From Wikipedia - Reading time: 30 min
Pacific Motorway –New South Wales | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Motorway |
| Length | 158 km (98 mi) |
| Route number(s) |
|
| Former route number |
|
| Major junctions | |
| North end | |
for full list see exits. | |
| South end | Brunswick Heads |
| Location(s) | |
| Major suburbs / towns |
|
| Highway system | |
The Pacific Motorway is a motorway in Australia between Brisbane, Queensland, and Brunswick Heads, New South Wales, through the New South Wales–Queensland border at Tweed Heads.
The motorway starts at Coronation Drive at Milton in Brisbane, The Brisbane city section of the motorway is often referred to by its former name, the Riverside Expressway. The motorway is about 150 kilometres (93 mi) long, and features eight traffic lanes with a 110 km/h (68 mph) speed limit between the M6 Logan Motorway at Loganholme and State Route 10 Smith Street Motorway at Gaven and generally six or four lanes at 100 km/h (62 mph) on other sections.
The motorway then passes through the major tourist region of the Gold Coast, the destination for most of the vehicular traffic from Brisbane. It passes attractions such as Warner Bros. Movie World, Wet'n'Wild Water World at Oxenford, and Dreamworld theme parks in Coomera. Within Queensland, more than a $2 billion was spent on the motorway between 1990 and 1998, including widening the road and safety measures.
The motorway then crosses the Queensland/New South Wales border via a section known as the Tugun Bypass, which passes under the runway of Gold Coast Airport. Since 2013, a portion of Pacific Highway south of the border was also designated M1 Pacific Motorway.
The highest point of the motorway is 92 metres (302 ft) AHD on a cutting 130 km (81 mi) south of Brisbane (between Cudgera Creek Rd and Sleepy Hollow Rest Area).[1]
The Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the New South Wales border was originally called the Main South Coast Road. It was one of the first roads to be declared by the Main Roads Board, which was created in 1920. The Albert River at Beenleigh and the Nerang River at Southport were the first major watercourses to be bridged. Both of these bridges opened in 1925. In 1928, a major realignment between Helensvale and Southport, including a timber bridge over the South Coast railway line and a concrete bridge over Coombabah Creek at Arundel, was completed. This road is now the northern section of the Gold Coast Highway, between Helensvale and Loders Creek in Labrador.[citation needed]
In June 1930, the Coomera River bridge opened, and in December of that year, the Pacific Highway was declared. By then, some sections were already sealed. The final bridge over a major watercourse, the Logan River bridge, opened in July 1931. The Coomera River bridge still carries a service road between Coomera and Helensvale, and the Logan River bridge between Loganholme and Eagleby carried highway traffic until 1986. It is now a pedestrian bridge.[citation needed]
The sealing of the highway was completed in late 1937, when the bridge over the Pimpama River at Ormeau was completed. Below is a list of the bridges over the smaller watercourses, and when they were completed:
Of these, the bridges over Bulimba Creek, Sandy Creek, Halfway Creek, Pimpama River and Saltwater Creek replaced older bridges. The bridge over Coombabah Creek at Arundel was built as part of the realignment between Helensvale and Southport. It is unclear if there were older bridges over Hotham and Oaky Creeks; the bridges may have replaced fords, but it is also possible that there are simply no known records for the older bridges, if they existed.
In the early 1950s, traffic congestion began to become a serious problem on the highway, a problem that has plagued it ever since. To reduce this, the highway from its northern terminus to Helensvale was duplicated gradually, until the final section between Coomera and Oxenford was completed in 1971.
