Southern Freeway

Southern Freeway^[1] is a freeway linking Sydney to Wollongong. It currently is designated as part of National Route 1, however was formerly signposted as F6 (Freeway Route 6) under a former route numbering system, and is commonly known by this latter name. The freeway will be designated as M1 when alpha-numeric route marking is introduced.

The Southern Freeway has two sections: the northern section between Waterfall and Bulli Tops interchange (with a speed limit of 110 km/h (68 mph), except for the southbound approach to the Interchange, which is 80 km/h (50 mph)) and the southern section between Wollongong suburb of Gwynneville to Yallah (with a 100 km/h (62 mph) speed limit), where it rejoins the Princes Highway. Mount Ousley Road connects these two sections together (also 100 km/h (62 mph) speed limit) with an interchange at Picton Road.

As Wollongong and Port Kembla are important industrial centres, freight traffic is heavy. Despite the current decline of the local steel industry, emergence of Wollongong as a commuter city of Sydney has kept the freeway and the adjacent Mount Ousley Road busy.

History

The Southern Freeway route starts at Waterfall in the north, taking more or less a parallel route with Princes Highway until the sprawling Bulli Tops interchange (with Appin Road (State Route 69) and Princes Highway). There it continues downhill, avoiding the steep Bulli Pass, as Mount Ousley Road (dual carriageway) and bypasses Wollongong CBD. The freeway re-emerges at Gwynneville and continues for 20 kilometres (12 mi) to Yallah where it rejoins the Princes Highway.

From its opening on 24 July 1975, the Waterfall to Bulli Tops section of the F6 Southern Freeway incurred a toll.^[2] This part of the freeway did not feature the Helensburgh Interchange (which subsequently opened in February 2000). The toll operated for 20 years, which was 10 years short of its intended operating length. The main reason for this was local residents complaining that the F3 (Sydney–Newcastle Freeway) had their toll dropped in 1988, which was at the time intended to be dropped as its loans had been fully paid off unlike those of the F6.

After much pressure the toll for the F6 freeway was removed on 30 July 1995 as the loans had been repaid. Remnants of the tollbooths are still able to be seen at the old toll plaza at Waterfall. One of the lanes and very faint markings are still intact. Heading southbound one set of warning lights to slow down for the toll plaza are also still intact minus signage. There is also signage on Bulli Pass and Appin Road which are now coverplating the words "TOLLWAY F6 2km" and "TOLLWAY 1 1km".

Extension

The County of Cumberland Scheme of 1948 outlined an F6 extension from the current-day end-point at Waterfall.^[3] As such, an F6 corridor was set aside that passes through the Royal National Park from Waterfall to Campbell Road in St Peters. The land reservation tract currently passes through the suburbs of Loftus, Kirrawee, Gymea, Miranda, Taren Point, Sandringham, Sans Souci, Ramsgate, Monterey, Kogarah, Brighton-Le-Sands, Rockdale, Banksia, Kyeemagh and Tempe.^[4]

Of the proposed extension, only the six-lane Captain Cook Bridge and a short connecting section of Taren Point Road to the south has been constructed. Establishment of the bridge section of the F6 extension began in 1962, expedited to replace the ferry service that had operated from Taren Point to Sans Souci since 1916. Captain Cook Bridge was opened for general use in May 1965.^[5]

In the original plan, the F6 would connect to the Western Distributor.^[6] Then in August 1977, premier Neville Wran cancelled the inner section of the F6 link, which at the time had an estimated construction cost of $96 million.^[5] At the same time, Wran announced that the inner section reservation would be sold off and the proposed extension would instead terminate at St Peters, a medium density industrial suburb.^[5][7][8] This would create a congestion problem similar to that of the M4 Western Motorway, ending at the arterial Parramatta Road in Strathfield, New South Wales.^[9] Like the F6, the M4 in its original form was intended to connect to the Western Distributor but this was cancelled in October 1977 by the Wran government.^[6] The proposed M4 extension, the M4 East tunnel would extend the current motorway from Strathfield to the City West Link,^[10] itself connecting to the Western Distributor via Victoria Road and the Anzac Bridge.^[11] There has also been a proposal for an extension of the M4 East known as the "Inner-West Motorway", comprising a tunnel running underneath the Inner West of Sydney and connecting to the M5 East at St Peters.^[12][13][14] Thus, under the new plan, the F6 would connect to this proposed tunnel.^[15]

Prior to the 2007 federal election, the Liberal-Nationals (Coalition) promised to allocate A$20 million towards planning for the F6 extension.^[16] Although the Coalition did not win the 2007 election,^[17] the funding was once again promised at the subsequent 2010 federal election. This funding would ensure the project is "shovel ready" when funding becomes available.^[18]

Exits and interchanges

See also

• Freeways in Australia
• Freeways in New South Wales
• Captain Cook Bridge

References