Pacific Motorway (Sydney–Newcastle)

This article is about the Pacific Motorway in New South Wales. For the Pacific Motorway in Queensland, see Pacific Motorway.

Pacific Motorway F3 Freeway / Sydney–Newcastle Freeway / Sydney–Newcastle Expressway New South Wales
General information
Type	Freeway
Length	127.1 km (79 mi)
Opened	1963–98
Route number(s)	M1 (Entire Length)
Former route number	National Highway 1 (early 1980s-2013) F3 (1971-early 1980s)
Major junctions
SSW end	Pennant Hills Road (A28) Wahroonga, New South Wales
	Pacific Highway (Metroad 1)
NNE end	John Renshaw Drive (National Route 1 / State Route 132) Weakleys Drive Beresfield, New South Wales
Location(s)
Major suburbs / towns	Berowra, Mount White, Peats Ridge, Somersby, Ourimbah, Tuggerah, Warnervale, Mandalong, Awaba, Minmi
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales

The Pacific Motorway, formerly known as the F3 Freeway, Sydney–Newcastle Freeway, and Sydney–Newcastle Expressway; is a 127 km (79 mi) stretch of motorway linking Sydney to the Central Coast, Newcastle and Hunter regions of New South Wales. It is part of the AusLink road corridor between Sydney and Brisbane, carrying the National Highway 1 route designation. The name "F3 Freeway", reflects its former route allocation, but was widely used by both the public and the government to refer to the roadway long after the allocation was no longer in use.

Route

At its southern end, the freeway starts at Pennant Hills Road, Wahroonga, near its junction with the Pacific Highway (Pearces Corner) in Sydney's north. It heads north, skirting the western edge of the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, running parallel with the railway line until it descends to the Hawkesbury River, crossing at Kangaroo Point in Brooklyn. Immediately north of the river, the Hawkesbury River interchange provides access to Brooklyn and Mooney Mooney. The motorway passes through the Brisbane Water National Park, and the Calga interchange gives access to Peats Ridge. At Calga there are major heavy vehicle checking stations on both northbound and southbound carriageways, to assess compliance and roadworthiness of trucks. The freeway then turns east to cross Mooney Mooney Creek by way of the 480 m (1,575 ft) long, 75 m (246 ft) high Mooney Mooney Bridge before it reaches the first major interchange on the Central Coast at Kariong.

After Kariong, the freeway continues through rural and semi-rural areas of the Central Coast with interchanges at Ourimbah, Tuggerah, Warnervale and Kiar, near Doyalson. From the Doyalson interchange the freeway continues to the west of Lake Macquarie with interchanges near Morisset, Cessnock, Toronto and West Wallsend.

At the West Wallsend interchange a link road takes traffic into Newcastle via Wallsend, while the freeway continues north to end at the roundabout at the junction of Weakleys Drive and John Renshaw Drive, Beresfield. From here traffic bound for Highway 1 takes John Renshaw Drive and the New England Highway eastwards to meet the Pacific Highway at Hexham, and Weakleys Drive connects with the New England Highway towards Maitland, Muswellbrook and Tamworth.

Between Wahroonga and Ourimbah the freeway passes through rugged sandstone country, particularly as it descends to and ascends from the Hawkesbury River. This section of the freeway is characterised by deep cuttings and extensive embankments.

Interchanges

Approximate road distances (in kilometres) from Sydney of towns and cities along the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway (and Brisbane)

View northbound at Berowra

View southbound at Berowra

Southbound on the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway, approaching the Mooney Mooney Bridge.

