العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
EspañolM2 HILLS MOTORWAY
(Redirected from M2 Hills Motorway (Sydney))
The 'M2 Hills Motorway' (also known as the 'Hills M2 Motorway', 'M2 Motorway' or simply 'M2') is a motorway in north-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 2 and the 110 km Sydney Orbital Motorway network. West of Pennant Hills Road, the M2 is also part of the National Highway.
Previously, Sydney's western suburbs were poorly served. Traffic passed through Parramatta and to the city centre via Victoria Road and Western Freeway. Although Parramatta was completely bypassed in the 1986, peak hour traffic still clogs up Victoria Road and all western approaches to Sydney.
The M2 Hills Motorway was developed to connect Old Windsor Road, Seven Hills to Epping Road, North Ryde, and thus bypass the busy inner western suburbs. In turn, Epping Road connects with Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon which leads to the Harbour Bridge and the CBD.
Historically, however, the M2 Motorway was known as the F2 Freeway (or North West Freeway) before its construction. As part of the integrated freeway plans drawn up for Sydney in the 1942, the F2 was originally planned to link to the Gladesville Bridge and then on to Anzac Bridge via a new set of elevated freeways behind Drummoyne, the land for which was sold by the Wran Labor Government in the 1988. This explains the freeway-style grade of road from Gladesville Bridge to Hunters Hill, and the green belt north up to the seemingly arbitrary city-end of the M2 (The Gore Hill Freeway and Lane Cove Tunnel were not parts of this original plan, and the "F1" Warringah Freeway was designed to be a link to the Northern Beaches, via Roseville Bridge, and not to the Hills district). Evidence of the F2's original alignment can be found on old street directories, where the Western Distributor (which connects Anzac Bridge to the city) is labelled 'North-West Freeway'.
The intersection of Epping and Pittwater Road was once destined to be a major junction of part of "Sydney's Missing Roads" until the cancellation of the North Western and Lane Cove Valley Expressways in 1977.[1]
The M2 Hills Motorway is a privately funded capital works. The NSW Government entered into an agreement with Hills Motorway Limited to build, own, operate and, ultimately, transfer the M2 back to the Government at the end of a 45 year term.
The M2 Hills Motorway pioneered the use of electronic tolling in Australia when it opened on 26 May 1997 and from 1 December 2007 the M2 Hills motorway will be fully cashless with no toll booths [2].
In April 2007, a third traffic lane heading westbound became operational between the Lane Cove Road and Beecroft Road interchanges by utilising the existing cycling/breakdown lane and lane remarking works. There has been criticisms from cyclists who are forced to cycle via alternative routes as a result of the loss of the lane, and from motorists who have said that the addition of a third lane will induce more traffic and shift the bottleneck further down the motorway as a result of assisting and maintaining free-flowing traffic from the Lane Cove Tunnel, which is now directly connected with the M2 motorway. A speed camera enforcing the 70km/h limit was also introduced on the westbound carriageway just before the Epping/Norfolk Road tunnel.
The Lane Cove Tunnel which opened on Sunday 25 March 2007, which links-up to the M2 at Lane Cove and carries about 50,000 vehicles per day on the Sydney Orbital Motorway also the Westlink M7, which opened on 16 December 2005 links the M2 Hills Motorway (at Seven Hills) to the M5 South Western Motorway at Prestons.
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.
A freeway standard Sydney Bypass has been intended as part of the National Highway system for decades. It is now planned that 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.
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.[1] 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.[2]
The M2 has allowed many residents of the North-West sector of Sydney easy transport to the Sydney CBD, which may have been one of the factors to the increase of land values in that area and the construction of the Norwest Business Park.
Because a lot of the Hills district relies on the Hills Motorway for daily transport to and from the city, major traffic jams occur daily on the M2 during the peak hours. This vast number of vehicles also creates a large amount of air pollution and noise.
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). Transurban has announced that the M2 Hills motorway will become fully electronic with no cash booths from December 2007 to assist with free-flowing traffic to and from adjacent fully electronic toll roads, such as the; Cross City Tunnel, Westlink M7, Lane Cove Tunnel and the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, with the end result being a non stop journey at minimum speeds of 70 km/h from the beginning of M7 right through to the Sydney Harbour Tunnel.
The M2 supports the following toll methods (from April 2007):
★ Cash payment (manual or automatic)
★ Electronic tolling, otherwise known as an E-Tag. At the main toll plaza at Macquarie Park, there are two dedicated express tolling lanes in each direction via a toll gantry.
The toll for the full journey for class 2 vehicles increased by 60 cents from $3.80 to $4.40 on 1 October 2006[3] .
From December 2007, the M2 will become fully electronic with no cash booths. [4].
{{FootnotesSmall|resize=
★ Metroad 2
★ The Hills Motorway
★ Web Cam(M2-Ryde)
★ F3 to Sydney Orbital route study
★ RTA Hills M2 Motorway
'E-Toll vendors'
★ EXPRESS Tag (Tollaust)
★ E-Toll (RTA)
★ E-Way (Interlink)
★ e-Tag (Transurban)
★ E-Toll (Queensland Motorways)
The 'M2 Hills Motorway' (also known as the 'Hills M2 Motorway', 'M2 Motorway' or simply 'M2') is a motorway in north-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 2 and the 110 km Sydney Orbital Motorway network. West of Pennant Hills Road, the M2 is also part of the National Highway.
