Thousands of vehicles flooding Sydney roads to avoid toll

Depending on where vehicles enter the motorway, the toll is between $3.16 and $7.23 for cars, while trucks pay between $9.48 and $21.70.

NSW Opposition transport spokesman Chris Minns, whose office obtained the data under a government information public access application, said the increase on local roads was evidence the tolls were too high.

“These tunnels cost billions and are designed to get cars and trucks off the road. The exact opposite thing is happening here,” he said.

“To make matters worse the government can’t do much about it because they made the insane decision to privatise a majority stake in the toll road company.”

The largest increase has occurred on Forest Rd and Stoney Creek Rd in Bexley in the early morning, where a weekly total of 5200 vehicle movements recorded in the hour starting at 6am jumped to 9300 once the toll was turned on.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the M8 had improved travel times, and also decreased crashes by more than a third on the M5 East, which had been one of the country’s most congested motorways.

“Traffic volumes are increasing across all areas of Sydney as our population booms,” he said.

“Our new motorways are part of a broader $107 billion infrastructure spend to ensure our roads and public transport are world-class.”

A Transport for NSW spokesman said the government was continuing to monitor vehicle movements in the area and was preparing a report for 12 months after the opening of the M8 which would consider making changes if necessary.

“Changes to traffic on the network including Stoney Creek Road were forecast in 2015 as part of the Environmental Impact Statement for the M8,” the spokesman said, adding that clearways had been installed on Stoney Creek and Forest roads to help ease congestion.

While trucks are free to use alternate routes to the M5 and WestConnex, the NSW government implemented a fine for heavy vehicles caught avoiding the new NorthConnex motorway and travelling along Pennant Hills Road.

An average of 37,000 vehicles are using NorthConnex every day according to the latest figures released by tolling giant Transurban, which runs the motorway. About 6500 trucks, or 18 per cent of the daily average, are using NorthConnex.

Meanwhile, close to 100,000 vehicles were recorded using the M8 and M5 East each day during December.