Western Distributor (Sydney)

Western Distributor New South Wales
Eastbound traffic on Western Distributor travelling into the Sydney CBD
East end West end
Coordinates	33°51′37″S 151°12′21″E / 33.860353°S 151.205844°E / -33.860353; 151.205844 (East end) 33°52′08″S 151°10′35″E / 33.869021°S 151.176438°E / -33.869021; 151.176438 (West end)
General information
Type	Motorway
Length	4.3 km (2.7 mi)[1]
Opened	1972
Gazetted	January 1993[2]
Route number(s)	A4 (2013–present)
Former route number	Metroad 4 (2000–2013) State Route 40 (1981–2013) Entire route Metroad 2 (1993–2007) National Route 1 (1986–1992) (CBD–Ultimo)
Major junctions
East end	Bradfield Highway Millers Point, Sydney
	King Street Cross City Tunnel Bathurst Street Pyrmont Bridge Road Victoria Road
West end	City West Link Rozelle, Sydney
Location(s)
Major suburbs / towns	Sydney, Pyrmont, Rozelle
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales

Western Distributor is a 4.3-kilometre-long (2.7 mi)^[1] grade-separated motorway that is primarily elevated for the majority of its route on the western fringe of the Sydney central business district. It links the southern end of Bradfield Highway at the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Victoria Road in Rozelle, at its western terminus near White Bay. It is a constituent part of the A4 route.

It is an unusual motorway as, citybound, it heads east, southeast after the Anzac Bridge, east, north then northeast. The freeway distributes traffic arriving from the north (a function which gives the road its name) while collecting traffic from the CBD, distributing it through Pyrmont and Ultimo before crossing over the Anzac Bridge. In the citybound direction, traffic is collected from Victoria Road and the City West Link, as well as various on ramps in the Pyrmont and Ultimo areas. Traffic is distributed into the CBD through various off ramps in Pyrmont and the western edge of the CBD, as well as into the Cross City Tunnel. The remaining traffic is fed into Bradfield Highway, as it is not possible for northbound traffic to exit onto Cahill Expressway (traffic travelling east on Western Distributor wishing to reach the eastern edge of the CBD and beyond must either travel through the Cross City Tunnel or negotiate the packed streets of the CBD).

Construction of the Rozelle Interchange as part of Stage 3 of WestConnex is underway. With its completion in 2023, it will provide a freeway-standard route free of traffic lights from Sydney's CBD to its outer western suburbs and the Blue Mountains.

Western Distributor came to be out of the realisation in the early 1960s that the existing roads that supported the Harbour Bridge would not cope with contemporary and projected traffic volumes. Due to existing infrastructure and buildings in the area, it was decided to build a viaduct to carry traffic above the city streets.^[3] Western Distributor was opened in stages starting in September 1972, with the last stage being the Anzac Bridge which was opened in December 1995.^[3] The distributor also replaces the former congested route out of the city via the Pyrmont Bridge (closed in 1981) and the Glebe Island Bridge (closed in 1995 with the opening of Anzac Bridge).

The north-eastbound viaduct ramps leading towards Bradfield Highway, designed in 1967, was widened from 19 to 30 metres (62 to 98 ft) to accommodate a deck with a variable width from 2.3 to 5.5 metres (7 ft 7 in to 18 ft 1 in) and consists of a steel structure supported on reinforced concrete corbels.^[4]

The passing of the Main Roads Act of 1924^[5] through the Parliament of New South Wales provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Main Roads Board (later Transport for NSW). With the subsequent passing of the Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929^[6] to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, the Department of Main Roads (having succeeded the MRB in 1932) re-aligned the eastern end of Main Road 165 from its old route from Pyrmont, to the southern toll plaza of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at Millers Point to the interchange with Pyrmont Bridge Road and Bank Street in Pyrmont (and continuing west across Bank Street and Glebe Island Bridge to Rozelle and along Victoria Road to Parramatta) on 22 January 1993,^[2] later amended to use the Anzac Bridge instead on 28 February 2003.^[7] Despite its role as a grade-separated motorway, the road is not officially gazetted as one by Transport for NSW classification, and is still considered today to be a main road.^[8]