M2 motorway marker
| Contents |
| History and development |
| Route of the M2 |
| Planned new link |
| Proposed Interchange Improvements |
| Benefits |
| Disadvantages |
| Toll payments |
| Full electronic tolling |
| References |
| See also |
| External links |
History and development
Previously, Sydney's western suburbs were poorly served. Traffic passed through Parramatta and to the city centre via Victoria Road and Western Freeway. Although Parramatta was completely bypassed in the 1986, peak hour traffic still clogs up Victoria Road and all western approaches to Sydney.
The M2 Hills Motorway was developed to connect Old Windsor Road, Seven Hills to Epping Road, North Ryde, and thus bypass the busy inner western suburbs. In turn, Epping Road connects with Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon which leads to the Harbour Bridge and the CBD.
Historically, however, the M2 Motorway was known as the F2 Freeway (or North West Freeway) before its construction. As part of the integrated freeway plans drawn up for Sydney in the 1942, the F2 was originally planned to link to the Gladesville Bridge and then on to Anzac Bridge via a new set of elevated freeways behind Drummoyne, the land for which was sold by the Wran Labor Government in the 1988. This explains the freeway-style grade of road from Gladesville Bridge to Hunters Hill, and the green belt north up to the seemingly arbitrary city-end of the M2 (The Gore Hill Freeway and Lane Cove Tunnel were not parts of this original plan, and the "F1" Warringah Freeway was designed to be a link to the Northern Beaches, via Roseville Bridge, and not to the Hills district). Evidence of the F2's original alignment can be found on old street directories, where the Western Distributor (which connects Anzac Bridge to the city) is labelled 'North-West Freeway'.
The intersection of Epping and Pittwater Road was once destined to be a major junction of part of "Sydney's Missing Roads" until the cancellation of the North Western and Lane Cove Valley Expressways in 1977.[1]
The M2 Hills Motorway is a privately funded capital works. The NSW Government entered into an agreement with Hills Motorway Limited to build, own, operate and, ultimately, transfer the M2 back to the Government at the end of a 45 year term.
The M2 Hills Motorway pioneered the use of electronic tolling in Australia when it opened on 26 May 1997 and from 1 December 2007 the M2 Hills motorway will be fully cashless with no toll booths [2].
In April 2007, a third traffic lane heading westbound became operational between the Lane Cove Road and Beecroft Road interchanges by utilising the existing cycling/breakdown lane and lane remarking works. There has been criticisms from cyclists who are forced to cycle via alternative routes as a result of the loss of the lane, and from motorists who have said that the addition of a third lane will induce more traffic and shift the bottleneck further down the motorway as a result of assisting and maintaining free-flowing traffic from the Lane Cove Tunnel, which is now directly connected with the M2 motorway. A speed camera enforcing the 70km/h limit was also introduced on the westbound carriageway just before the Epping/Norfolk Road tunnel.
The Lane Cove Tunnel which opened on Sunday 25 March 2007, which links-up to the M2 at Lane Cove and carries about 50,000 vehicles per day on the Sydney Orbital Motorway also the Westlink M7, which opened on 16 December 2005 links the M2 Hills Motorway (at Seven Hills) to the M5 South Western Motorway at Prestons.
Route of the M2
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.
Planned new link
A freeway standard Sydney Bypass has been intended as part of the National Highway system for decades. It is now planned that 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.
Proposed Interchange Improvements
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.[1] 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.[2]
Benefits
The M2 has allowed many residents of the North-West sector of Sydney easy transport to the Sydney CBD, which may have been one of the factors to the increase of land values in that area and the construction of the Norwest Business Park.
Disadvantages
Because a lot of the Hills district relies on the Hills Motorway for daily transport to and from the city, major traffic jams occur daily on the M2 during the peak hours. This vast number of vehicles also creates a large amount of air pollution and noise.
Toll payments
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). Transurban has announced that the M2 Hills motorway will become fully electronic with no cash booths from December 2007 to assist with free-flowing traffic to and from adjacent fully electronic toll roads, such as the; Cross City Tunnel, Westlink M7, Lane Cove Tunnel and the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, with the end result being a non stop journey at minimum speeds of 70 km/h from the beginning of M7 right through to the Sydney Harbour Tunnel.
The M2 supports the following toll methods (from April 2007):
★ Cash payment (manual or automatic)
★ Electronic tolling, otherwise known as an E-Tag. At the main toll plaza at Macquarie Park, there are two dedicated express tolling lanes in each direction via a toll gantry.
The toll for the full journey for class 2 vehicles increased by 60 cents from $3.80 to $4.40 on 1 October 2006[3] .
Full electronic tolling
From December 2007, the M2 will become fully electronic with no cash booths. [4].
References
{{FootnotesSmall|resize=
See also
★ Metroad 2
External links
★ The Hills Motorway
★ Web Cam(M2-Ryde)
★ F3 to Sydney Orbital route study
★ RTA Hills M2 Motorway
'E-Toll vendors'
★ EXPRESS Tag (Tollaust)
★ E-Toll (RTA)
★ E-Way (Interlink)
★ e-Tag (Transurban)
★ E-Toll (Queensland Motorways)
This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.
psst.. try this: add to faves
