Road Photos & Information: New South Wales
Pacific Highway, Gore Hill Freeway, Warringah Freeway, Sydney Harbour Tunnel, Cahill Expressway, Eastern Distributor, Southern Cross Drive, General Holmes Drive, The Grand Parade, President Avenue & Princes Highway (Metroad 1) (Decommissioned)

Statistics:

Route Numbering:

General Information:

Metroad 1 is basically a replacement of National Route 1 through the Sydney area, when Metroads were introduced to NSW in the 1990s. That said, the Metroad 1 route has had some changes to its routing since it was introduced.

The route is formed by several major roads in Sydney and carries large volumes of traffic daily. It consists of mostly suburban arterial road qualities, mostly 3 lanes in each direction. There are a few near freeway standard sections along the route, and the Eastern Distributor and Sydney Harbour Tunnel form sections of underground roadway.

The Gore Hill Freeway, formerly part of Metroad 2, is 3.1 kilometres in length and links the Warringah Freeway at Naremburn with the Lane Cove Tunnel at Lane Cove. Originally the freeway linked with Epping Road. During construction 70 000 trees were used in the landscaping, more than was removed to build the freeway. 2

Formerly known as the Warringah Expressway, this section of Metroad 1 is one of Sydney's grander road engineering feats. It was originally designed to head through Sydney's north shore to the northern beaches.

The original plan for the Warringah Freeway was bigger than what the road is today. At its northern end, it was to turn north at Willoughby Road, through the SCEGGS playing fields, through Castlecrag and cross Middle Harbour at Sugarloaf Point / Pickering Point. From there it would continue north along the Wakehurst Pkwy. There was an EIS comissioned in 1963 for an interchange at Warringah Road & Wakehurst Parkway. There was also to be two spurs from Pickering Point into Balgowlah and another along Burnt Bridge Creek to join Condamine Street near Kenneth Road.

The Warringah Freeway also features adjustable lanes depending on traffic requirements. The western middle carriageway, which is usually northbound, becomes southbound during the morning peak (from 05:30 - 09:30). The time the change back occurs, depends on different traffic conditions. The eastern middle carriageway used to become northbound in the afternoon peak prior to 1987. This changed when construction of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel began. Because of the tunnel approach, this carriageway is now permanently southbound only.

The route features New South Wales first ever expressway, the Cahill Expressway built in the 1950s at Circular Quay. Stage 1 of the route features a dual deck, with roadway on the top and railway under, both passing over the Circular Quay ferry terminal on Sydney Harbour. 2 For a full history, with photos of the Cahill Expressway, click here.

The 2.3 kilometre Sydney Harbour Tunnel connects the Warringah Freeway on the northern side of Sydney Harbour to the Cahill Expressway, south of the harbour. It includes a one kilometre section below the harbour constructed by the immersed tube method. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel Company (SHTC) owns, operates and will maintain the Harbour Tunnel until August 2022 when it will be transferred to public ownership. 2

The Eastern Distributor segment of Metroad 1 provides a high-quality road link between the Cahill Expressway at Woolloomooloo and Southern Cross Drive at Zetland. The motorway was funded and built by Airport Motorway Limited, which now operates, maintains and repairs the motorway until 2048, when it will revert to public ownership. The motorway is operated on Airport Motorway's behalf by Leighton Contractors. 1 The Eastern Distributor bypasses up to 19 sets of traffic lights. 3 Click here for the Eastern Distributor web site.

Existing roads were re-named ‘Princes Highway’ after the visit to Australia in 1920 of the Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VIII, and after abdicating, the Duke of Windsor). The highway was officially opened on August 10 1920 at Warragul, Victoria.

The Princes Highway starts in the Sydney suburb of St. Peters as a continuation of King Street, and heads south through the Illawarra region of New South Wales and the city of Wollongong. It continues south, through the South Coast of New South Wales, passing through Nowra and Batemans Bay, and finally crossing the border into Victoria south of Eden.

The Metroad 1 section of the Princes Highway covers Sydney's southeastern suburbs.

The Princes Highway features Tom Uglys Bridge over the Georges River, which comprises of six through Pratt trusses and three deck plate web girders. The Bridge has a concrete deck supported on steel buckled plates between steel stringers. The six trusses of the bridge follow the American practice of being tall through trusses with overhead bracing above the traffic. It has an overall length of 499m: 6 trusses of 69.5m and three approach steel girder spans of 27.4m. There is a 4.5m wide footway and the bridge is 10.4m wide between kerbs. Tolls were levied until 31 May 1952 when the loans for the bridge were repaid. 1

Multiplexes along the route include:

History:

On this site, Metroad 1 is split into several sections, click inside the green boxes below to view each section.

1 Roads & Traffic Authority
2 City of Sydney
3 Airport Motorway Pty Ltd
4 NSW Parliament
5 North Sydney Council
6 Home Traders Real Estate

Last updated: 08 Nov 2019 01:09

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