Gateway Motorway

Gateway Motorway Queensland
General information
Type	Highway
Length	48 km (30 mi)
Route number(s)	M1 (Bald Hills - Eight Mile Plains) M2 (Eight Mile Plains - Drewvale)
Major junctions
North end	Bruce Highway (M1) Bald Hills, Brisbane
	Gympie Arterial Road Deagon Deviation Port of Brisbane Motorway Pacific Motorway
South end	Logan Motorway (M2/Metroad 6) Drewvale, Brisbane
Location(s)
Major settlements	Nudgee, Eagle Farm, Belmont, Eight Mile Plains
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Queensland

The Gateway Motorway (M2 to Eight Mile Plains and M1 to Pine River) is a major tolled motorway in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which includes the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (former Gateway Bridge). The motorway is operated by toll road operator Transurban.

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. 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

The entire motorway is in the City of Brisbane local government area.

Location	km	mi	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Bald Hills	0	0	127	Bruce Highway (M1) – Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Cairns	Northern motorway terminus at partial Y interchange: merges with Gympie Arterial Road to continue as Bruce Highway
Bracken Ridge			123	Bracken Ridge Road – to M3, Bracken Ridge, Brighton, Sandgate
			122	Deagon Deviation (State Route 26) – Brighton, Redcliffe	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Deagon			120	Depot Road (State Route 27) – Deagon, Sandgate	No southbound exit
Boondall			—	Sandgate Road (State Route 26) – no exit	Northbound entry only
			117	Bicentennial Road – Boondall, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall Wetlands	Roundabout interchange
Nudgee			112	Nudgee Road – Nudgee, Nudgee Beach	Northbound access to Gateway Travel Centre
Brisbane Airport			110	Southern Cross Way – to M7, Eagle Farm	Partial Y interchange: no northbound exit to or southbound entrance from Southern Cross Way
			108	Moreton Drive – Brisbane Airport
Eagle Farm			106	Kingsford Smith Drive – Eagle Farm, Hamilton	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			105	Southern Cross Way – to M7, Eagle Farm	Partial Y interchange: no southbound exit to or northbound entrance from Southern Cross Way
Brisbane River			Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (toll bridge)
Murarrie			103	Lytton Road (State Route 24) – Murarrie, Lytton	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			102	Port of Brisbane Motorway (M4) – Port of Brisbane, Murarrie, Lytton
Tingalpa			100	Wynnum Road (State Route 23) – Tingalpa, Cannon Hill, Wynnum, Manly
Belmont			97	Old Cleveland Road (State Route 22), Sleeman Sports Complex
Mackenzie–Rochedale boundary			92	Mount Gravatt–Capalaba Road (Metroad 2 west / State Route 21 east) – Mackenzie, Wishart, Capalaba, Mount Gravatt
Rochedale			88	Miles Platting Road (State Route 56) – Eight Mile Plains, Eight Mile Plains busway station, Sunnybank
Rochedale – Eight Mile Plains boundary			87	Pacific Motorway (M1 south-east / M3 north-west) – Logan, Logan Central	Northbound entrance from Pacific Motorway north-westbound and southbound exit to Pacific Motorway south-eastbound only; route transition: Northern end of M2, southern end of M1 allocation
Eight Mile Plains			1	Logan Road (State Route 95) – Underwood, Brisbane
Kuraby			Kuraby toll point
Kuraby–Runcorn–Stretton–Karawatha quadripoint			4	Compton Road (State Route 30) – Kuraby, Runcorn	Southbound exit to Compton Road, and northbound entrance via Persse Road
Drewvale			9	Logan Motorway (M2 westbound / Metroad 6 eastbound) – Ipswich, Toowoomba, Logan, Gold Coast	Southern terminus at trumpet interchange; Logan Motorway eastbound signed as Exit 9
ETC       Incomplete access

Southern Cross Way

Southern Cross Way is a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi), 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.

Interchanges

The entire motorway is in the City of Brisbane local government area.

Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Brisbane Airport	0	0	Gateway Motorway (M1) north – to Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Cairns via Bruce Highway	Northern terminus at partial Y interchange: no southbound exit to or northbound entrance from Gateway Motorway
	1.9	1.2	Toombul Road – Virginia	Roundabout interchange
Brisbane Airport – Hendra boundary	3.5	2.2	East–West Arterial Road (M7) west / Airport Drive east – Nundah, Clayfield, Brisbane Airport
Eagle Farm	5.8– 6.7	3.6– 4.2	Kingsford Smith Drive – Eagle Farm, Hamilton	Northbound exit via Fison Avenue West; southbound exit and entrance via Links Avenue North
	7.6	4.7	Gateway Motorway (M1) south – to Gold Coast, Tweed Heads, Gold Coast Airport via Pacific Motorway	Southern terminus at partial Y interchange: no northbound exit to or southbound entrance from Gateway Motorway
Incomplete access

See also

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