Newcastle Link Road bridge over Freeway

Sydney – Newcastle Freeway
Northbound exits	Distance from Sydney CBD	Southbound exits
File:Give Way at Roundabout sign.svg Roundabout (clockwise from freeway) John Renshaw Drive to Kurri Kurri (16 km) and Cessnock (30 km) Weakleys Drive (New England Highway) to Maitland (14 km) and Brisbane (836 km) John Renshaw Drive (Pacific Highway) to Newcastle (22 km), Taree (160 km) and Brisbane (784 km)
End Sydney – Newcastle Freeway		Start Sydney – Newcastle Freeway
no exit	149	BLACK HILL INTERCHANGE Lenaghan, Minmi Lenaghans Drive
NEWCASTLE INTERCHANGE Wallsend, Newcastle Hunter Expressway (to open end 2013)File:NSW alphanumeric route M15.svg Newcastle Link Road	140	NEWCASTLE INTERCHANGE Wallsend, Newcastle Newcastle Link Road
WEST WALLSEND INTERCHANGE West Wallsend, Seahampton, Cardiff George Booth Drive	139	no exit
AWABA INTERCHANGE Awaba, Toronto Palmers Road	126	AWABA INTERCHANGE Awaba, Toronto Palmers Road
FREEMANS WATERHOLE INTERCHANGE Kurri Kurri, Cessnock Freemans Drive	122	no exit
MORISSET INTERCHANGE Morisset, Cooranbong Mandalong Road	109	MORISSET INTERCHANGE Morisset, Cooranbong, Doyalson Mandalong Road
WALLARAH CREEK INTERCHANGE Budgewoi, Swansea, Charlestown Motorway Link to Pacific Highway	98	no exit
WARNERVALE INTERCHANGE Wyee, Toukley, Warnervale Sparks Road	95	WARNERVALE INTERCHANGE Wyee, Toukley, Warnervale Sparks Road
Caltex Service Centre	91	Caltex Service Centre
TUGGERAH INTERCHANGE Tuggerah, Wyong, The Entrance Wyong Road	86	TUGGERAH INTERCHANGE Tuggerah, Wyong, The Entrance Wyong Road
OURIMBAH INTERCHANGE Ourimbah, Palmdale Pacific Highway	80	OURIMBAH INTERCHANGE Ourimbah, Palmdale, University of Newcastle Central Coast Campus Pacific Highway
SOMERSBY INTERCHANGE Somersby, Peats Ridge, Wisemans Ferry Peats Ridge Road	74	SOMERSBY INTERCHANGE Somersby, Peats Ridge, Wisemans Ferry Peats Ridge Road
KARIONG INTERCHANGE Kariong, Gosford, Woy Woy, Terrigal Central Coast Highway	67	KARIONG INTERCHANGE Kariong, Gosford, Woy Woy, Terrigal Central Coast Highway
CALGA INTERCHANGE Calga, Peats Ridge Peats Ridge Road, Pacific Highway	60	CALGA INTERCHANGE Calga, Peats Ridge Peats Ridge Road, Pacific Highway
MOUNT WHITE INTERCHANGE Mount White Pacific Highway	55	MOUNT WHITE INTERCHANGE Mount White Pacific Highway
HAWKESBURY RIVER INTERCHANGE Mooney Mooney, Brooklyn Pacific Highway	47	HAWKESBURY RIVER INTERCHANGE Mooney Mooney, Brooklyn Pacific Highway
Hawkesbury River
no exit	37	BEROWRA INTERCHANGE Berowra Pacific Highway
WINDYBANKS INTERCHANGE Berowra Pacific Highway	33	no exit
MOUNT COLAH INTERCHANGE Mount Colah, Bobbin Head Ku-ring-gai Chase Road	27	no exit
Start Sydney – Newcastle Freeway End Start	23	WAHROONGA INTERCHANGE Hornsby, Sydney Pacific Highway
		End Sydney – Newcastle Freeway continues on as Cumberland Highway to Parramatta and Canberra

History

Planning for the freeway began in 1952, with the aim of providing a high-speed replacement for a section of the Pacific Highway that had been built in 1925–30 which was struggling to cope with the increased traffic. It was planned that the freeway would connect to the freeway systems being proposed for both Sydney and Newcastle, providing a city-to-city freeway link.

The route between Mount White and Kariong was originally planned to be further south than the route as built, with an easier crossing of Mooney Mooney Creek. By the time that construction on this section was to begin, resistance from the National Parks and Wildlife Service to the proposed route forced the Department of Main Roads to take a route through Calga, using part of the first stage of a proposed freeway route to Singleton which had been built the 1960s. That scheme has never been further developed.

The route through Wyong Shire also changed; instead of passing east of Wyong along the western edge of the Tuggerah Lakes, development in that area forced the freeway to be moved to the west of Wyong, with a link road being constructed to meet the Pacific Highway near Doyalson.

