Cudgen Road Tunnel

Tunnel in New South Wales, Australia

28°16′45″S 153°31′12″E / 28.279181°S 153.520100°E / -28.279181; 153.520100StatusOpenRoute

Pacific MotorwayOperationConstructedAbigroupOpened4 August 2002OwnerTransport for NSWTrafficRoadCharacterDual carriageway motorwayTechnicalLength134 metres (440 ft)No. of lanes4Operating speed110 kilometres per hour (68 mph)

The Cudgen Road Tunnel is a twin-tube road tunnel that forms part of the Pacific Motorway (M1) located near Stotts Creek in the Tweed Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The twin 134-metre-long (440 ft) tunnels are illuminated inside with northbound traffic using one tunnel and southbound traffic in the other. The tunnels pass under the Cudgen Road and the Condong Range.^[1]

Features

It was built by Abigroup as part of the Yelgun to Chinderah upgrade of the Pacific Highway, opening on 4 August 2002.^[2] It was jointly funded by the New South Wales and Federal governments.^[3] It is the first tunnel to be built as part of a rural road project in NSW.^[4]

This alignment of the Yelgun to Chinderah motorway was aimed at avoiding the loss of prime cane land, avoiding flood-prone areas and preserving important local animal habitat. The best route was through the Condong Range. A tunnel was chosen instead of a road cutting because it was sympathetic with the surrounding environment by removing the visual impact of a road cutting.^[4]

References

^ "Yelgun Bypass – Cudgen Road Tunnel". Australasian Tunnelling Society. 2016. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
^ Yelgun to Chinderah Freeway Abigroup
^ "Yelgun to Chinderah, Pacific Highway upgrade". Roads & Traffic Authority. Government of New South Wales. 22 April 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Yelgun to Chinderah Freeway Official Opening 4 August 2002" (PDF). Roads & Traffic Authority. Government of New South Wales. 4 August 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2010.