The road transport in Brisbane, Australia, consists of a network of highways, freeways and motorways. Some motorways have tolls applied.

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 ...

is a car dependent city. In 2006, within the

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...

region, 83% of trips were done by car. Brisbane is linked with both the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast by freeway-led

suburbanisation Suburbanization (American English), also spelled suburbanisation (British English), is a population shift from historic core cities or rural areas into suburbs. Most suburbs are built in a formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence o ...

Network

The

Brisbane River The Brisbane River (Turrbal language, Turrbal: ) is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia. It flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the ...

has created a barrier to some road transport routes. In total there are nine road bridges and one road tunnel, mostly concentrated in the inner city area. This has intensified the need for transport routes to focus on the inner city. One more cross-river tunnel is planned (East–West Link) as part of the

TransApex TransApex was a road transport plan devised by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman in the early 2000s to connect existing motorways and major arterial roads with new transport links and divert cross-city traffic out of the Brisbane central busine ...

plan. Brisbane's road system was planned around large, spacious suburban areas. Dense suburbs now rely on several main road corridors that split through and between these areas and provide the only link to the CBD and other areas of Brisbane.

Logan Road Logan Road, allocated state routes 95 and 30, is a major road in Brisbane, Queensland. It runs from Springwood, Queensland, Springwood in Logan City to Woolloongabba in Brisbane, with most of the route signed as state route 95. The route was ...

Moggill Road Moggill Road is a major road in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It commences at High Street at Toowong and terminates at the Moggill Ferry in Moggill, Queensland, Moggill. It is part of State Route 33. The road carried an average of 39,305 vehi ...

Old Cleveland Road Old Cleveland Road is a major road in Brisbane, Queensland. It runs from Stones Corner, Queensland, Stones Corner to Capalaba, Queensland, Capalaba in Brisbane, with most of the route signed as State Route 22. Sections of the road are also part ...

and

Gympie Road Gympie Road is a major road in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The road forms part of the main road route from the Brisbane Central Business District (CBD) to the northern suburbs, Sunshine Coast and east coast of Q ...

are but a few of these multi-lane corridors that come out of the CBD and snake through the suburbs. Bypasses such as the Inner City Bypass, Airport Link and

Clem Jones Tunnel The M7 Clem Jones Tunnel (CLEM7), known during its development as the North–South Bypass Tunnel (NSBT), is a A$3.2 billion motorway grade toll road under the Brisbane River, between Woolloongabba and Bowen Hills in Brisbane, Queensland. ...

are intended to help to circulate traffic away from the inner-city areas and main roads via limited-access roads above the ground, and tunnels below that have higher speed limits and exits to particular suburbs. Existing high speed cross-suburban motorways such as the Western Freeway,

Centenary Motorway The M5 (Centenary Motorway) is a motorway in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. 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 fe ...

, Pacific Motorway and

Gateway Motorway The Gateway Motorway (M2 to Eight Mile Plains and M1 to Bald Hills) is a major tolled motorway in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which includes the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (former Gateway Bridge). The motorway is operated by toll road ope ...

provide alternative routes to main roads and connect up to main highways and other arterial roads. The TransApex plan tunnels, Airport Link tunnel and

Legacy Way The M5 Legacy Way (formerly Northern Link Tunnel) is a long tunnel linking the Western Freeway at Toowong and the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. The project consisted of two bored tunnels carrying two motorway grade lanes of tr ...

tunnel and East-West Link tunnel are designed to link all the various motorways in Brisbane together. Only East-West link is yet to commence planning or construction. In total, the twisting

is crossed by nine road bridges, one road tunnel, three railway bridges, three dedicated cyclist/pedestrian bridges and one dedicated bus/cycle/pedestrian bridge. Route signage is achieved by means of a system of

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 ...

s, consisting of the most important arterial roads in metropolitan Brisbane including most motorways, and less important

State Route A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

s; however, in recent years, the Metroads are being superseded by an alphanumeric numbering system. Multiple freeways connect Brisbane to other cities, including the Pacific Motorway, the

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Natio ...

and the

Ipswich Motorway The Ipswich Motorway (M7) is a major road that connects Brisbane and Ipswich in South East Queensland, Australia. It commences at the junction of Ipswich Road and Granard Road and proceeds through to the M2 Logan Motorway interchange. It is t ...

