Gateway Motorway
| Gateway Motorway Queensland | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 48 km (30 mi) |
| Route number(s) |
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| Major junctions | |
| North end |
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| South end |
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| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Nudgee, Eagle Farm, Belmont, Eight Mile Plains |
| Highway system | |
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Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Queensland | |
The Gateway Motorway (M2 to Eight Mile Plains and M1 to Pine River) is a major tolled motorway in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which includes the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (former Gateway Bridge). The motorway is operated by toll road operator Transurban.
It bypasses Brisbane in order to provide easier access between the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. It runs from the M2 Logan Motorway in Drewvale (near Browns Plains) to the Gympie Arterial Road in Bald Hills. At the interchange with the Pacific Motorway at Eight Mile Plains (Pacific Motorway exit 16), its original terminus pre-1997, the route number changes from M2 (Logan Motorway - Pacific Motorway) to M1 (Pacific Motorway - Bruce Highway (Gympie Arterial Road)). The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges are part of the Gateway Motorway and the Motorway provides access to the Port of Brisbane, Brisbane Airport and Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Background
The motorway was constructed to connect the then-recently opened Gateway Bridge to the Bruce Highway in the north and the Pacific Motorway in the south. Construction on the road commenced in September 1985 and it was opened to traffic in December 1986.
Originally, the route was called the Gateway Arterial Road because the road was not at motorway status, the road passing through three large roundabouts north of the Brisbane River. Therefore, to cope with the heavy traffic, the government began upgrading the road in 1987. Duplication to four lanes and grade-separation was completed in several stages between 1991 and 1995.
In 1995, construction began on a southern extension to the Logan Motorway, creating the Southern Brisbane Bypass. The road was opened to traffic by Vaughan Johnson, then-Minister for Transport and Main Roads, on 13 May 1997.[1] Following this work, the road was renamed Gateway Motorway.
In 2007, construction began on the Gateway Upgrade Project, which duplicated the Gateway Bridge, added a deviation between Eagle Farm and Nudgee and upgraded the motorway south of the river. The duplicate Gateway Bridge was opened on 24 May 2010 and both bridges were renamed the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges. The original bridge was refurbished to match the new structure and was finished on 28 November 2010. The northern deviation was routed east from its old alignment (the old alignment is now named Southern Cross Way) and added a second access road, Moreton Drive, to Brisbane Airport. The deviation opened on 19 July 2009 whilst Moreton Drive opened on 3 December 2009. South of the bridges, the motorway was expanded to 9 lanes up to the Wynnum Road interchange, and 8 lanes to the Old Cleveland Road interchange. From that point the motorway is six lanes up to the Pacific Motorway Merge. The upgrades between Lytton Road and Mount Gravatt-Capalaba Road were completed on 28 January 2010, while the final stage between Mount Gravatt-Capalaba Road and Pacific Motorway (also the final stage of the entire Gateway Motorway Upgrade) was opened to traffic on 30 July 2011.
Upon its original opening, the road did not have a route number. However it gained the Metroad 1 shield in March 1994, before being replaced with M1 in 2005. Manual toll booths were removed and replaced with electronic toll gates (which require vehicles to have a transponder attached to the windscreen) in 2010.
Interchanges
The entire motorway is in the City of Brisbane local government area.
