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| M4 Western Motorway | |
| Length | 46 km |
| Direction | East–west |
| Start | Parramatta Rd, North Strathfield |
| Primary destinations | Western Sydney |
| End | Great Western Highway, Lapstone |
| Construction dates | 1970s - 1993 |
| Major junctions | Metroad 3, Metroad 4, Metroad 6, Westlink M7, Metroad 9 |
| Owner | Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), State Wide Roads (SWR) |
| Operator | SWR Operations Pty Limited, RTA |
The M4 Western Motorway (also known as the M4 Motorway or simply M4) is a motorway in central Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. North Strathfield is a Suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The United Kingdom Road Network is an extensive network of routes connecting its settlements The network is of varied quality and capacity This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) Metroad 3 is a Metroad in Sydney New South Wales Australia. It follows what was previously State Route 33 from Metroad 10 in Mona Vale M4 East redirects here For information on the proposed extension see M4 Western Motorway Metroad 4 is a Metroad in Sydney The Metroad 6 is a Metroad in Sydney, Australia. It travels from the Metroad 1 at Princes Highway Heathcote to Pennant Hills Road/Pacific Westlink M7 - formerly Western Sydney Orbital - is one of Sydney Australia 's urban motorways and a part of Metroad 7 and the Sydney Orbital Network Metroad 9 is one of Sydney, Australia 's Metroads It is the outer western Sydney Bypass connecting Campbelltown to Windsor The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA is a New South Wales ( Australia) government agency responsible for major Road infrastructure licensing of drivers Motorway is a term for both a type of Road and a classification or designation Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 4. M4 East redirects here For information on the proposed extension see M4 Western Motorway Metroad 4 is a Metroad in Sydney
The Western Motorway is a partially-tolled motorway, with a toll plaza near Silverwater. A toll road, (also known as a tollway, turnpike, pike, or toll highway, especially if it is constructed to Freeway standards Silverwater is a Suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. It is only necessary to pay a toll if travelling on the motorway between James Ruse Drive and Silverwater Road, and it is possible to use the majority of the motorway without paying the toll.
The Motorway is mostly 6 lanes wide, and carries constant heavy traffic during daylight hours, seven days a week. Built as a four lane motorway, it was widened to six lanes during 1998 to 2000, but this did little to ease the congestion. Widening the motorway any further would probably not help, as without the M4 East extension (see below), the congestion would just move further east, where traffic is deposited onto surface streets at Strathfield.
Originally planned in the mid 1950's to start in the CBD, the eastern section was only built as far west as Pyrmont as part of the North West Expressway, or F3, a freeway that would connect the Sydney and Newcastle Central Business Districts. This section is now part of the Western Distributor. From there it was to have joined with the Western Expressway, the F4, and the Southern Expressway, the F6, in Glebe.
On the basis of a pre-election promise made by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran in 1976, all land reserved for the expressway between Pyrmont and the current eastern termination point at Strathfield was sold off to property developers or declassified as a freeway corridor in 1977 by the State Government. The proposed expressway ran through the seat held by the Premier Neville Wran.
The decision to abandon this and other freeway corridors has ironically been proven less than 30 years later to be detrimental and not beneficial for the residents of these electorates. The major arterial routes in these areas now suffer from severe traffic congestion. To avoid this traffic congestion local residents and commuters resort to "rat running", the use of secondary and residential roads to avoid traffic gridlock. This has had many negative impacts for the local residents including noise pollution, air pollution, and dangerous substandard road surface conditions resulting from the excessive wear and tear upon them. These secondary and residential roads were never designed to carry enormous amounts of commuter and heavy traffic throughout the day.
M4 East
A major extension to the M4 has been proposed and has well-advanced plans. This extension would extend the M4 beyond its current end in Strathfield by approximately 5 kilometres, so that it would subsequently end in Ashfield and be continuous with the City West Link. Strathfield is an Inner West Suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Ashfield is a Suburb in the City West Link Road is a Link road in Sydney, Australia. It makes up a section of Metroad 4 between Leichhardt, Haberfield Further planned upgrades to the City West Link would mean commuters going west out of the city could get to Parramatta without passing through traffic lights. Parramatta (ˈpærɑːmætɑː is a suburb in the west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The NSW Government recently outlined a $7 billion plan to link the M4, Victoria Road, City West Link and Sydney Airport using a network of underground tunnels.
As of April 2005, the NSW state government has shelved plans for the M4 East extension, citing the need for an integrated plan for transport, but possibly to mitigate residents in affected suburbs which would have been affected by increased traffic had the M4 East link been approved. Future plans may include instead a continuous traffic-light-free link from the city's Western Distributor to the current end of the M4.
The lack of this link is currently causing major problems for any commercial traffic wishing to travel between Port Botany and the many factories and warehouses in the western suburbs. Port Botany is a Suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The M5 South Western Motorway does connect directly to Port Botany, but it has chronic congestion problems of its own, and doesn't provide easy access to inner western areas of Sydney. The M5 South Western Motorway (also known as the M5 South West Motorway, M5 Motorway or simply M5) is a Motorway in south-western Sydney Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 There is so much demand for this link, that traffic not only uses the designated Metroad 4 (Parramatta Road), but also several back streets to the north and south, most of which are 2 lane residential streets. M4 East redirects here For information on the proposed extension see M4 Western Motorway Metroad 4 is a Metroad in Sydney
See also
External links
- SWR M4 Motorway website
- The M4 Motorway - a history and exit guide
- M4 East extension - Roads and Traffic Authority
- RTA traffic webcams
- M4 and Parramatta Rd intersection in Strathfield - Wikimapia
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