Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation is a major arterial road in the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...

area of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, and is a constituent part of the A8 route. It takes its name from Burnt Bridge Creek which flows beneath the road, although there is no sign of the "burnt bridge" which gives the creek its name.

Route

Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation commences just past the

Spit Bridge The Spit Bridge, a steel and concrete girder bridge with a bascule bridge, bascule lift Span (architecture), span across the Middle Harbour, is located north-east of the Sydney central business district, central business district in Sydney, Au ...

at the intersection with Sydney Road, Balgowlah to the intersection with Condamine Street in

Manly Vale Manly Vale is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council, in the Northern Beaches region ...

. There are no entry or exit ramps, and sound barriers run the entire length. Myrtle Street and Kitchener Street run over it but there are no access ramps to or from these roads. It runs, in a northbound direction, close to Frenchs Forest Road, then Brook Road, Bangaroo Street, Serpentine Crescent, Daisy Street, Myrtle Street, Kitchener Street, West Street, Griffiths Street then terminates at Condamine Street. The speed limit is 80 km/h for most of its length, reducing to 60 km/h prior to either terminus. The most direct alternative route is to go east on Sydney Road then north on Condamine Street.

History

Opened on 11 February 1985, it is the only freeway-standard section of that route. The passing of the ''Main Roads Act of 1924'' through the

Parliament of New South Wales The Parliament of New South Wales, formally the Legislature of New South Wales, (definition of "The Legislature") is the bicameral legislative body of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). It consists of the Monarch, the New South Wa ...

provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the

Main Roads Board The Main Roads Board was an agency of the Government of New South Wales, responsible for planning, constructing and maintaining road infrastructure in New South Wales, Australia. History The Main Roads Board (MRB) was founded on 1 January 1925 ...

(MRB). With the subsequent passing of the ''Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929'' to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, the Department of Main Roads (having succeeded the MRB in 1932) declared the deviation of Main Road 164 from Condamine Street and Sydney Road to Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation on 15 February 1985. The passing of the ''Roads Act of 1993'' updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation retains its declaration as part of Main Road 164. The route was signed as part of State Route 14 on its opening in 1985, then was re-designated

Metroad Metroads were the primary road routes serving the Sydney and Brisbane metropolitan areas from the 1990s to the early 2010s. The Metroads formed a network of radial and circumferential routes throughout the cities, simplifying navigation. Metroads ...

10 in 1998. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, Metroad 10 was replaced by route A8.

Future Upgrades

Until the announcement of the Beaches Link project, Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation sat for decades as an isolated oddity, reminiscent of many planned and never-built freeways in the Sydney Basin, much like the

Gladesville Bridge Gladesville Bridge is a heritage-listed concrete arch road bridge that carries Victoria Road over the Parramatta River, linking the Sydney suburbs of Huntleys Point and Drummoyne, in the local government areas of Canada Bay and Hunter's Hi ...

road complex. Original plans for

Warringah Freeway Warringah Freeway is a divided freeway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. The primary function of the freeway is to provide an alternative high-grade route from the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and B ...

show Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation as part of an expressway that would service the growing

area. Suggestions have been floated in the interim to connect the two freeways, with the aid of a tunnel, but it took almost four decades for concrete plans to be made for the connection. The A8 was planned to eventually connect with M8 Motorway in the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

from the western end of Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation via the Beaches Link, M4–M8 Link, and

Rozelle Interchange The Rozelle Interchange is an underground motorway interchange in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was built as part of WestConnex and opened to traffic on 26 November 2023. The interchange includes a toll-free bypass of Victoria Road b ...

, and the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

announced its intention to build the Beaches Link in March 2017. Construction on the Western Harbour Tunnel commenced in 2022 and is expected to be complete in 2027-28. However, in June 2022 the NSW Government announced that Beaches Link and upgrades to Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation and Wakehurst Parkway would be shelved indefinitely, due to market constraints and labour shortages.

Major intersections

Pittwater Road is entirely contained within the

Northern Beaches Council The Northern Beaches Council is a local government areas of New South Wales, local government area located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 after the a ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

Incidents

On the 18th September 2024 at approximately 10:45 pm , a 23 year old man and a 26 year old women were killed on impact while driving on their way back from a car meet at Taronga. A motorist travelling northbound along the road stated the black

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly Subcompact car, subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has bee ...

“disappeared ahead of them” whilst taking off at a set of traffic lights at

Seaforth, New South Wales Seaforth is a suburb of Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Seaforth is located 12 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Northern B ...

. Local residents claimed to have heard multiple cars racing at speed followed by explosions that sounded like gunshots. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined but it is believed speed was a contributing factor.

References