At-grade crossings on the Pacific

[#130km/hforthehume]

With 563 km* of the Pacific now motorway-standard, I was wondering if there are any plans to upgrade the remaining 200 or so km of the highway to a motorway-standard road. Or even if there are no plans to completely motorwayify the entire highway, are there any plans to grade separate the important junctions (such as The Lakes Way, Myall Way, Houston Mitchell Dr, Harrington/Coopernook Rds, Wooton Way, Bucketts Way) that are not grade-separated?

*Measured using Google Maps. There may be some inaccuracy here. Figure does not include CFS and the M1 Extension.

[Aevion]

The Coopernook junction is planned to be replaced sometime in the next few years; unfortunately I don't think there are any solid plans for the others. There's definitely a push for Myall Way, although this 'push' started in 2006 when the dual-carriageways went through there and created what we have now. 

As for motorway-standard, that's anyone's guess....

[Paul Rands]

I don't think there is too much focus. The promise was to deliver dual carriageways from Sydney to QLD Border. That has been delivered. There will, as always, be periodic reviews to sections of the route, and planning made for improvements, but I wouldn't expect to see too much change compared to what is there now. For the majority of the route, the traffic volumes, really don't warrant full freeway-grade road the entire length.

Whilst there is a focus to reduce congestion issues (eg, extra lanes between Sydney and Newcastle, Coffs Hbr bypass and Beresfield to Heatherbrae upgrades), you will probably only see anything further as small localised changes, such as grade separation for busier intersections, but I think most of the at-grade junctions will remain into the foreseeable future.

I think the focus now will shift towards improving on other routes and repairing flood damaged communities and reducing their risks into the future.

Paul Rands
li...@paulrands.com
http://www.expressway.online/

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[Nihat]

Houston Mitchell Dr has had improvements looking at street view. Those other intersections are one side of the highway unlike Coopernook which is more of a safety concern as its a 4 way and is next in line to be grade separated. 

On Sun, 20 Nov 2022 at 14:28, #130km/hforthehume <thenorthernt...@gmail.com> wrote:

With 563 km* of the Pacific now motorway-standard, I was wondering if there are any plans to upgrade the remaining 200 or so km of the highway to a motorway-standard road. Or even if there are no plans to completely motorwayify the entire highway, are there any plans to grade separate the important junctions (such as The Lakes Way, Myall Way, Houston Mitchell Dr, Harrington/Coopernook Rds, Wooton Way, Bucketts Way) that are not grade-separated?

*Measured using Google Maps. There may be some inaccuracy here. Figure does not include CFS and the M1 Extension.

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[#130km/hforthehume]

Interesting thoughts (and apologies for my influx of comments today). Glad to hear that the Coopernook junction will be replaced. 

I thought that proper motorways (or dual carriageways with no right-turns) or roads with European-style LILOs (e.g., https://goo.gl/maps/qAmr2L2o2p7V5ztN9, https://goo.gl/maps/RbSPG6kVB97PDLjt6 or https://goo.gl/maps/WEPahHPH5b6rQNUQ9) boost visitor numbers as opposed to a standard junction. Hypothetically, it's more likely that I would stop by a town with an interchange as opposed to a town where I'd have to turn right. In other words, the sheer number of vehicles from oncoming traffic is enough to throw some drivers off into not stopping by a town.  

As a side note, here's a lovely example of a motorway that isn't a motorway at a first glance: https://goo.gl/maps/iNzd2PPmegSF5G7o7.

[Paul Rands]

We have a few examples of LILO conditions in Australia (similar to your Jönköping example https://goo.gl/maps/qAmr2L2o2p7V5ztN9), such as Peats Ridge Rd with Wisemans Ferry Rd, but they're not widely used, I assume due to the costs involved.

Paul Rands
li...@paulrands.com
http://www.expressway.online/

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[Sam L]

Peats Ridge Road / Wisemans Ferry Road is just a normal diamond interchange on a two-lane motorway.

This is probably a better example - Hume Hwy/Tumbarumba Rd: https://goo.gl/maps/cHM9RLcRGhdGH7ETA

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From: aussie-...@googlegroups.com <aussie-...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Paul Rands <li...@paulrands.com>
Sent: Friday, 25 November 2022 11:13 AM
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Subject: Re: [Aussie Highways] At-grade crossings on the Pacific

 

[#130km/hforthehume]

That makes sense; here's another one on the Pacific Mwy itself, FWIW. Agree that these are probably not worth upgrading, for the reasons you've mentioned.

[AlienChex]

There’s confirmed plans to extend the M1 from Beresfield to past Raymond Terrace, bypassing the Hexham bridge and the lights that are preventing the seamless Sydney-Brisbane link, as well as the Coffs bypass. Once complete, it will be zero lights, two lanes each way between Melbourne and Brisbane, so that’s cool.

Apart from that, there’s not many plans to fix up any of the at-grade intersections. I assume it will be treated like Hume Highway, where dangerous intersections will be upgraded in due time

[Nihat]

There was a planning project to fix a short northbound section of 90 with some tight bends north of Failford Rd but that won't be happening anymore, they did end up doing another one around Herons Creek but i think that was completed before the Woolgoolga to Ballina so the focus was then on that. And now it will be those heavy traffic at grade intersections but that's well into the future. 

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[AlienChex]

As Pacific Hwy is a state road, they’re not going to allocate funds for small upgrades until Heathcote and Coffs are done. However, councils can do that if they want.

[Lachlan Sims]

It's a bit of an outdated design style and not really compatible with high speed roads (merging, acceleration, deceleration etc. - especially when stop signs on the entry ramp are involved).

One former location comes to mind - the Pacific Highway ramps on either side of the old Clarence River bridge at Harwood (1960s DMR design).  These have now been completely removed/upgraded/altered with the new bridge crossing and highway upgrade.  Even as it was, the northbound ramps on the southern side were substantially altered prior to the upgrade due to safety and operational functionality due to the mainline curve and poor sight distances.

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[Nihat]

Here's the latest community update to the Harrington/Coopernook intersection

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2025/pacific-highway-harrington-road-intersection-upgrade-coopernook-project-update-september-2025.pdf

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[Sam L]

Looks pretty good to me. Mildly surprised that the local road intersections on either side are not roundabouts which seems to be the typical treatment for these types of intersections. Construction still >2 years away by the looks.

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Subject: Re: [Aussie Highways] At-grade crossings on the Pacific

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[AlienChex]

This is a very “welp, there ya go!” intersection. Keeping the original roads and turning them into LILO junctions, and then just linking them with a bridge. No roundabout, no proper exit lanes, no full motorway style junction like those on the late 2010s PacHwy duplication projects, but it’ll do. 

Buckets Way and Medowie Road next please, they are horrendous junctions.

[Nihat]

That's what it looks like. They mention the budget so clearly a roundabout and extended exit/merge lanes would go over the funding envelope. 

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