In 1965, Wilbur Smith’s freeway plan was produced, calling for the construction of six freeways and three expressways connecting Brisbane to the outer suburbs. The highway from its northern terminus to Springwood was to be supplemented by the South East Freeway, which was designated as the F3 in 1969. The first section of the freeway was opened in March 1973. It ran from the CBD south to Greenslopes. Over the next decade, the freeway was extended southwards, and the Pacific Highway at Springwood was reached in 1985.[2]
On 15 April 1996 it was announced that the Pacific Highway between the Beenleigh-Redland Bay Road interchange at Loganholme, and Pappas Way at Nerang, would be upgraded to motorway standard.[3] From the Albert River at Beenleigh to Coombabah Creek at Gaven, about 28 km (17 mi), the road surface is portland cement concrete. The upgraded road was opened to the public in October 2000. At the same time, the South-East Freeway, and the Pacific Highway between Springwood and Loganholme, was renamed as the Pacific Motorway.[3]

Below is an overview of when each construction project on the highway (later motorway) was completed (from earliest to latest).
| Project | Length (km) | Construction dates | Value | Status | Description | Distance from Brisbane (km) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | ||||||
| Watland Street to Sports Drive.[30] | November 2020 | $750 million | Under construction | Provide additional lanes | |||
| Daisy Hill to Logan Motorway.[31] | $1 billion | In planning | Increase capacity | ||||
| Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill.[32] | Mid 2022 | $750 million | Under construction | Rochedale bus station and park 'n' ride | |||


The NSW section of the Pacific Motorway to Brunswick Heads is part of the Pacific Highway upgrade from the Queensland border to West Ballina. It was renamed to Pacific Motorway from Pacific Highway in February 2013.[33][34]
The motorway's first stage was completed in July 1985 with the opening of the first stage of the Tweed Heads Bypass from Bilinga just north of the Queensland border to Kennedy Drive at Tweed Heads West, followed by the second stage in November 1992 from Kennedy Drive at Tweed Heads West to Minjungbal Drive at Tweed Heads South.[35] Over the next 20 years, sections of the motorway progressively opened to traffic, until the final section, the Banora Point upgrade, opened in September 2012.[36] For more comprehensive information on this section of motorway, see the Pacific Highway article.
Below is an overview of when each stage of the motorway was completed (from south to north):
| Southern terminus | Northern terminus | Distance | Date completed | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| km | mi | ||||
| Tyagarah | Ewingsdale | 16 October 1998 | Realignment[37] | ||
| Tandys Lane bypass | 19 December 2001 | Bypass[38] | |||
| Yelgun | Brunswick Heads | 11 July 2007 | Realignment[39] | ||
| Chinderah | Yelgun | 6 August 2002 | Included the Cudgen Road Tunnel[40] | ||
| Chinderah bypass | 29 November 1996 | Included the Barneys Point Bridge[41] | |||
| Banora Point upgrade | 22 September 2012 | ||||
| Minjungbal Drive (Tweed Heads South) | Kennedy Drive (Tweed Heads West) | 14 November 1992 | Tweed Heads bypass | ||
| Kennedy Drive (Tweed Heads West) | Bilinga | 18 July 1985 | |||
The Pacific Motorway, when it was upgraded in September 2000, was the first motorway in Queensland to have service centres integrated. There are two service centres, Stapylton servicing southbound traffic, and Coomera servicing northbound traffic. The travel centres include fuel and fast-food restaurants, picnic areas and a shop. Solar panels on the roofs of the centres provide power to the facilities.
