Gateway Motorway

The Gateway Motorway (M2 to Eight Mile Plains and M1 to Pine River) is a major motorway in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (former Gateway Bridge) are owned and operated by Queensland Motorways.

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

Gateway Motorway
Northbound exits	Exit numbers (distance from NSW Border)	Southbound exits
Merge with Gympie Arterial Road continues as Bruce Highway to Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Cairns	127	Start Gateway Motorway continues from Bruce Highway
Bracken Ridge, to Bracken Ridge Road	123	Bracken Ridge, Brighton, Sandgate Bracken Ridge Road
Brighton, Redcliffe Deagon Deviation	122	no exit
Deagon, Sandgate Depot Road	120	no exit
Boondall, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall Wetlands Bicentennial Road	117	Boondall, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall Wetlands Bicentennial Road
Nudgee, Nudgee Beach, Gateway Travel Centre Nudgee Road	112	Nudgee, Nudgee Beach Nudgee Road
no exit	110	Eagle Farm, to Southern Cross Way
Brisbane Airport Moreton Drive	108	Brisbane Airport Moreton Drive
Eagle Farm, Hamilton Kingsford Smith Drive	106	no exit
Eagle Farm, to Southern Cross Way	105	no exit
Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (toll bridge)
Murarrie, Lytton, Port of Brisbane Port of Brisbane Motorway	103	Murarrie, Lytton Lytton Road
no exit	102	Port of Brisbane Port of Brisbane Motorway
Tingalpa, Cannon Hill, Wynnum, Manly Wynnum Road	100	Tingalpa, Cannon Hill, Wynnum, Manly Wynnum Road
Carindale, Sleeman Sports Complex, Capalaba, Cleveland Old Cleveland Road	97	Carindale, Sleeman Sports Complex, Capalaba, Cleveland Old Cleveland Road
Mackenzie, Wishart, Capalaba, Mount Gravatt Mount Gravatt - Capalaba Road	92	Mackenzie, Wishart, Capalaba, Mount Gravatt Mount Gravatt - Capalaba Road
Eight Mile Plains, Eight Mile Plains busway station, Sunnybank Miles Platting Road	88	Eight Mile Plains, Eight Mile Plains busway station, Sunnybank Miles Platting Road
no exit	87	Logan, Logan Central Pacific Motorway
End Start	Exit numbers (distance from M1/M2 junction, Eight Mile Plains)	End Start
Underwood, City Logan Road	1	Underwood, City Logan Road
TOLL POINT
no exit	4	Kuraby, Runcorn Compton Road
no exit	9	Logan, Gold Coast Logan Motorway
Start Gateway Motorway continues from Logan Motorway		Merge with Logan Motorway continues as Logan Motorway to Ipswich, Toowoomba

Notes

Distances are approximate and rounded. Measured to ends of the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges.

Southern Cross Way

Southern Cross Way is a 7 km, 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

Southern Cross Way
Northbound exits	Exit numbers (not signed)	Southbound exits
Merge with Gateway Motorway continues to Bruce Highway to Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Cairns	5	Start Southern Cross Way continues from Gateway Motorway
Virginia Toombul Road	4	Virginia Toombul Road
Brisbane Airport, Nundah, Clayfield East-West Arterial Road	3	Brisbane Airport, Nundah, Clayfield East-West Arterial Road
Eagle Farm, Hamilton Kingsford Smith Drive	2	Eagle Farm, Hamilton Kingsford Smith Drive
Start Southern Cross Way continues from Gateway Motorway	1	Merge with Gateway Motorway continues to Pacific Motorway to Gold Coast, Tweed Heads, Gold Coast Airport

See also

• Freeways in Brisbane
• M1, Queensland
• Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges

References

Brisbane Motorways
M1	M2	M3	M4	M5	M7
Major Motorways
Pacific  · Bruce  · Gateway  · Ipswich  · ICB  · Legacy  · Logan  · Western  · Centenary  · Port of Brisbane  · CLEM7  · Airport Link

v t e Road infrastructure in Queensland Motorways Airport Link Bruce Highway Clem Jones Tunnel Centenary Motorway Gateway Motorway Inner City Bypass Ipswich Motorway Legacy Way Logan Motorway Pacific Motorway (Ewingsdale–Brisbane) Port of Brisbane Motorway Smith Street Motorway Sunshine Motorway Western Freeway National Highways Barkly Highway Bruce Highway Cunningham Highway Gore Highway Landsborough Highway Leichhardt Highway New England Highway Warrego Highway Highways Balonne Highway Barwon Highway Brisbane Valley Highway Burnett Highway Bunya Highway Capricorn Highway Captain Cook Highway Carnarvon Highway Castlereagh Highway D'Aguilar Highway Dawson Highway Donohue Highway Flinders Highway Gold Coast Highway Gregory Highway Isis Highway Kennedy Highway Leichhardt Highway Mary Valley Highway Mitchell Highway Moonie Highway Mount Lindesay Highway Mulligan Highway Outback Highway Palmerston Highway Peak Downs Highway Wide Bay Highway Developmental Roads / Outback Tracks Bamaga Road (Telegraph Road) Birdsville Track Burke Developmental Road Diamantina Development Road Gregory Developmental Road Gulf Developmental Road Kennedy Developmental Road Peninsula Developmental Road Savannah Way Proposals Bruce Highway Upgrade Toowoomba Second Range Crossing Townsville Ring Road Kenmore Bypass