, all of which are part of the National Highway System. Brisbane is approximately away from

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 ...

, the closest major capital city. An upgrade to Brisbane's traffic lights system began in April 2011. The old system was called

Brisbane Linked Intersection Signal System Brisbane Linked Intersection Signal System or BLISS was Brisbane City Council's ITS infrastructure platform. This system incorporates large-scale Traffic Signal control, a Real Time Passenger Information System (RAPID), and other infrastructure ...

(BLISS) and required a controller to trigger traffic lights to relieve congestion. The new system called

Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, abbreviated SCATS, is an intelligent transportation system that manages the dynamic (on-line, real-time) timing of signal phases at traffic signals, meaning that it tries to find the best phasing (i.e ...

(SCATS) is used in every other Australian capital city and is expected to cost much less to maintain. All 850 sets of Brisbane City Council signal boxes require upgrades. Six major roads and bridges in Brisbane are tolled, with all of them using free-flow tolling technology. The north-west of the city lacks a major roadway. A Brisbane City Council investigation revealed the northside’s urban routes were not designed for the traffic volumes they were experiencing in 2020. Without the development of the North West Transport Corridor rapid population growth north of the city generates traffic congestion and is expected to lead to overcrowding on buses.

Motorways

Brisbane is served by several

motorways A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. The Pacific Motorway connects the central city with the Gold Coast to the south. The

connects the city with Ipswich to the west via the southern suburbs, while the Western Freeway and the

provide a connection between Brisbane's inner-west and the outer south-west, connecting with the Ipswich Motorway south of the Brisbane River. The

is Brisbane's main route north of the city to the rest of the State. The Bruce Highway terminates away in

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

and passes through most major cities along the Queensland coast. The

connects the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coasts by providing an alternate eastern route avoiding Brisbane's inner city area, connecting the Bruce Highway to the Pacific Motorway, and by linking to the Logan Motorway (albeit tolled) it forms part of an incomplete ring road. It crosses the Brisbane River over the tolled

Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges, formerly and still collectively referred to as the Gateway Bridge, are a pair of twin road bridges that carry the Gateway Motorway (M1) over the Brisbane River, skirting the eastern suburbs of the city of Brisba ...

. The Port of Brisbane Motorway links the Gateway to the Port of Brisbane, while Inner City Bypass and the Riverside Expressway act as the inner ring freeway system to prevent motorists from travelling through the city's congested centre.

Route numbering

The Brisbane system of road routes is numbered mostly separately to the rest of the state, and the systems on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. The route numbering is basically distributed as so (with a few exceptions): : Routes 1–6, 13 & 15: Major highways and motorways : 10, 20, 30, 40 & 50: Orbitals (all incomplete) : 21–29, 41–48: Eastern Brisbane : 31–39: Western Brisbane : 90–99: Southern Brisbane and Gold Coast Due to the introduction of

s in the early 1990s, a few routes around the city are split up. Routes and are examples of routes which were formerly continuous, but have been superseded by Metroads or M routes.

Management

Traffic in Brisbane metropolitan area is managed by the Brisbane Metropolitan Traffic Management Centre. It operates non-stop, provides a phone hotline and a website which provides traffic and travel information.

Current infrastructure projects

*Expansion of Ipswich Motorway *Kessels and Mains Road intersection at

Mount Gravatt Mount Gravatt is a southern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and a prominent hill and lookout within this suburb (). In the , Mount Gravatt had a population of 3,733 people. Geography T ...

Driving

Brisbane drivers, like all of Queensland, are not permitted to hold a mobile phone while driving, even if it is switched off.

References

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