Princes Motorway

This article is about the motorway in New South Wales. For the freeway in Victoria, see Princes Freeway. For other sections of the road classified as a highway in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, see Princes Highway. For other uses of "Southern Freeway", see Southern Freeway (disambiguation).

Princes Motorway

F6 Freeway, Southern Freeway

New South Wales
Princes Motorway near Helensburgh
Princes Motorway is located in New South Wales
North end
North end
South end
South end
Coordinates
General information
TypeMotorway
Length62.0 km (39 mi)[1]
Opened1963–1989 (Southern section)
1975 (Northern section)
GazettedOctober 1975[2]
Route number(s) M1 (2013–present)
Former
route number
  • National Route 1
    (Mount Ousley Road section, 1975–mid 1980s; entire route, mid 1980s–2013)
  • Freeway Route F6
    (Waterfall–Bulli Tops and Gwynneville–Yallah sections, 1975–mid 1980s)
Major junctions
North end Princes Highway
Waterfall, Sydney
 
South end Princes Highway
Oak Flats, New South Wales
Location(s)
Major suburbs / townsHelensburgh, Wollongong, Figtree, Dapto
Highway system
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Princes Motorway is a 62-kilometre (39 mi)[1] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.

  1. ^ a b "Princes Motorway" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Main Roads Act 1924". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 140. National Library of Australia. 31 October 1975. p. 4490. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  3. ^ F6 Southern Freeway, Ozroads: the Australian Roads Website. Retrieved 24 August 2008.[self-published source]
  4. ^ "F6 Southern Freeway : History and Development". OZRoads: The Australian Roads Website. Retrieved 28 November 2018.[self-published source]