General Holmes Drive is a major divided road located in

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 ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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. The road forms part of the M1, the A1, the

Sydney Orbital Network The Sydney Orbital Network is a 110 kilometre motorway standard ring road around and through Sydney, the capital of New South Wales in Australia. It runs north from Sydney Airport, underneath the CBD to the North Shore, west to the Hills Dist ...

, and the Australian Highway 1 network. Initially built in 1919 as a two-lane road and duplicated in 1951, the road partially circumnavigates

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport — colloquially Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney Airport or Mascot Airport — is an international airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district, in the subu ...

with its north-eastern terminus in , heading west and then south and then south-west, with its south-western terminus with The Grand Parade in . The road forms major links with the Southern Cross Drive and the M5 East, both part of the Sydney Orbital Network. The road is named in honour of William Holmes, a distinguished Australian

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who died in action during

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Route

General Holmes Drive starts from Joyce Drive in

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, and heads south, reaching a major intersection with Wentworth Drive that carries all traffic exiting from the domestic terminals at

. Further west in , the road meets the Mill Pond Road, a short road that connects with the Southern Cross Drive, carrying traffic north towards the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

, with the south-westbound route providing access to both the international and the domestic terminals at Sydney Airport. Via an interchange, General Holmes Drive heads south, forming a junction with Foreshore Drive that carries traffic to

Port Botany Port Botany is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Botany is located 12 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Port ...

and . General Holmes Drive then heads through the Sydney Airport Tunnel, an eight-lane tidal flow

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

under the south-eastern runways of Sydney Airport. As the road exits the tunnel, there is a major exit to the M5. The road crosses over the

Cooks River The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The course of the urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various developme ...

via the Endeavour Bridge, continues southeast into the suburbs of Kyeemagh and , before terminating at the junction with The Grand Parade that carries traffic towards and

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

. Traffic runs in three lanes in both directions through Kyeemagh, becoming four lanes after the M5 East junction. The M5 East can only be accessed southbound, and traffic joins General Holmes Drive northbound. Until July 2019, General Holmes Drive continued for a further to the north-east to an intersection with Botany Road crossing the

Metropolitan Goods railway line Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

via a level crossing. This section closed when the level crossing was replaced by an underpass at Wentworth Avenue.

History

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 (MRB). Main Road No. 194 was declared along this route on 8 August 1928, from the intersection of Botany and Lords Road in

along Lords Road and Ascot Avenue, over the Cooks River Bridge, and General Holmes Drive to the intersection with The Grand Parade at Brighton-le-Sands (and continuing south along The Grand Parade and Ramsgate Road to the intersection with

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

and Park Road in Kogarah Bay); with the passing of the ''Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929'' to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, this was amended to Main Road 194 on 8 April 1929. The Endeavour Bridge over

was opened in May 1951, replacing the former Cooks River Bridge. Lords Road and Ascot Avenue were officially re-named as part of General Holmes Drive between

and Mascot, extending the existing road south of Cooks River, on 19 December 1961. 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, General Holmes Drive retains its declaration as part of Main Road 194. The route was allocated part of State Route 64 in 1974, from Mill Pond Road in Mascot to The Grand Parade; its northern end was re-aligned through Mascot from Wentworth Avenue, Botany and Mill Pond Roads to Southern Cross Drive when its southern extension opened in 1988. It was replaced by National Route 1 from Southern Cross Drive to Brighton-Le-Sands when Sydney Harbour Tunnel opened in 1992, then by Metroad 1 in 1993. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, it was replaced with route M1 between Southern Cross Road and M5 East Motorway, and route A1 from there to The Grand Parade.

Exits and interchanges

General Holmes Drive is entirely contained within the

Bayside Council Bayside Council is a Local government in New South Wales, local government area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located around part of Botany Bay, to south of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD. It includes 29 subu ...

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 ...

References

External links

{{Road infrastructure in Sydney Streets in Sydney Highway 1 (Australia)

Route

History

Exits and interchanges

See also

References

External links