The M5 South West Motorway is a 22km tolled surface road with two lanes in each direction between Camden Valley Way, Prestons and King Georges Road, Beverly Hills, operated by Interlink Roads. It forms part of the M5 transport corridor, the main passenger, commercial and freight route between Sydney Airport, Port Botany and south west Sydney. It is also a key part of the Sydney Orbital Network, a series of interconnected roads that link key areas of the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Region.

The M5 West widening would expand the South West Motorway from two to three lanes in each direction generally from Camden Valley Way to King Georges Road. This would reduce travel time for motorists using the motorway and surrounding roads and support planned residential and employment growth in south west Sydney.

For further information about the proposed M5 West widening, please visit the project overview page.

What's happening now – update May 2012

Preliminary site investigations including geotechnical investigations and survey commenced in late March 2012.

Further routine geotechnical investigations, and survey work as well as pavement sampling are now required to progress with the detailed design for the project.

The next stage of the geotechnical investigations involves the excavation of approximately 50 bore holes at nominated locations to a depth of up to three metres. The soil from the holes will be sampled before being replaced to allow the project team to assess the soil characteristics for the detailed design of the project.

The geotechnical work will be undertaken between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays for a period of approximately three months, weather permitting, and work at each site will take no longer than four hours to complete. This work will be undertaken close to the motorway carriageways but will not have an impact on traffic and only local roads and existing access tracks will be used to gain access to the required areas.

A further round of more detailed survey work will be carried out over four weeks from 6 May. This work will be undertaken at night to limit the disruption to motorists as the work will require closure of one lane of the motorway for short durations. The survey work will be carried out between 9.30pm and 7.00am and is not expected to generate any additional noise or lighting impacts for residents. No lane closures of the motorway will be implemented during peak periods.

In addition, night time work is required to take samples of the existing pavement. This work will start from 18 May 2012 and involve obtaining small core samples from the pavement. This may generate some additional noise for short durations. Where possible, work will be carried out before midnight to limit noise for residents in the early hours of the morning. This work will not be carried out over consecutive nights near residences. This work also requires closure of one lane of the motorway.

The above work will take approximately three months to complete.

Roads and Maritime Services apologises for any inconvenience. Please contact (02) 8588 5958 if you would like further information regarding this work.

When could construction commence?

It is expected that construction could commence in mid 2012, after further design work, construction approvals, contract documents and finance arrangements are in place. Construction is expected to take approximately two to two and a half years to complete.