Gateway Motorway

Last updated

Gateway Motorway

General information
TypeHighway
Length48 km (30 mi)
Route number(s)
  • AUS Alphanumeric Route M1.svg M1
  • (Bald Hills – Eight Mile Plains)
  • AUS Alphanumeric Route M2.svg M2
  • (Eight Mile Plains – Drewvale)
Major junctions
North end
 
South end
Location(s)
Major settlements Nudgee, Eagle Farm, Belmont, Eight Mile Plains
Highway system

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.

Contents

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.

According to Transurban the motorway was used by 125,000 vehicles per day in 2023. [1]

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 March 1985 and it was opened to traffic in four stages between August and 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 1989 and 1996.

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. [2] 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.

Tolls

The motorway has three toll points, the Murrarie, Kuraby and Compton Road toll points. [3] The Murrarie toll point is located immediate south of the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges and charges all vehicles travelling on the bridges. The Kuraby toll point is located north of Compton Road and charges vehicles between the Logan Road / Pacific Motorway and Compton Road / Logan Motorway. The nearby Compton Road toll point is located on the northbound exit and southbound entry ramps to/from Compton Road, which opened in 2019. The sections north of Brisbane Airport and between Port of Brisbane Motorway and Logan Road are toll-free.

The Murrarie toll point was introduced in 2005 to fund the duplication of the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges. [4] At the time, the Murrarie tolls were proposed to expire in 2041.

In 2011, tolls on the Gateway (Kuraby toll point) and Logan Motorways were extended from 2018 to 2051, as well as the Murrarie tolls, as a result of the transfer of Queensland Motorways' tollways to the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC). [5]

The motorway is operated by Transurban Queensland. [6] The state continues to own the road and bridge infrastructure. [7]

Toll prices as of 1 January 2024 [8]
Toll roadClass 1 (Motorcycles)Class 2 (Cars)Class 3 (Light Commercial Vehicles)Class 4 (Heavy Commercial Vehicles)Toll increaseToll concessionaire [9] Expiry of toll concession [10] [11]
Gateway Motorway Murrarie toll point
(Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges)
$2.73$5.45$8.18$18.41Annually on 1 July, by CPI Transurban Queensland [lower-alpha 1]
(62.5% owned by Transurban)
31 December 2051 [12]
Kuraby and Compton Road toll points$1.61$3.21$4.83$10.86Annually on 1 July, by CPI
  1. Under a long-term concession agreement with the state

Construction history

Upgrade projects

A project to plan and construct upgrades to the Gateway Motorway and the Bruce Highway, at a cost of $2.1 billion, was in planning in July 2022 with finalisation of business cases expected in 2023. [24] Major components are:

Interchanges

The kilometres shown below are subject to change as upgrades to the road are implemented. The entire motorway is in the City of Brisbane local government area.

