the Georges River near Casula. It was built as a single carriageway and included a traffic light controlled, at-grade intersection at Moorebank Avenue.
After years of proposals and political promises, a privately constructed and operated motorway – the M5 South West Motorway – was built under a Build-Operate-Transfer agreement, which was awarded to Interlink Roads. The motorway was constructed on a publicly owned freeway reservation, between the existing road at Heathcote Road, Moorebank, to King Georges Road, Beverly Hills. It was constructed in two stages: Stage 1: between Hume Highway and The River Road Stage 2: between The River Road and King Georges Road
Stage 1 and a portion of Stage 2 (The River Road to Fairford Road) of the motorway opened in August 1992, with the remaining portion of Stage 2 opened in October 1992. The motorway was "completed" months ahead of schedule, even though the proposed link between the Cross Roads and Casula (Casula bypass) had yet to be constructed, and a third of the "motorway" existed only as single-carriageway road between the Fairford Road and King Georges Road interchanges, remarkably located at the busier city end of the road.
Under the original contract in 1991, Interlink Roads would operate and toll the motorway for a concession of 22 years after opening. This meant that the toll concession was originally scheduled to end in August 2014.
Metroad 5 was introduced in late 1992 along with other Metroads and was signed in February 1993. South West Motorway, from Beverly Hills to Moorebank and Crossroads to Campbelltown, along with Hume Highway, from Moorebank to Crossroads, were allocated Metroad 5. The Casula Bypass opened in June 1994, and the Hume Highway section of Metroad 5 was realigned to the bypass and the entire South West Motorway therefore had the route allocation of Metroad 5. As part of the Casula Bypass works, the toll concession was extended from August 2014 to June 2022.
The passing of the Main Roads Act of 1924State of New South Wales, An Act to provide for the better construction, maintenance, and financing of main roads; to provide for developmental roads; to constitute a Main Roads Board 10 November 1924 through the Parliament of New South Wales provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Main Roads Board. With the subsequent passing of the Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929State of New South Wales, An Act to amend the Main Roads Act, 1924-1927; to confer certain further powers upon the Main Roads Board; to amend the Local Government Act, 1919, and certain other Acts; to validate certain payments and other matters; and for purposes connected therewith. 8 April 1929 to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, the Roads & Traffic Authority (the eventual successor to the Main Roads Board) declared South West Motorway as a motorway (under plan number 6005), on 28 June 1993, and was re-declared to cover each extension until it reached its eastern terminus in Mascot in 2001; the tollway today still retains this declaration (under Tollway 6005).
As part of the construction of the M5 East, the eastern two-lane, single carriageway section of South West Motorway was widened to a full 4 lane, dual-carriageway road between June 1997 and August 1999, finally bringing most of the motorway up to complete freeway standard. This also included the opening of east-facing ramps and toll plazas at The River Road and Fairford Road. However, the at-grade intersection at Moorebank Avenue still remained, posing a constraint on traffic flow. In January 2003, a grade-separated interchange at Moorebank Avenue was completed, meaning that not only the entire length of Metroad 5 was now freeway standard but also the entire route from Canberra to Sydney, and Melbourne to Sydney, was now high-speed dual carriageway. However, the toll concession was also extended from June 2022 to August 2023.
With the completion of the Westlink M7 motorway in December 2005, the Roden Cutler Interchange was added at Prestons to allow traffic from the south to access western Sydney or bypass the city altogether.
Between 2012 and 2014, the motorway was widened to three lanes in each direction. As part of widening works, the toll concession was extended for the third time to 10 December 2026.
New eastward-facing ramps at Belmore Road were constructed and opened on 5 February 2019.
Toll The ownership of M5 South West Motorway is split between the state government and Interlink Roads, the latter is 100% owned by Transurban. The state government owns the section between Hume Highway and Heathcote Road, with Interlink Roads owning the remainder of the motorway including the Casula Bypass. However, the Casula Bypass is not tolled.
Interlink Roads was initially equally owned by Leighton and Commonwealth Bank. Leighton sold its 50% shareholding to Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG) in December 1996, while Commonwealth Bank sold 34.6% of its shareholding to Utilities Trust of Australia and its remaining 15.4% shareholding to AMP Limited in December 1998. AMP in turn sold some of its shareholding to Retail Employees Superannuation and Sunsuper in 1999.
Sydney Roads Group was spun off from Macquarie Infrastructure Group in June 2006, including its 50% stake in Interlink Roads. Transurban first acquired ownership of Interlink Roads in April 2007 when it acquired Sydney Roads Group. By 2012, the shareholders of Interlink Roads were: Transurban (50%) Utilities Trust of Australia (UTA) (19.23%) IFM Investors (15.38%) BNP Paribas Nominees Pty Ltd (8.24%), formerly known as Cogent Nominees Pty Ltd (2002–2012) and AMP Nominees Pty Ltd (prior to 2002) State Street Corporation, as trustees of Retail Employees Superannuation (4.4%) and Sunsuper Superannuation Fund (2.75%)
Transurban gained majority control of Interlink Roads when it acquired BNP's 8.24% stake on 18 September 2018, before acquiring the 7.14% stakes from Rest Super and Sunsuper on 3 December 2018, increasing its shareholding to 65.38%. Transurban acquired the remaining 34.62% stake from IFM and Utilities Trust of Australia on 30 October 2019.
The motorway east of Heathcote Road is tolled by Interlink Roads at a single price, with toll gantries located at Hammondville and at east-facing ramps at Henry Lawson Drive, The River Road, Fairford Road and Belmore Road. The motorway is tolled separately to the M5 East. Regular users of the motorway can claim a rebate from the state government for the cost of the toll, excluding GST, as part of a 1995 election commitment by Bob Carr, who eventually won the election and became Premier of New South Wales. On 1 July 2013, the M5 South West became the last motorway in Australia to convert to cashless tolling.
The current toll concession held by Interlink Roads is due to expire on 10 December 2026, after it was extended for three times since opening. As part of the acquisition of WestConnex by a Transurban-led consortium, the M5 South West Motorway will be transferred to WestConnex ownership when the Interlink Roads concession ends in 2026, and will then be tolled as part of WestConnex together with M5 East.
M5 East
The M5 East is the eastern section of the M5 between King Georges Road at Beverly Hills and General Holmes Drive at Mascot, and includes two 4 km tunnels between Bexley North and Arncliffe, and another tunnel under the Cooks River.
After the Casula Bypass from Cross Roads to Casula was completed in 1994, the M5 South West Motorway still abruptly ended at King Georges Road, meaning that motorway traffic was forced onto congested roads to complete the journey into the city. Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA) released the Environmental Impact Assessment of the M5 East Motorway for public consultation in June 1994, which proposed: Duplicating the existing single-lane M5 South West Motorway (opened 1992) between Fairford Road and King Georges Road New tolled motorway between King Georges Road and General Holmes Drive at Mascot, adjacent to Sydney Airport, including tunnels between Bexley North and Turrella and a viaduct between Turrella and Marsh Street An overpass over King Georges Road, with the embankment to be filled by spoil from the tunnel excavation The toll plaza was proposed to be located near Garema Circuit, Armitree Street and Glamis Street in Kingsgrove.