Warringah Freeway
| Warringah Freeway | |
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| Basic data | |
| Operator: | Roads and Maritime Services |
| Start of the street: |
 Bradfield HighwayNorth Sydney ( NSW ) ( 33 ° 51 ′ S , 151 ° 13 ′ E ) |
| End of street: |
Gore Hill Freeway Crows Nest ( Sydney ) ( NSW ) ( 33 ° 49 ′ S , 151 ° 12 ′ E ) |
| Overall length: | 4 km |
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States : |
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Map with all coordinates: 
The Warringah Freeway (also Warringah Expressway ) is an urban motorway in the north of Sydney in the east of the Australian state of New South Wales . It connects the Bradfield Highway in North Sydney with the Gore Hill Freeway in Crows Nest .
history
Planning began in 1951. The first section of the road was opened on June 18, 1968. As you can see from the name, the road should be the first part of a freeway from downtown Sydney towards Manly / Warringah . Early plans show the continuation of the motorway via Castlecrag . Later a guided tour of Castle Cove was planned. This freeway was never built because of protests from residents in Castlecrag.
Many private and commercial properties, half a golf course, and a cemetery were purchased by the government to build the Warringah Freeway.
The freeway originally had four lanes, the outer two with three lanes each, the inner two with two lanes each. At peak times, the two inner lanes were in the same direction. Reversing the direction of travel on the freeway and on the Sydney Harbor Bridge several times a day was a lengthy process in which many red plastic cones had to be moved by hand. The original north end of the freeway was Chandos St. Cammaray , with an extension to Willoughby Road opened in 1978 . At that time, the entrances and exits to Chandos Street were moved to Brook Street .
It wasn't until 1992 that the Gore Hill Freeway was opened, which connects the Warringah Freeway with the Pacific Highway . The road officially became part of Metroad 1. Up until then, the Warringah Freeway was just a short urban freeway that strangely ended in the middle of a suburb, even if its southern end was connected to Sydney's most famous 16-lane freeway to the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Current status
Currently only the direction of travel of the western inner lane can be reversed; the eastern inner carriageway leads directly into the tunnel to the south. All lanes were widened to include the hard shoulder. After entering North Sydney to the north, 16 lanes are available for a short distance, which are reduced to 10 lanes again before the Brook Street exit. After the exit on Willoughby Road there are only 6 lanes left that lead to the Gore Hill Freeway, which was completed in 1992.
The division in the area of the lane with changing direction of travel according to lanes is today mostly 4–3–3–3. The outer lanes often change in the number of lanes because they have several entrances and exits. In 2007 the connection to Military Road was rebuilt and received three more entrances and exits. The Gore Hill Freeway got two more lanes as part of the Lane Cove Tunnel project . The connection at which these five tracks begin has been widened.
The first new connection to the Military Road was opened in June 2006. Most of the traffic going north now has to take the right, instead of the left, of the six north lanes on the outer lane. The old exit (to turn right onto Military Road) had three normal lanes and one bus lane. Today there are no normal lanes, but there are two bus lanes. Traffic wanting to turn left onto Military Road must use the old exit. The reason given for this change is the intention to keep the traffic that entered the freeway in North Sydney and already turned off again in Military Road away from the freeway in order to reduce congestion.
In 1990, the process of changing the direction of travel was automated with movable barriers and displays over the lanes. The direction of travel is changed when five or six lanes to the south are required for the Harbor Bridge. Normally, the direction of travel is changed from Monday to Friday at 6:30 am or 9:00 am.
After the opening of the Sydney Harbor Tunnel in 1992, a permanent bus lane was added. It runs on the outer carriageway to the south over the Harbor Bridge. This turned out to be a big step forward, as more people can be transported south during the morning rush hour than in all other lanes combined.
Almost all entrances and exits to the freeway are regulated by traffic lights. Most of the entrances and exits are long enough to avoid traffic jams on the freeway, except for Military Road.
Crossings and junctions
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Warringah Freeway
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| Connections to the north | Distance to Gore Hill Freeway (km) |
Distance to Bradfield Highway (km) |
Connections to the south |
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At the end of the Warringah Freeway, continue as Gore Hill Freeway to Epping / Newcastle |
0 | 4th |
Start of Warringah Freeway from Gore Hill Freeway
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| Crows Nest, Willoughby Willoughby Road |
no exit | ||
| St. Leonards, Willoughby Brook Street |
0.5 | - | no exit |
| North Sydney, Chatswood Miller Street |
1 | - | no exit |
| Crows Nest, Cremorne Ernest Street |
1.4 | - | no exit |
| Crows Nest Falcon Street |
1.6 | - | no exit |
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Manly Military Road 
|
1.6 | 2.4 |
Manly , Palm Beach Military Road
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| no exit | - | 2 | Kirribilli Alfred Street North |
| no exit | - | 1.7 |
Wollongong , Canberra Sydney Harbor Tunnel 
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| North Sydney, Neutral Bay Arthur Street |
2.8 | - | no exit |
| Crows Nest, St. Leonards Pacific Highway |
3.2 | - | no exit |
| Lavender Bay Lavender Street |
3.5 | - | no exit |
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Start of Warringah Freeway further from Bradfield Highway |
4th | 0 |
End of Warringah Freeway further than Bradfield Highway to Sydney |
Web links
source
- Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing. Archerfield QLD 2007, ISBN 978-1-74193-232-4 , p. 22.