Within the next week or so, 100,000 Sydney vehicles will start using one of the trickiest subterranean interchanges ever constructed as part of their daily journey.
These underground tunnels wind around one another to form the Rozelle Interchange. It directs traffic through twelve distinct entrances and exits that link the M4-M8 Link between St Peters and Haberfield, the City West Link, the Iron Cove Bridge, and the Anzac Bridge.
It will also be connected to the proposed Western Harbour Tunnel by 2028.However, motorists are promised that following the signs will be all that is required to navigate the route, and they would only have to choose between two options at any one time. The Rozelle Interchange would likely lose to a number of other spaghetti crossroads in the world when it comes to absurdity.
With an astounding 43 bridges, the five-level stack intersection known as the High Five intersection in Dallas, Texas, rises to the height of a 12-story building. China boasts an abundance of incredibly intricate interchanges, such as Shanghai’s six-level Puxi Viaduct and the city’s whirling, circular Nanpu Bridge interchange.
And there’s the original interchange, the Gravelly Hill interchange in the UK city of Birmingham, which was constructed in 1972 and gave rise to the moniker “spaghetti junction”.
But according to Transport NSW deputy secretary Camilla Drover, the maze of tunnels that make up the Rozelle Interchange may be the most intricate subterranean structure ever constructed. “We’re not aware of an underground interchange that connects three motorways,” she stated. “To deliver the interchange, we have three layers of tunnels, and eventually, it will cross the Metro West tunnel as well.