In addition, the freeway was revised to go to the west of Lake Macquarie rather than the east, and thereby bypass Newcastle. One of the reasons for this change of location was the issue of connectivity to the Pacific Highway north of Newcastle, as the route of the Newcastle Inner City Bypass (State Highway 23), which would have provided a northern exension of the freeway, is problematic in terms of its northern terminus point at Sandgate not easily allowing for a northward freeway-standard route to join to the Pacific Highway.

The sections of the Newcastle Inner City Bypass from the Pacific Hwy at Bennetts Green to Kotara Heights and from Jesmond to Shortland have since been constructed, with the Shortland-Pacific Hwy Sandgate section under construction, while the original freeway route between Belmont and Bennetts Green and then northward to the Pacific Highway at Merewether Heights is still reserved from development, with the possibility that it could be constructed in the future.

The major stages in the construction of the freeway were:

• April 1963 – Construction began on the 7 km section from the Hawkesbury River to Mount White. This was opened as a toll road in December 1965.
• October 1966 – Opening of the Mount White-Calga section (including first section of proposed freeway to link to New England Hwy at Singleton).
• December 1968 – Opening of Berowra to Hawkesbury River section as a toll road.
• October 1973 – Completion of Hawkesbury River freeway bridge, thereby connecting the Berowara-Hawksbury Rive and Hawkesbury River-Calga sections. At this time the separate tolls for the sections north and south of the Hawkesbury (20 cents for each section) were abolished and a single toll of 50 cents was introduced. This was collected at the Berowra toll booths, and the Mooney Mooney toll booths were removed. The toll was removed in 1990 when the Federal Government adopted a policy that a condition of its direct funding of the National Highways was that they were to be toll free.
• December 1983 – Concurrent opening of the Somersby to Ourimbah and Kangy Angy to Wallarah Creek sections, including the single carriageway motorway link from Wallarah Creek to the Pacific Hwy at Doyalson.
• December 1986 – Opening of the 15 km (9 mi) section between Calga and Somersby, including the Mooney Mooney Creek bridge.
• March 1989 – Wahroonga to Berowra section opened
• September 1987 – Freeway completed from Wallarah Creek interchange to Mandalong Road interchange.
• March 1988 – Freeway completed from Mandalong Road interchange to Freemans Waterhole interchange.
• December 1990 – Section from Freemans Waterhole interchange to Palmer's Road completed.
• December 1993 – Palmer's Road to Minmi section opened.
• December 1997 – "Missing link" between Ourimbah and Kangy Angy opened.
• November 1998 – Final stage of freeway opened between Minmi and John Renshaw Drive, Beresfield.
• December 2004 – Completion of widening to six lanes of the four-lane sections between the Hawkesbury River and Calga.
• November 2009 – Completion of widening to six lanes of the four-lane sections between Wahroonga and the Hawkesbury River, resulting in a continuous six lane width over the 43 km from Wahroonga to Kariong. This work was completed in three stages; stage 1 – Cowan to Berowra (3.4 km (2 mi)), completed September 2008, stage 2 – Berowra to Mount Kuring-Gai (4.9 km (3 mi)), completed September 2009) and stage 3 – Mount Kuring-Gai to Mount Colah (4.2 km (3 mi)), completed November 2009.

Upgrades and proposed connections

Core sampling in preparation for construction of the Hunter Expressway

Strong public resistance in the 1970s to freeways being constructed within cities and unfavourable outcomes of government inquiries resulted in several freeway proposals in Sydney being abandoned. This included the connecting Lane Cove Valley and North Western Expressways, which means that the Pacific Highway (a six lane urban arterial) continues to be the connecting route between the freeway's southern terminus at Wahroonga and the city centre.

However plans are currently being developed for extensions at both ends of the F3:

• The Federal Government supports the concept of a Sydney Bypass proposal, being a motorway connecting the Sydney–Newcastle Freeway at Wahroonga with the M7 and thus the Hume Highway, leading southwest from Sydney towards Canberra and Melbourne. It has funded studies to identify options for such a connection. As presently envisaged, this would be in the form of a tunnel from the freeway at Pearces Corner, Wahroonga to the M2 Motorway near the Pennant Hills Road interchange. Due to community concern, The Honorable Mahla Pearlman carried out an independent review which was completed in August 2007. The review concluded that the proposed tunnel should proceed as proposed under Pennant Hills Road, but urged that planning for the longer term connection between the F3 and the M7 should also commence immediately.

