M2 Hills Motorway

M2 Hills Motorway
General information
Type
Length	21 km (13 mi)
Opened	1993 (Completed on 26 May 1997)
	Lane Cove Road Cumberland Highway
Location(s)
via	Epping Beecroft Carlingford Baulkham Hills

The M2 Hills Motorway (also known as the Hills M2 Motorway, M2 Motorway or simply M2) is a tollway in north-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 2 and the 110 km Sydney Orbital Network. West of Pennant Hills Road, the M2 is also part of the National Highway.

Route

The M2 Hills Motorway connects directly with the Lane Cove Tunnel at the Lane Cove River in North Ryde and heads north-west through Macquarie Park to Epping, then West through Beecroft, Carlingford then South West through Baulkham Hills and Winston Hills onto the Westlink M7 motorway at Seven Hills.

Tolls

The M2 uses a cashless tolling system, where tolls are charged on the basis of vehicles being either Class 2 (which includes most private vehicles) or Class 4 (vehicles with two axles and are over 2.8 metres high, or vehicles with three axles which are over 2 metres high, or vehicles with more than three axles).

History

Aborted early plans

Road approaches from Sydney's western suburbs were originally slow and traffic passed through Parramatta and to the city centre via Victoria Road and Western Freeway.

Plans for an ambitious set of freeways for Sydney were originally drawn up in 1942 which included a link to the Gladesville Bridge and then on to Anzac Bridge via a new set of elevated freeways behind Drummoyne.

Proposals for a North West Freeway (later known as the F2 Freeway) which followed the route of the current M2 from Epping Road to Seven Hills were released in 1962 and included in the 1964 UBD street directory. Protests in 1974 led to suspension of works and cancellation in 1977, along with the Lane Cove Valley Expressway which would have intersected with the North West Freeway at the junction of Epping and Pittwater Road. An 'F1 Freeway' (Warringah Freeway) which was intended to link to the Northern Beaches, via Roseville Bridge, and not to the Hills district was also cancelled. The Gore Hill Freeway and Lane Cove Tunnel were not part of this original plan.

Parramatta was bypassed in 1986, however peak hour traffic still clogged up Victoria Road and all western approaches to Sydney.

Land for the F2 freeway was purchased by NSW Government in 1988 and the road from Gladesville Bridge to Hunters Hill was built to freeway-style standards. However, a Commission of Inquiry for Environment and Planning set up in July 1990 and chaired by John Woodward, then recommended stage 1 of the project (from Pennant Hills Rd, Beecroft, and Epping Road at Ryde) should not be built.

Planning and construction

The M2 Hills Motorway was developed to connect Old Windsor Road, Seven Hills to Epping Road, North Ryde, bypassing the inner western suburbs linking with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon which leads to the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney central business district.

The NSW Government conducted an environmental impact assessment on the options available, and in May 1993 announced that the road would be constructed with private funds using a Build Own Operate Transfer. The Government then entered into an agreement with Hills Motorway Limited to build and operate the M2 for 45 years, before ownership with revert to the government. The motorway pioneered the use of electronic tolling in Australia.

The road included a two lane busway between Windsor Road to Beecroft Road with a connection to Epping Train Station. There was dedicated access ramps for buses.

Operation

The motorway opened on 26 May 1997. It was acquired by Transurban in 2006 after a successful takeover bid. Transurban then acquired Tollaust, which managed the tolls for the road, in January 2006.

The Westlink M7, which links the M2 Hills Motorway at Seven Hills), opened on 16 December 2005 and runs to the M5 South Western Motorway at Prestons. The Lane Cove Tunnel, which linked the M2 at Lane Cove, opened on 25 March 2007. It carries about 50,000 vehicles per day on the Sydney Orbital Network.

A third traffic lane westbound between the Lane Cove Road and Beecroft Road interchanges which utilises a former cycling/breakdown lane opened in April 2007. This change was criticised by cyclists, who were required to use an alternative route as a result, and by some motorists who have said that the addition of a third lane will induce more traffic and would only shift the bottleneck further down the motorway as a result of assisting and maintaining free-flowing traffic from the Lane Cove Tunnel. A speed camera to enforce the 70 km/h limit was introduced on the westbound carriageway just before the Epping/Norfolk Road tunnel.

Tolling became fully cashless with no toll booths 30 January 2012 (Transurban had originally proposed that it would cashless from December 2007).

Current developments

A major upgrade started in January 2011 with more exit and entrance ramps being built, including an exit ramp onto Windsor Road eastbound. Work should be completed by 18 May 2013.

Proposed developments

A new tunnelled route will be built to connect from the M2 Motorway near the Pennant Hills Road interchange to the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway (also known as the F3) north of Pearce's Corner, Wahroonga. This would form another part of a freeway-standard Sydney Bypass has been intended as part of the National Highway system for decades.

A report commissioned by Ryde Council has identified the lack of direct access to and from the M2 at Macquarie Park, and the potential to provide additional on and off-ramps at various intersections with the M2 to improve traffic access and relieve congestion. Most notably, the report identifies the opportunity of negotiation with Transurban and the RTA for construction of the missing east facing ramps at the Lane Cove Road intersection. The proposed east-bound on-ramp at the Lane Cove Road intersection would allow city-bound traffic from the Pymble area to avoid heavy congestion and the complicated movement of joining Epping Road and merging across four-lanes of traffic to enter the Lane Cove Tunnel. The "need for east-facing M2 ramps at Lane Cove Road intersection" was raised in the 2002 Director General's report on the then proposed Lane Cove Tunnel. The RTA did not respond to requests from Ryde City Council for the ramps to be added as part of the Lane Cove Tunnel Project.

Exits and Interchanges

Hills Motorway
Westbound exits	Distance to Windsor (km)	Distance to Sydney (km)	Eastbound exits
End Hills Motorway continues as WestLink to Lithgow / Canberra	24	32	Start Hills Motorway from WestLink
Rouse Hill, Windsor Old Windsor Road
Parramatta, Baulkham Hills Windsor Road	27	29	Parramatta, Baulkham Hills Windsor Road
Castle Hill, Hornsby Pennant Hills Road (Cumberland Highway)	32	24	Hornsby, To via Newcastle, Brisbane; Parramatta, Liverpool, Carlingford, Epping, Castle Hill Pennant Hills Road (Cumberland Highway)
Epping, Beecroft Beecroft Road	34	22	no exit
TUNNEL	35	21	TUNNEL
TOLL PLAZA	38	18	TOLL PLAZA
Macquarie Park Talavera Road	39	17	Macquarie Park Christie Road
no exit	40	16	Pymble, Ryde Lane Cove Road
no exit	41	15	Chatswood, Ryde Delhi Road
Ryde, Epping Epping Road	42	14	no exit
Start Hills Motorway continues from Lane Cove Tunnel			End Hills Motorway continues as Lane Cove Tunnel to Sydney

See also

• Freeways in Australia
• Freeways in Sydney
• Metroad 2

External links

• The Hills Motorway
• Web Cam (M2-Ryde)
• F3 to Sydney Orbital route study
• RTA Hills M2 Motorway