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Princes Motorway
Princes Motorway is a 62-kilometre (39 mi) predominantly dual carriage untolled motorway that links Sydney to Wollongong and further south through the Illawarra region to Oak Flats. Part of the Australian Highway 1 network, the motorway is designated route M1.
The motorway is sometimes known by its previous signposting F6 (Freeway Route 6) and its previous name Southern Freeway, which applied to the sections between Waterfall and Bulli Tops as well as Gwynneville and Yallah. The section between Bulli Tops and Gwynneville was known as Mount Ousley Road, and was first built as a defence route and later upgraded to dual carriageway standards.
It is the backbone of road traffic in the Illawarra. As Wollongong and Port Kembla are important industrial centres, freight traffic is heavy. Despite the current decline of the local steel industry, emergence of Wollongong as a commuter city of Sydney has kept the motorway busy.
In the north, Princes Motorway commences at the interchange with Princes Highway at Waterfall in Sydney and heads south as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road, taking more or less a parallel route with Princes Highway until the sprawling interchange with Appin Road and Princes Highway at Bulli Tops. It continues downhill, avoiding the steep Bulli Pass, and bypasses Wollongong CBD, through Gwynneville and continues for 30 kilometres (19 mi), bypassing the suburbs of Yallah and Albion Park Rail, reaching the interchange with Illawarra Highway (Terry Street) at Albion Park, before terminating with the existing alignment of Princes Highway at an interchange in Oak Flats.
The motorway can be divided into four sections, from north to south:
Construction of the section between Waterfall and Bulli Tops commenced in July 1970. At 22.9km, it was then the longest section of freeway to completed at one time, at a cost of $30.5 million; it opened as Southern Freeway on 24 July 1975, and was allocated Freeway Route F6 (which later allowed it to be locally known as the "F6 Freeway"). Financed by State Government bonds, this section of freeway initially incurred a toll from its opening. This part of the freeway did not feature the Helensburgh Interchange (which subsequently opened in February 2000). The toll operated for 20 years: this was 10 years short of its intended operating length, due to local residents complaining that the F3 Freeway had its toll dropped in 1988 (which was at the time intended to be dropped as its loans had been fully paid off, unlike those of the F6). After much pressure, the tolls were eventually removed on 30 July 1995, when the loans had been repaid. Remnants of the tollbooths could initially be seen at the old toll plaza at Waterfall, such as faint markings and a set of warning lights in the southbound direction for the toll plaza. These remnants have since been removed. However, as of 2021[update], the widened carriageways for the toll booths can still be seen at 34°09′02″S 150°59′25″E / 34.150476°S 150.990208°E.
To complement the tollway, the dual carriageways of Princes Highway from Waterfall north to Loftus and the Sutherland bypass were constructed and opened to traffic on 16 September 1975.
The section between Bulli Tops and Gwynneville was previously named as part of Mount Ousley Road, and is still often referred to as such. Mount Ousley Road was built in 1942 as a defence route, involving the reconstruction of part of a 19th century route from Bulli Tops to the Picton-Mt Keira road (the southern section not incorporated into the defence route is Clive Bissell Drive), and the construction of a new section of road to descend the escarpment and terminate at Princes Highway at North Wollongong (the easternmost 3.5 km of Picton Road, from Mount Keira Road to Mount Ousley Road, was also constructed as part of this project).
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Princes Motorway
Princes Motorway is a 62-kilometre (39 mi) predominantly dual carriage untolled motorway that links Sydney to Wollongong and further south through the Illawarra region to Oak Flats. Part of the Australian Highway 1 network, the motorway is designated route M1.
The motorway is sometimes known by its previous signposting F6 (Freeway Route 6) and its previous name Southern Freeway, which applied to the sections between Waterfall and Bulli Tops as well as Gwynneville and Yallah. The section between Bulli Tops and Gwynneville was known as Mount Ousley Road, and was first built as a defence route and later upgraded to dual carriageway standards.
It is the backbone of road traffic in the Illawarra. As Wollongong and Port Kembla are important industrial centres, freight traffic is heavy. Despite the current decline of the local steel industry, emergence of Wollongong as a commuter city of Sydney has kept the motorway busy.
In the north, Princes Motorway commences at the interchange with Princes Highway at Waterfall in Sydney and heads south as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road, taking more or less a parallel route with Princes Highway until the sprawling interchange with Appin Road and Princes Highway at Bulli Tops. It continues downhill, avoiding the steep Bulli Pass, and bypasses Wollongong CBD, through Gwynneville and continues for 30 kilometres (19 mi), bypassing the suburbs of Yallah and Albion Park Rail, reaching the interchange with Illawarra Highway (Terry Street) at Albion Park, before terminating with the existing alignment of Princes Highway at an interchange in Oak Flats.
The motorway can be divided into four sections, from north to south:
Construction of the section between Waterfall and Bulli Tops commenced in July 1970. At 22.9km, it was then the longest section of freeway to completed at one time, at a cost of $30.5 million; it opened as Southern Freeway on 24 July 1975, and was allocated Freeway Route F6 (which later allowed it to be locally known as the "F6 Freeway"). Financed by State Government bonds, this section of freeway initially incurred a toll from its opening. This part of the freeway did not feature the Helensburgh Interchange (which subsequently opened in February 2000). The toll operated for 20 years: this was 10 years short of its intended operating length, due to local residents complaining that the F3 Freeway had its toll dropped in 1988 (which was at the time intended to be dropped as its loans had been fully paid off, unlike those of the F6). After much pressure, the tolls were eventually removed on 30 July 1995, when the loans had been repaid. Remnants of the tollbooths could initially be seen at the old toll plaza at Waterfall, such as faint markings and a set of warning lights in the southbound direction for the toll plaza. These remnants have since been removed. However, as of 2021[update], the widened carriageways for the toll booths can still be seen at 34°09′02″S 150°59′25″E / 34.150476°S 150.990208°E.
To complement the tollway, the dual carriageways of Princes Highway from Waterfall north to Loftus and the Sutherland bypass were constructed and opened to traffic on 16 September 1975.
The section between Bulli Tops and Gwynneville was previously named as part of Mount Ousley Road, and is still often referred to as such. Mount Ousley Road was built in 1942 as a defence route, involving the reconstruction of part of a 19th century route from Bulli Tops to the Picton-Mt Keira road (the southern section not incorporated into the defence route is Clive Bissell Drive), and the construction of a new section of road to descend the escarpment and terminate at Princes Highway at North Wollongong (the easternmost 3.5 km of Picton Road, from Mount Keira Road to Mount Ousley Road, was also constructed as part of this project).