Sydney Orbital Network

Planning for this beltway, orbital or ring road began as early as 1962 under the "County of Cumberland scheme" (CCS) and was talked about as far back as 1944. Then, from 1973 to 1989, things started to take shape with new sections opening-up and then further advancing by 1999. In 2007, the Lane Cove Tunnel opened, completing the orbital network.

The 110 km Sydney orbital consists of several motorways and freeways, they are listed below:

• Eastern Distributor
• Southern Cross Drive
• General Holmes Drive
• M5 East Motorway
• M5 South Western Motorway
• Westlink M7
• M2 Hills Motorway
• Lane Cove Tunnel
• Gore Hill Freeway
• Warringah Freeway
• Sydney Harbour Tunnel (or Sydney Harbour Bridge and Cahill Expressway)

The major sunken/underground sections of the orbital are:

• Sydney Harbour Tunnel
• Eastern Distributor
• M5 East tunnel
• Epping Tunnel (M2 Hills Motorway, although not really a major tunnel)
• Sunken Section of the M2 Hills Motorway (The trench between Epping Road)
• Lane Cove Tunnel

The major elevated sections are:

• Parts of the Westlink M7
• Parts of Southern Cross and General Holmes Drive (past the airport)

The widest part of the orbital is the Warringah Freeway approach to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the longest tunnel is the M5 East tunnel, and the largest interchange is the Light Horse Interchange between the M4 and M7, a 4-level stack. It would cost over $30AU to take the whole orbital without exiting once. The average width of the Orbital is 3 lanes in each direction (The M7 and the M5 East are 2 lanes in each direction, the Lane Cove Tunnel is mostly 3 lanes in direction, however the M2, Gore Hill Freeway and M5 are 3 lanes each way while the Warringah Freeway is between 6-8 lanes each way for its short duration of around 3 km).

There is significant upgrade work occurring as part of the WestConnex project, which will see the M5 duplicated (total of 4 lanes each way) along with the addition of new freeways to the Sydney network.

The Sydney Orbital Road Network consists of a number of roads built by private companies: tolling is mostly unavoidable when using the road network.

Intercity highways are linked to the Orbital, moving traffic away from the old busy National Routes. They are:

• Pennant Hills Rd - linking M1 Pacific Motorway, Newcastle and Brisbane to M2 Hills Motorway
• M4 Western Motorway - linking Great Western Highway and Bathurst to Westlink M7
• M31 Hume Motorway - linking Melbourne and Canberra to M5 South Western Motorway and Westlink M7
• King Georges Rd - linking Princes Highway, M1 Princes Motorway and Wollongong to M5 South Western Motorway

• Link to the M1 Pacific Motorway – In 2015 construction of the NorthConnex tunnel under Pennant Hills Road commenced.
• Partial link to the M1 Princes Motorway – A proposal that links the New M5 Tunnels and the southern suburbs of Sydney, as the M6 Motorway. The only section which was built is the Captain Cook Bridge and its approaches. Land is still reserved north of this point through Sandringham, and south through the Royal National Park. In October 2017, the government announced it will proceed with Stage 1 of the F6 extension, which will run via two 4 km tunnels linking the New M5 tunnels at Arncliffe to President Avenue at Kogarah.[3] In October 2019, the government announced a name change of the extension to M6 Motorway and also confirmed the completion date of Stage 1 would be pushed back to late 2025, with major construction to begin by early 2022.[4]
• WestConnex – A proposal that incorporates the M5 duplication project and the M4 East extension of the M4 Motorway to the M5 South Western Motorway, involving a cutting along Parramatta Road, a tunnel from Taveners Hill to St Peters and a surface motorway to the M5 at Arncliffe.

Australian roads portal

• RTA Orbital Network Website
• NSW Bike Plan - Bicycle Information for New South Wales