| Location | km | mi | Exit[lower-alpha 1] | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bald Hills | 0 | 0 | 127 |  Bruce Highway (M1) – Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Cairns | Northern motorway terminus at partial Y interchange: merges with Gympie Arterial Road to continue as Bruce Highway |
| Bracken Ridge | 123 | Bracken Ridge Road – to M3, Bracken Ridge, Brighton, Sandgate | |||
| 122 |  Deagon Deviation (State Route 26) – Brighton, Redcliffe | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |||
| Deagon | 120 |  Depot Road (State Route 27) – Deagon, Sandgate | No southbound exit | ||
| Boondall | — | Sandgate Road (State Route 26) – no exit | Northbound entry only | ||
| 117 | Bicentennial Road – Boondall, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall Wetlands | Roundabout interchange | |||
| Nudgee | 112 | Nudgee Road – Nudgee, Nudgee Beach | Northbound access to Gateway Travel Centre | ||
| Brisbane Airport | 110 | Southern Cross Way – to M7, Eagle Farm | Partial Y interchange: no northbound exit to or southbound entrance from Southern Cross Way | ||
| 108 |  Moreton Drive – Brisbane Airport | ||||
| Eagle Farm | 106 |  Kingsford Smith Drive – Eagle Farm, Hamilton | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||
| 105 | Southern Cross Way – to M7, Eagle Farm | Partial Y interchange: no southbound exit to or northbound entrance from Southern Cross Way | |||
| Brisbane River | Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (toll bridge) | ||||
| Murarrie | 103 |  Lytton Road (State Route 24) – Murarrie, Lytton | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | ||
| 102 |  Port of Brisbane Motorway (M4) – Port of Brisbane, Murarrie, Lytton | ||||
| Tingalpa | 100 |  Wynnum Road (State Route 23) – Tingalpa, Cannon Hill, Wynnum, Manly | |||
| Belmont | 97 |  Old Cleveland Road (State Route 22), Sleeman Sports Complex | |||
| Mackenzie–Rochedale boundary | 92 |   Mount Gravatt–Capalaba Road (Metroad 2 west / State Route 21 east) – Mackenzie, Wishart, Capalaba, Mount Gravatt | |||
| Rochedale | 88 |  Miles Platting Road (State Route 56) – Eight Mile Plains, Eight Mile Plains busway station, Sunnybank | |||
| Rochedale – Eight Mile Plains boundary | 87 | Pacific Motorway (M1 south-east / M3 north-west) – Logan, Logan Central | Northbound entrance from Pacific Motorway north-westbound and southbound exit to Pacific Motorway south-eastbound only; route transition: Northern end of M2, southern end of M1 allocation | ||
| Eight Mile Plains | 1 |  Logan Road (State Route 95) – Underwood, Brisbane | |||
| Kuraby | Kuraby toll point | ||||
| Kuraby–Runcorn– | 4 |  Compton Road (State Route 30) – Kuraby, Runcorn | Southbound exit to Compton Road, and northbound entrance via Persse Road | ||
| Drewvale | 9 |   Logan Motorway (M2 westbound / Metroad 6 eastbound) – Ipswich, Toowoomba, Logan, Gold Coast | Southern terminus at trumpet interchange; Logan Motorway eastbound signed as Exit 9 | ||
Southern Cross Way
Southern Cross Way is a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi), 4 lane motorway which branches from the Gateway Motorway at Eagle Farm before merging back with it at Nudgee. Prior to 2010, Southern Cross Way formed part of the Gateway Motorway before the Gateway Upgrade Project constructed a shorter route (and additional Brisbane Airport access road, Moreton Drive), between those two suburbs. The old, longer motorway section was preserved, connected to the deviation and renamed Southern Cross Way, after the aircraft flown by aviator Charles Kingford Smith, to allow motorists to distinguish between the routes. Southern Cross Way (also colloquially called the 'Old Gateway Motorway') thus follows the previous alignment of the Gateway Motorway between Eagle Farm and Nudgee and has three exits.[2]
Interchanges
The entire motorway is in the City of Brisbane local government area.
| Location | km[3] | mi | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane Airport | 0 | 0 | Gateway Motorway (M1) north – to Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Cairns via Bruce Highway | Northern terminus at partial Y interchange: no southbound exit to or northbound entrance from Gateway Motorway | |
| 1.9 | 1.2 | Toombul Road – Virginia | Roundabout interchange | ||
| Brisbane Airport – Hendra boundary | 3.5 | 2.2 |  East–West Arterial Road (M7) west / Airport Drive east – Nundah, Clayfield, Brisbane Airport | ||
| Eagle Farm | 5.8– 6.7 | 3.6– 4.2 | Kingsford Smith Drive – Eagle Farm, Hamilton | Northbound exit via Fison Avenue West; southbound exit and entrance via Links Avenue North | |
| 7.6 | 4.7 | Gateway Motorway (M1) south – to Gold Coast, Tweed Heads, Gold Coast Airport via Pacific Motorway | Southern terminus at partial Y interchange: no northbound exit to or southbound entrance from Gateway Motorway | ||
See also
Notes
- ↑ Exit numbering resets at M1/M2 junction
References
- ↑ Queensland Motorways Annual Report 1996-1997
- ↑ AAP. (http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/gateway-renamed-the-southern-cross-way-20100917-15f0l.html "Gateway renamed the Southern Cross Way") Sydney Morning Herald (17 September 2010). Retrieved 30 August 2012.
- ↑ Google (31 March 2015). "Southern Cross Way" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
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