| Southern terminus | Northern terminus | Speed limit | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| km/h | mph | |||
| Tyagarah | Chinderah | 110 | 68 | Some variance |
| Chinderah | Gaven | 100 | 62 | Crosses the state border |
| Gaven | Beenleigh | 110 | 68 | |
| Beenleigh | Greenslopes | 100 | 62 | |
| Greenslopes | Vulture Street, Woolloongabba | 90 | 56 | |
| Vulture Street, Woolloongabba | Elizabeth Street (CBD) | 80 | 50 | Concurrency with the Riverside Expressway |
| Elizabeth Street (CBD) | Herschel Street (CBD) | 70 | 43 | |
| Herschel Street (CBD) | Hale Street (CBD) | 60 | 37 | |
There is a fixed speed camera on the Pacific Motorway at Holland Park West, facing northbound. There is another at Loganholme just after the Logan Motorway exit facing northbound.[42] A third set of speed cameras, situated on the northbound side of the motorway at the Smith Street Motorway interchange at Gaven, became active around March 2013 but is now currently in the process of being replaced with point to point cameras facing both north and southbound between Gaven (Exit 66), Oxenford (Exit 57), and Beenleigh South (Exit 35).[43][44]

Yatala to Coolangatta is within the City of Gold Coast. The city has a population of 500,000 and is Australia's sixth-largest city. The oceanside parts of the Gold Coast are characterised by high-rises, residential canal developments, a casino, theme parks, amusement parks and numerous tourist attractions, whilst its inland suburbs are leafy and well kept, looking much like the newer suburbia of other large Australian cities. The Gold Coast attracts tourists from around the world and is one of Australia's leading tourist destinations. Most of the city is bypassed by the Pacific Motorway (M1 Motorway) which continues from Metroad 3 at Eight Mile Plains. The former route of the Pacific Highway through the Gold Coast has been renamed as the Gold Coast Highway. The Pacific Highway was very congested between Tugun and Bilinga until the Tugun Bypass opened in June 2008 bypassing the old highway. The bypassed section was renamed Gold Coast Highway.
The highway crosses the Tweed River south of Banora Point. Tweed Heads is the major commercial centre of the southern part of the Gold Coast, which extends as far south as Crabbes Creek in New South Wales. It was known as a "twin town" along with Coolangatta, Queensland before they coalesced with other towns to form the suburbia of the Gold Coast. The Tweed River valley contains the Cudgen Road Tunnel at Stotts Creek completed in 2002. The tunnel was built to avoid the visual impact of a road cutting.
| LGA | Location | km[45] | mi | Destinations[a] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Byron | Brunswick Heads | 0 | 0.0 | Gulgan Road [west] – Mullumbimby | Partial Dumbbell interchange |
| 3.0 | 1.9 | Old Pacific Highway / Gulgan Road – Brunswick Heads | Dumbbell interchange | ||
| 6.0 | 3.7 | Old Pacific Highway | Dumbbell interchange | ||
| Brunswick River | 6.2 | 3.9 | Matthew Devine Bridge | ||
| Byron | Billinudgel | 10.0 | 6.2 | Wilfred Street – Ocean Shores, Billinudgel | Northbound exit and entrance to the west only |
| 11.5 | 7.1 | Trumpet interchange, with partial dumbbell | |||
| Tweed | Cudgera Creek | 24.5 | 15.2 | Cudgera Creek Road – Cudgera Creek, Pottsville, Hastings Point | Diamond interchange |
| Clothiers Creek | 31.5 | 19.6 | Clothiers Creek Road – Cabarita Beach, Bogangar, Murwillumbah | ||
| Cudgen Road (no access) | 37.1 | 23.1 | Cudgen Road Tunnel | ||
| Tweed | Chinderah | 40.0 | 24.9 | Trumpet interchange | |