• As part of the upgrade of the Pacific Highway between Hexham and the New South Wales/Queensland border, a freeway extension is proposed to be constructed between the F3 at Black Hill (close to its current northern terminus) and the Raymond Terrace bypass. This section is currently a major bottleneck during holiday and long weekend periods, with delays lasting hours not uncommon. The layout of the twin bridges across the Hunter River at Hexham was designed primarily for local traffic to and from Newcastle, rather than to connect the Pacific Highway north of Newcastle to the freeway.

In addition, towards the northern end the Hunter Expressway will branch off the freeway at the Newcastle Link Road interchange and connect to the New England Highway to the dual carriageways on the New England Highway at the Belford Bends deviation west of Branxton. It will be 40 km long and will allow traffic from Sydney and Newcastle to the Upper Hunter Valley and beyond to bypass Maitland. This route will in effect replace the parallel section of the New England Highway. Funding was announced in May 2009, with construction commencing immediately and being scheduled to be completed in 2013.

"F3" designation

File:Former Sydney route F3.svg

Former F3 shield.

In addition to the National Highway 1 designation, the freeway at one stage carried the Freeway Route 3 (F3) designation. This route numbering system, introduced in 1971, was to provide distinctive route numbering and signage for freeways in Sydney and the surrounding areas. Although the route was never signed with the F3 route marker (the numbering system was removed in the late 1980s), the route is now widely known as the F3, with this title being used not only colloquially but on all state and federal government documents and web sites. The median crossover signs (located every 1 km) feature an F3 identification sign; in addition, various new street signs also read F3 FREEWAY alongside the M1 or National 1 Route number.

Traffic disruption

Other than the Pacific Highway, which the freeway has superseded, the freeway is the only direct route between Sydney and the Central Coast, and is the major road route for road transport from Sydney to the Hunter region, northern NSW and Queensland. The freeway thus carries a heavy mix of commuter traffic, road freight transport, and (periodically) holiday and recreational travellers. It often suffers from traffic disruptions, generally associated with traffic volume and congestion related to on-road breakdowns and vehicle accidents, or natural disasters (in particular, bushfire).

In addition traffic on the freeway is frequently affected by vehicle crashes, often involving trucks. These events have encouraged the NSW motoring organisation NRMA to call for more freight to be moved by rail to reduce the number of trucks using the freeway.

Bushfires have caused closure of the freeway and the nearby railway line and Pacific Highway between Sydney and the Hawkesbury River on a number of occasions in recent decades. One such event of this type was recorded on 21 and 22 January 2007, when a fire broke out in the adjoining Kuring-gai Chase National Park. The fire forced the closure of the two roads and the railway line between Sydney and the Central Coast, resulting in extended disruption to traffic flow.

Because of the frequency of these disruptions to traffic flow, arguments for a second major freeway north from the Sydney metropolitan area continue to be pushed forward. However topography and resultant cost rules this out for practical purposes, other than indirect routes crossing the Hawkesbury in the vicinity of Wiseman's Ferry, some 30 km upstream of the current crossing.

Following criticism of significant delays due to accidents and blockages, the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) is in the process of constructing a $28 million emergency plan for the freeway which involves development of a 40 km/h contraflow traffic scheme to allow vehicles to travel around an accident.

Traffic volume

The Annual average daily traffic (AADT) data from the Roads and Traffic Authority showed a decline in traffic volume on the freeway near its southern end at Wahroonga, from 78,600 in 2002 to approximately 76,600 in 2005 and then to 75,800 in 2006.

The 2004 AADT figures for other locations on the freeway include 73,400 at Mooney Mooney, just north of the Hawkesbury River bridge, 60,100 near Wyong, 38,500 near Wyee, 27,000 near Freemans Waterhole and 33,000 near its northern terminus at Beresfield.

See also

• Freeways in Australia
• Freeways in New South Wales

External links

• Sydney-Newcastle Freeway at Ozroads Detailed site containing many existing and historical photos.
• Live Traffic NSW F3 Traffic Cameras
• F3 Voice Alerts Incident alerts & detailed traffic for the F3.