The M5 (Centenary Motorway) is a motorway in the western suburbs of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

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. It starts at the terminus of the A5 Centenary Highway at Springfield, and ends at Kenmore where it changes its name to the M5 Western Freeway. It features eight interchanges, the major ones being with the M7 Ipswich Motorway (formerly Metroad 2 / M2) in Darra, the M2 Logan Motorway at Ellen Grove (formerly Metroad 4 / M4), and another at Sinnamon Park. It is the main route from Brisbane to Ipswich, Toowoomba, and Warwick. In October 2012, it was announced that the planned bikeway from Springfield to the existing bikeway along the Motorway would not proceed. Instead the existing two lane road would be expanded by two lanes.

History

Moggill Road to Darra: This section was opened as a two-lane arterial road in 1964. It included a new crossing of the Brisbane River, known as the Centenary Bridge. The first section to be duplicated was from the Western Freeway to a proposed Kenmore Bypass. This was completed in 1984, and included a grade separation at Fig Tree Pocket. The bypass was never built. The Centenary Bridge, and the highway from there to the Mount Ommaney Roundabout, was widened to four lanes in 1987. In 1989, twin bridges over the Mount Ommaney Roundabout, and 1.4km of duplication to the existing Sumners Road interchange was completed. In 1994, the final section from Sumners Road to Ipswich Road was duplicated. A roundabout interchange was constructed at the latter. Darra to Springfield: In 1995, a two-lane link road was constructed from the recently opened roundabout at Darra to Progress Road, using parts of Kelliher and Garden Roads. It was later proposed to use this link road as part of an extension of the Centenary Highway to the new master-planned city of Springfield. The two-lane Springfield extension, including interchanges at Garden Road, Progress Road, the Logan Motorway, and Springfield Parkway, was completed by 2001, since it is shown in that year’s Brisbane UBD.

Extension

A two lane extension of the highway to Yamanto was opened in late June 2009. The extension cost $366 million and was opened by

Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is an Australian lobbyist and former politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Queensland Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch), Labor Party. ...

. Five bridges along the new section were named after local people, places, events and football teams, including botanist Lloyd Bird and the Box Flat Mine disaster. Since this new section contains three roundabouts, it is not motorway standard, and is instead designated as the A5 Centenary Highway.

Upgrades

Duplicate Centenary Bridge

A project to duplicate the Centenary Bridge commenced construction on 20 April 2023, with a current investment of $298.5 million.

Interchanges

The interchange with the Logan Motorway is crossed by a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

for the two track railway crossing of the Springfield railway line. The crossing is more than 800 metres long and has been designed so that its piers do not obstruct planned upgrades of both roads.

References