| 43.0 | 26.7 | Chinderah Road / Tweed Coast Road – Chinderah, Kingscliff | Grade-separated roundabout interchange | ||
| 44.6 | 27.7 | Waugh Street – Chinderah | Northbound exit and entrance to the west only | ||
| 45.3 | 28.1 | Chinderah Bay Drive / Fingal Road – Chinderah, Fingal Head | Southbound exit and entrance only; trumpet interchange | ||
| Tweed River | 45.7 | 28.4 | Barneys Point Bridge | ||
| Tweed | Banora Point | 46.5 | 28.9 | Sexton Hill Drive – Banora Point, Terranora | Trumpet interchange |
| 47.0 | 29.2 | Wilsons Park Tunnel | |||
| Tweed Heads South | 48.0 | 29.8 | Minjungbal Drive / Sexton Hill Drive – Banora Point, Terranora, Tweed Heads South | Trumpet interchange | |
| Tweed | 49.7 | 30.9 | Kirkwood Road – Tweed Heads South | Southbound exit and southbound entrance only | |
| Terranora Creek | 50.6 | 31.4 | Bridge over the creek (bridge name unknown) | ||
| Tweed | Tweed Heads West | 51.2 | 31.8 | Kennedy Drive – Tweed Heads, Tweed Heads West, Bilambil Heights | Dogbone interchange |
| 52.0 | 32.3 | Diamond interchange | |||
| 52.9 | 32.9 | Tunnel under airport runway | |||
| 55.4 | 34.4 | Northern terminus in New South Wales; road continues in Queensland as the Pacific Motorway (M1) | |||
| New South Wales – Queensland state border | New South Wales – Queensland state border | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
| LGA | Location | km[46] | mi | Exit[b] | Destinations[a] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales – Queensland state border | 0.0 | 0.0 | New South Wales – Queensland state border | Continues from 55.4km above | ||
| Gold Coast | Tugun | 3.1 | 1.9 | 95 | Stewart Road – west – to Stewart Road – east – to | Diamond interchange connects to Gold Coast Highway (State Route 2) |
| Currumbin Creek | 4.4 | 2.7 | Bridge over the river (Bridge name unknown) | |||
| Gold Coast | Elanora | 4.5 | 2.8 | 93 | K.P. McGrath Drive / Sarawak Avenue – Elanora, Palm Beach, Currumbin | |
| Palm Beach | 5.9 | 3.7 | 92 | Palm Beach Avenue – Palm Beach, Elanora | ||
| Tallebudgera Creek | 8.4 | 5.2 | Bridge over the river (Bridge name unknown) | |||
| Gold Coast | Burleigh Heads | 8.7 | 5.4 | 89 | Tallebudgera Creek Road – Burleigh Heads, Tallebudgera Valley | Modified trumpet interchange |
| 10.9 | 6.8 | 87 | Diverging Diamond Interchange | |||
| Varsity Lakes | 13.0 | 8.1 | 85 | Modified trumpet interchange | ||
| Robina | 16.1 | 10.0 | 82 | Diamond interchange | ||
| Mudgeeraba Creek | 16.6 | 10.3 | Bridge over the river (Bridge name unknown) | |||
| Gold Coast | Mudgeeraba | 17.4 | 10.8 | 80 | The Link Way to | Northbound exit only via a slip lane |
| 18.3 | 11.4 | 79 | Modified dumbbell interchange | |||
| Merrimac | 21.0 | 13.0 | 77 | Grade-separated dumbbell interchange | ||
| Worongary | 22.8 | 14.2 | 75 | Elysium Road – Worongary, Carrara Industrial Estate | Grade-separated dumbbell interchange | |
| Carrara | 24.8 | 15.4 | 73 | Alexander Drive – west – Highland Park, Gilston Nielsens Road – east – Carrara | ||
| Nerang | 25.9 | 16.1 | 72 | Pappas Way – Nerang, Carrara | Formerly exit 71A | |
| 27.5 | 17.1 | 71 |
| Diamond interchange | ||
| Nerang River | 28.2 | 17.5 | Bridge over the river (Bridge name unknown) | |||
| Gold Coast | Nerang | 29.0 | 18.0 | 69 | Southbound exit and entrance, and indirect northbound exit and entrance via Nerang Connection Road | |
| Gaven | 32.1 | 19.9 | 66 | Modified trumpet and grade-separated diamond interchange | ||
| Helensvale | 35.5 | 22.1 | 62 | Modified trumpet and parclo interchange | ||
| 37.9 | 23.5 | 60 | Helensvale Road – Helensvale, Oxenford, Movie World, Wet'n'Wild | |||
| Oxenford | 40.4 | 25.1 | 57 | Diamond interchange | ||
