Pacific Motorway

The Pacific Motorway is a 100 km long motorway in Australia between Brisbane, Queensland, and the New South Wales-Queensland border at Tweed Heads. The motorway starts at Coronation Drive at Milton in Brisbane, and since 2008 connects with the Tweed Heads bypass in New South Wales. The Brisbane city section of the motorway is often referred to by its former name, the Riverside Expressway. The first section, opened in Brisbane in 1973, was originally known as the South East Freeway. The South East Freeway was designated originally as the F3, but this nomenclature was removed in 1994.

The motorway features eight traffic lanes with a 110 km/h speed limit between the M6 Logan Motorway and Smith Street Motorway and generally six or four lanes at 100 km/h on other sections. The motorway passes through the major tourist region of the Gold Coast, the destination for most of the vehicular traffic from Brisbane. More than A$2 billion was spent on the motorway between 1990 and 1998, including widening the road and safety measures.

In March 2006, the Queensland Government released planning for substantial changes to the section between Springwood and Daisy Hill, mainly at the entrances and exits along the section to deal with substantial traffic problems on surrounding streets and traffic backups onto the motorway. The planned upgrade led to some popular protest, mainly by people whose homes would be resumed for the project. The Government hopes to commence development in early 2007 but it is reliant on the Federal Government funding half the cost. Planning for the Daisy Hill to Loganholme section will begin August 2007, with the draft plans released for public consultation in April 2007.

There are also plans to progressively widen the four lane section from Nerang to Tugun to six lanes. REF (review of environmental factors) and planning works are currently being undertaken, but major widening works are expected to begin in 2010.

The Tugun Bypass was completed in 2008. It has four lanes (two in each direction in 2008 and provision for six lane widening in the future). Widening from four lanes to six lanes is planned for 2025.

The Motorway passes many Gold Coast attractions such as Warner Bros. Movie World, Wet'n'Wild Water World, and Dreamworld, which are among the most popular theme parks in Australia.