The new NorthConnex tunnel in Sydney is a visual feast, using smart LED lighting installations to help drivers keep their focus. Never has a tunnel been more illuminating.

In this Article:

• The LED lighting in NorthConnex is both an artwork and safety feature
• Internal lighting features showcasing native birds, trees and the night sky light up the tunnel
• The lights keep drivers engaged and offer a safe transition from daytime driving into the darkness of the tunnel
• This type of design is a world first and has received international accolades.

The NorthConnex tunnel in Sydney was more than 20 years in the making. A development called the ‘missing link’ to denote its evident absence from the existing Sydney Orbital Network, the NorthConnex project was in construction for more than five years before its official unveiling on 31 October 2020.

Connecting the M1 Pacific Motorway and the Hills M2 Motorway, the nine-kilometre tunnel, which reaches depths of 90m, cost $3bn to build and can carry 100,000 vehicles per day.

However, aside from the engineering feats connected with the tunnel – and the significant impact it has on traffic flow around the NSW capital – the most striking thing about the NorthConnex tunnel is its interior design.

Those who’ve driven through it cannot help but be taken by the, well, decor. It’s stunning! Beautiful back-lit silhouettes of native birds and trees capture the feeling of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, and a night sky simulating different intensities of stars features too. Each internal lighting feature spans 160m, and are certainly worth the journey alone.

However, it’s not purely cosmetic. The installations were informed by a research partnership between Transurban, Transport for NSW, The University of NSW and AustRoads.

The lighting features are designed to keep drivers engaged throughout the journey, with innovative LEDs ensuring a safe transition from daylight to tunnel, and vice versa.

Projects such as the Norra Lanken Tunnel in Sweden have successfully used such techniques in recent years.

The tunnel’s lighting has won international accolades, too. Last year it claimed a major honour at the International Association of Lighting Designers Awards in Chicago, and Michele Huey, Transurban NSW Group Executive said: “Since it opened in October, drivers on our city’s newest motorway have loved driving under the lighting displays, and now the experts agree. The Excellence Award recognises lighting design that reaches new heights, moves beyond the ordinary, and represents excellence in aesthetic and technical design achievement.

“Not only has the lighting turned up the safety and experience of drivers, but it has also created a recognisable brand and identity for NorthConnex.

“There are five brilliant installations, three white or blue backlit forest silhouettes in the northbound tunnel, and starry skies and speed lines heading south.”

Huey discussed the research that went into the designs.

“Designing not only for aesthetics but as an active safety measure has never been done like this elsewhere in tunnel environments,” says Huey.

“The partnership was years in the making, involving the Australian and NSW governments, Transurban, Transport for NSW, AustRoads and the University of NSW, and involved driving simulators and the largest worldwide survey of tunnel users to examine driver behaviour.”

So, if you’ve not travelled through the NorthConnex tunnel as yet, give it a try next time you’re in Sydney. As well as getting you to where you want to go more quickly, it’s a damn fine drive, too.