The passing of the Roads Act of 1993^[9] updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Western Distributor retains its declaration as part of Main Road 165.^[8]

Western Distributor was signed State Route 40 in 1981, and followed the route's re-alignment when Anzac Bridge opened in 1995. Its eastern half was also declared part of National Route 1, when it was re-aligned from its old route through the CBD along York and Clarence Streets to its new route along Western Distributor to Harris Street (and continuing south along Harris Street to meet Princes Highway at Chippendale) in 1986, and removed when the Sydney Harbour Tunnel opened in 1992. It was quickly replaced in 1993 by Metroad 2 along the same alignment (and continuing south along Harris and Wattle Streets to terminate at Ultimo) until the Lane Cove Tunnel opened in 2007 and Metroad 2 was truncated to meet Gore Hill Freeway in Lane Cove. The whole route was also designated part of Metroad 4 when its eastern end was re-aligned on the opening of City West Link in 2000.^[10] With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, State Route 40 was removed and Metroad 4 was replaced by route A4.^[11]

When it was built, it was described as the southern end of the F3 Freeway, as that was where the North West Freeway was intended to finish, however due to protests from inner city residents, this plan never came to fruition. Western Distributor ends west of the Anzac Bridge western ramp and east of the junction between Victoria Road and City West Link,^[1] with traffic fed onto either of these roads.

Under the Western Distributor viaduct ramps at its northern end, between Sussex and Kent streets, there is an abandoned carriageway underneath the main roadway. It is a short section of elevated freeway; the top tier remains in constant use but the lower is suspended in the air; having been severed at each end.^[12]

LGA	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Sydney	Millers Point	0.0	0.0	Bradfield Highway – North Sydney	Northern terminus of Western Distributor and route A4 Continues north as Bradfield Highway
				Toll on southbound traffic from Bradfield Highway only, no toll northbound
	Sydney	0.3	0.19	Grosvenor Street (one-way eastbound) – Sydney CBD York Street (one-way southbound) – Sydney CBD	Southbound exits only
		0.4	0.25	Clarence Street (one-way northbound) – Sydney CBD Kent Street – Sydney CBD	Northbound entrances only
		1.0	0.62	Sussex Street (one-way southbound) – Sydney CBD King Street (one-way eastbound) – Sydney CBD	Northbound exit only
		1.3	0.81	Sussex Street (one-way southbound) – Sydney CBD Market Street (one-way westbound) – Sydney CBD	Southbound entrance only
		1.6	0.99	Harbour Street – Haymarket	Southbound exit and northbound entrance only via underpass
				Druitt Street (one-way westbound) – Sydney CBD Bathurst Street (one-way eastbound) – Sydney CBD	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only
				Cross City Tunnel – East Sydney, Rushcutters Bay, to Eastern Distributor (M1 south)	Westbound entrance and eastbound exit only
	Sydney–Pyrmont boundary	2.0	1.2	Pyrmont Street – Pyrmont, Ultimo	Eastbound entrance only
	Pyrmont–Ultimo boundary	2.1	1.3	Harris Street – Pyrmont, Ultimo Fig Street – Pyrmont, Ultimo	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only
	Pyrmont	2.4	1.5	Allen Street – Ultimo	Eastbound exit only
		2.6	1.6	Pyrmont Bridge Road (east) – Pyrmont Bridge Road (west) – Sydney Fish Market, Glebe Bank Street (north) – Pyrmont	Westbound entrance from Pyrmont Bridge Road via Bank Street Eastbound exit to Bridge Road via Bank Street
Johnstons Bay		3.4	2.1	Anzac Bridge
Inner West	Rozelle	4.0	2.5	M4 Motorway (M4) – Parramatta Iron Cove Link – Ryde, Parramatta	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only
		4.3	2.7	Victoria Road (A40) – Balmain, Ryde, Parramatta
				City West Link (A44) – Haberfield, Parramatta, Penrith	Western terminus of Western Distributor, continues west as City West Link
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access        Tolled       Route transition

The road is referenced in the song "Hay Plain" by Australian artist Julia Jacklin.^[13]

• Freeways in Sydney
• Eastern Distributor

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Western Distributor.

• "Western Distributor – Construction Information"