Locationkm [25] miExit [lower-alpha 1] DestinationsNotes
Bald Hills 00.0127AUS Alphanumeric Route M1.svg 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 2.6–
3.9
1.6–
2.4
123Bracken Ridge Road – to M3, Bracken Ridge, Brighton, Sandgate No southbound entrance
Deagon 5.1–
5.6
3.2–
3.5
120BAustralian state route 27.svg Depot Road (State Route 27)  Deagon, Sandgate No southbound exit
5.6–
5.9
3.5–
3.7
120AAustralian state route 26.svg Deagon Deviation (State Route 26)  Brighton, Redcliffe Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Boondall 8.6–
9.5
5.3–
5.9
117Bicentennial Road  Boondall, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall Wetlands Roundabout interchange
Nudgee 13.1–
14.7
8.1–
9.1
112Nudgee Road  Nudgee, Nudgee Beach Direct northbound access to Nudgee Service Centre
Brisbane Airport 15.59.6110Southern Cross Way – to M7, Eagle Farm Partial Y interchange: no northbound exit to or southbound entrance from Southern Cross Way
16.9–
18.0
10.5–
11.2
108Western Australia MR-SM-11.svg Moreton Drive Brisbane Airport
Eagle Farm 20.8–
20.9
12.9–
13.0
106Australian state route 25.svg Kingsford Smith Drive   Eagle Farm, Hamilton Northbound exit and southbound entrance
21.213.2105Southern Cross Way – to M7, Eagle Farm Partial Y interchange: no southbound exit to or northbound entrance from Southern Cross Way
Brisbane River 21.3–
22.9
13.2–
14.2
Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (Murrarie toll point)
Murarrie 23.114.4103Australian state route 24.svg Lytton Road (State Route 24)  Murarrie, Lytton Southbound exit and northbound entrance
23.2–
24.1
14.4–
15.0
102AUS Alphanumeric Route M4.svg Port of Brisbane Motorway (M4) Port of Brisbane, Murarrie, Lytton
Tingalpa 25.2–
26.6
15.7–
16.5
100Australian state route 23.svg Wynnum Road (State Route 23)  Tingalpa, Cannon Hill, Wynnum, Manly
Belmont 28.4–
30.0
17.6–
18.6
97Australian state route 22.svg Old Cleveland Road (State Route 22), Sleeman Sports Complex Three-level diamond interchange
MackenzieRochedale boundary33.4–
34.7
20.8–
21.6
92AUS Metroad 2.svgAustralian state route 21.svg Mount Gravatt – Capalaba Road (Metroad  2 west / State Route 21 east)  Mackenzie, Wishart, Capalaba, Mount Gravatt
Rochedale37.5–
38.5
23.3–
23.9
88Australian state route 56.svg Miles Platting Road (State Route 56)  Eight Mile Plains, Eight Mile Plains busway station, Sunnybank
Rochedale Eight Mile Plains boundary38.0–
38.4
23.6–
23.9
87AUS Alphanumeric Route M1.svgAUS Alphanumeric Route M3.svg 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 Plains38.7–
39.4
24.0–
24.5
86Australian state route 95.svg Logan Road (State Route 95)  Underwood, Brisbane
Kuraby 42.3–
42.4
26.3–
26.3
Kuraby toll point
Kuraby–RuncornStrettonKarawatha quadripoint 42.3–
42.7
26.3–
26.5
83Australian state route 30.svg Compton Road (State Route 30)  Kuraby, Runcorn Northbound entrance via Persse Road
43.2–
43.7
26.8–
27.2
Toll points on northbound exit and southbound entrance only
Drewvale 47.0–
47.1
29.2–
29.3
78AUS Alphanumeric Route M2.svgAUS Alphanumeric Route M6.svg Logan Motorway (M2 westbound / M6 eastbound)  Ipswich, Toowoomba, Logan, Gold Coast Southern terminus at trumpet interchange; Logan Motorway eastbound signed as Exit 9
48.530.111 Beaudesert Road   Acacia Ridge, Brisbane, Regents Park, Beaudesert Southern terminus. Exit number 11 is part of Logan Motorway exit numbering. Exit before merge onto Logan Motorway.

Southern Cross Way

Southern Cross Way

LocationEagle Farm to Nudgee
Length7 km (4.3 mi)

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 Kingsford 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. [26]

Airport Flyover over the Southern Cross Way Airport Flyover, Brisbane.JPG
Airport Flyover over the Southern Cross Way

Interchanges

The entire motorway is in the City of Brisbane local government area.

Locationkm [27] miDestinationsNotes
Brisbane Airport 00.0AUS Alphanumeric Route M1.svg 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
1.91.2Toombul Road  Virginia Roundabout interchange
Brisbane Airport – Hendra boundary3.52.2AUS Alphanumeric Route M7.svgWestern Australia MR-SM-11.svg East–West Arterial Road (M7) west / Airport Drive east  Nundah, Clayfield, Brisbane Airport
Eagle Farm 5.8–
6.7
3.6–
4.2
Australian state route 25.svg Kingsford Smith Drive   Eagle Farm, Hamilton Northbound exit via Fison Avenue West; southbound exit and entrance via Links Avenue North
7.64.7AUS Alphanumeric Route M1.svg 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

  1. Exit number 11 is part of Logan Motorway exit numbering

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References

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  14. File:Gateway Arterial Road Plaque 1.jpg
  15. File:Gateway Arterial Road Plaque 2.jpg
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  17. Queensland Transport Annual Report, 1994-95
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  22. "South Facing Compton Road Ramps And Widening Of The Gateway Extension Motorway" (PDF). go via. July 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  23. "Gateway Motorway flyover - strengthening works and heavy vehicle restrictions". Queensland Government. 15 July 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
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  25. "Google Maps" (Map). Bald Hills, Queensland 4036 to Drewvale, Queensland 4116 . Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  26. 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.
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