| 57 | ||||||
| Coomera River | 41.4 | 25.7 | Bridge over the river (Bridge name unknown) | |||
| Gold Coast | Coomera | 43.6 | 27.1 | 54 | Foxwell Road / Days Road – Coomera, Upper Coomera, Dreamworld | Modified parclo |
| Pimpama | 48.3 | 30.0 | 49 | Pimpama–Jacobs Well Road – Pimpama, Jacobs Well | Dumbbell interchange | |
| 51.2 | 31.8 | 45 | Mirambeena Drive / Tillyroen Road – Ormeau, Jacobs Well, Norwell | Dumbbell interchange, northbound exit and southbound entrance only | ||
| Ormeau | 53.6 | 33.3 | 45 | Eggersdorf Road / Peachey Road – Ormeau, Kingsholme, Norwell | Dumbbell interchange, northbound entrance and southbound exit only | |
| Yatala | 57.1 | 35.5 | 41 | Computer Road – Yatala, Stapylton, Ormeau | Dumbbell interchange | |
| 60.0 | 37.3 | 38 | Stapylton – Jacobs Well Road – Yatala, Stapylton | Dumbbell interchange | ||
| Albert River | 61.3 | 38.1 | Bridge over the river (Bridge name unknown) | |||
| Logan | Beenleigh | 62.3 | 38.7 | 35 | Grade separated roundabout interchange | |
| 64.2 | 39.9 | 34 | Grade separated roundabout interchange | |||
| Logan River | 65.6 | 40.8 | Bridge over the river (Bridge name unknown) | |||
| Logan | Loganholme | 66.8 | 41.5 | 31 | Trumpet interchange | |
| 68.0 | 42.3 | 30 | ||||
| 69.8 | 43.4 | 28 | Bryants Rd – Cleveland, Tanah Merah | |||
| Shailer Park | 71.0 | 44.1 | 26 | Murrays Rd – Shailer Park | Northbound exit and entrance via Nujooloo Road Southbound exit and entrance via Mandew Street (part of Exit 28) | |
| Daisy Hill | 73.3 | 45.5 | 24 | Winnets Road / Loganlea Road – Daisy Hill, Loganlea, Slacks Creek | ||
| Slacks Creek | 74.6 | 46.4 | 23 | Northbound entrance and southbound entrance and exit only | ||
| Springwood | 75.8 | 47.1 | 22 | Old Pacific Highway / Watland Street – Springwood | Southbound exit only | |
| 77.3 | 48.0 | 20 | Trumpet interchange and partial diamond interchange | |||
| Rochedale South | 78.2 | 48.6 | 19 | Northbound entrance and southbound exit only | ||
| Brisbane | Eight Mile Plains | 81.5 | 50.6 | 16 | Trumpet interchange. Pacific Motorway continues north as the M3. Gateway Motorway heads northeast as the M1. Heading south, the Pacific Motorway carries the M1 shield. | |
| 83.4 | 51.8 | 14 | ||||
| Upper Mount Gravatt | 86.6 | 53.8 | 11 | Northbound entrance and southbound exit only | ||
| Mount Gravatt | 88.6 | 55.1 | 9 | Gaza Road – Mount Gravatt, Griffith University | Northbound exit and southbound entrance only | |
| Holland Park West | 90.0 | 55.9 | 8 | Northbound entrance and southbound exit only | ||
| Greenslopes | 93.0 | 57.8 | 5 | Northbound exit and southbound entrance via Juliette Street Northbound entrance and southbound exit via Cornwall Street | ||
| Woolloongabba | 94.4 | 58.7 | 4 | Northbound exit and southbound entrance only | ||
| 95.0 | 59.0 | 2 | Northbound exit and southbound entrance via Stanley Street Northbound entrance and southbound exit via Vulture Street | |||
| Brisbane River | 95.6 | 59.4 | Captain Cook Bridge | |||
| Brisbane | Brisbane CBD | 96.4 | 59.9 | Margaret Street | ||
| 96.7 | 60.1 | Elizabeth Street | ||||
| 97.1 | 60.3 | Turbot Street | Northbound exit only | |||
| 97.4 | 60.5 | Herschel Street | Northbound exit only | |||
| Milton | Northern terminus of the Pacific Motorway; road continues as the Riverside Expressway (M3) to – Sunshine Coast, Brisbane Airport State Route 33 Coronation Drive – Indooroopilly | |||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| ||||||
Fixed speed cameras are located: ...Pacific Motorway at Gaven, Pacific Motorway at Loganholme, Pacific Motorway at Tarragindi...