Sydney.
Early 2000s.
The government wanted less traffic in the CBD.
Private investors wanted 30 years of fat toll revenues.
Everyone thought they had a winner.

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The Cross City Tunnel PPP was signed in 2002.

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Cost? Around AUD 680 million.
Forecast? 90,000 cars a day.
Reality? Barely 20,000.

And the toll?
$4.50.

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Drivers said: I'd rather sit in a traffic jam for free, thanks.

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To make it worse, the government had promised to close surface roads to "push" traffic into the tunnel.

As intelligent as high security officials putting journalists in the WhatsApp groups…

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Imagine how well that went down with voters.

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Within months:

• The private consortium sued the government for breach of contract.
• The government sued back for misrepresentation.
• Drivers sued for unfair closures.
• Shareholders sued the board for terrible forecasting.

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Everyone suing everyone.

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A beautiful mess.

By 2007, the tunnel went bankrupt.
Sold off to a pension fund for cents on the dollar.

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Brutal lessons:

• Fake traffic forecasts eventually blow up in your face.
• You can't bully drivers into using your asset.
• Toll prices aren’t a detail — they are life or death.
• If the public hates your PPP, it’s already dead.

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Moral:
If your project needs lawsuits, road closures, and magic math to work,
it doesn’t work.
It never did.

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I have other interesting and horror stories about my last project in the link below.

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