Princes Motorway
Princes Motorway F6 Freeway / Southern Freeway New South Wales | |
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Princes Motorway near Helensburgh | |
General information | |
Type | Motorway |
Length | 53 km (33 mi) |
Opened | 1975–1987 |
Route number(s) |
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Former route number |
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Major junctions | |
North end |
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South end | |
Location(s) | |
Major suburbs / towns | Helensburgh, Wollongong, Dapto |
The Princes Motorway, formerly known as the Southern Freeway[1] is a motorway linking Sydney to Wollongong. It currently is designated as part of the M1, but it once was signposted as F6 (Freeway Route 6) and is still commonly known by this latter name.
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 Princes Motorway 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, and bypasses Wollongong CBD, through 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 then 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 Freeway (Now Pacific Motorway (Sydney–Newcastle)) 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".
In early 2013, as part of the New South Wales alphanumeric route conversion process, the road name changed from the Southern Freeway to the Princes Motorway. The new name has also been applied to what was formerly known as Mount Ousley Road.[3]
Extension
The County of Cumberland Scheme of 1948 outlined an F6 extension from the current-day end-point at Waterfall.[4] 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.[5]
Of the proposed extension, only the six-lane Captain Cook Bridge and a short connecting section of Taren Point Road to the south have been built. 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.[6]
In the original plan, the F6 would connect to the Western Distributor.[7] 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.[6] 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.[6][8][9] 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.[10] Like the F6, the M4 in its original form was intended to connect to the Western Distributor, a link which the Wran government cancelled in October 1977.[7] The proposed M4 extension, the M4 East tunnel would extend the current motorway from Strathfield to the City West Link,[11] itself connecting to the Western Distributor via Victoria Road and the Anzac Bridge.[12] 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.[13][14][15] Thus, under the new plan, the F6 would connect to this proposed tunnel.[16]
Prior to the 2007 federal election, the Liberal-Nationals (Coalition) promised to allocate A$20 million towards planning for the F6 extension.[17] Although the Coalition did not win the 2007 election,[18] 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.[19]
Exits and interchanges
Princes Motorway | |||
Northbound exits | Distance to Sydney (km) |
Distance to Nowra (km) |
Southbound exits |
End Princes Motorway continues as Princes Highway to Sydney |
45 | 116 | Start Princes Motorway from Princes Highway |
Woronora Dam Old Princes Highway | |||
no exit | 55 | 110 | Helensburgh, Stanwell Park Lawrence Hargrave Drive |
Darkes Forest, Helensburgh Old Princes Highway |
53 | 108 | no exit |
Maddens Plains, Darkes Forest Old Princes Highway |
63 | 98 | Maddens Plains, Darkes Forest Old Princes Highway |
no exit | 64 | 97 | Appin, Campbelltown Appin Road |
no exit | 65 | 96 | Thirroul, Bulli Princes Highway |
Appin, Campbelltown Appin Road |
no exit | ||
Picton Picton Road |
74 | 87 | Picton Picton Road |
Clive Bissell Drive | 75 | 86 | no exit |
no exit | 78 | 83 | New Mount Pleasant Road |
no exit | 80 | 81 | Wollongong Mount Ousley Road |
Keiraville Northfields Avenue |
81.5 | 79.5 | Gwynneville, Keiraville, University of Wollongong University Avenue |
Gwynneville Irvine Street | |||
To North Wollongong, Bulli Northern Distributor |
82 | 79 | no exit |
Dapto, Figtree, Wollongong Princes Highway |
84 | 77 | Wollongong, Figtree, Dapto Princes Highway |
no exit | 86 | 75 | Coniston, Port Kembla Masters Road |
Unanderra, Port Kembla Five Islands Road |
88 | 73 | Port Kembla, Unanderra Five Islands Road |
Warrawong Northcliffe Drive |
91 | 70 | Warrawong Northcliffe Drive |
no exit | 93 | 68 | Kanahooka, Dapto Kanahooka Road |
no exit | 95 | 66 | Koonawarra, Dapto Fowlers Road |
Dapto Princes Highway |
98 | 63 | End Princes Motorway continues as Princes Highway to Kiama / Nowra |
Start Princes Motorway from Princes Highway |
See also
- Freeways in Australia
- Freeways in New South Wales
- Captain Cook Bridge
References
- ↑ F6 Southern Freeway, Ozroads: the Australian Roads Website. Retrieved on 24 August 2008.
- ↑ F6 Southern Freeway – Construction, Ozroads: the Australian Roads Website. Retrieved on 24 August 2008.
- ↑ "Information for Southern NSW & ACT". Alpha-numeric route numbers. Roads and Maritime Services. 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ↑ "10 reasons for not building an F6 Motorway". Sutherland Shire Environment Centre. 2005. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ "F6 Corridor Public Transport Use Assessment" (PDF). Roads and Traffic Authority. September 2004. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "F6 Southern Freeway : History and Development". Ozroads. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Western Distributor - Construction Information". Retrieved 2011-05-11.
- ↑ Baker, Jordan (27 February 2007). "Shire will become car park unless F6 is built: NRMA". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ Baker, Jordan (12 February 2007). "F6 extension – the great dividing road". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ "NSW Govt to investigate building M4 East motorway". ABC News. 7 July 2002. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ "M4 East options study" (PDF). Roads and Traffic Authority. September 2004. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ "Anzac Bridge". Roads and Traffic Authority. September 2004. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ Benson, Simon (9 August 2007). "Sydney's $7bn mega motorway". The Daily Telegraph. News Limited. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ Brian, Robins (2 July 2010). "Three-lane tunnel proposed to relieve the congested M5". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ Sean, Nicholls (2 July 2010). "Tolls examined to fund motorway expansions". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ Aston, Heath (1 March 2007). "$5b secret road under Sydney". The Daily Telegraph. News Limited. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ "$20 million worth of progress on F6". NRMA. 5 November 2007. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ "Kevin Rudd claims victory in federal election". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 24 November 2007. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ↑ Kelly, Craig; Morrison, Scott (2 August 2010). "Morrison/Kelly Announce $20 Million to Get F6 Extension Tunnel Shovel Ready". Liberal Party of Australia. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
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