Inner City Bypass, Brisbane

Inner City Bypass Queensland
Inner City Bypass in Brisbane
General information
Type	Highway
Length	5 km (3 mi)
Route number(s)	M3
Major junctions
North end	Albion
South end	Brisbane
Location(s)
Major suburbs	Bowen Hills
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Queensland

M3 Inner City Bypass (ICB) is a major motorway standard road in Brisbane, Queensland. The 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) bypass is north of the city. Bypassing the Brisbane central business district, it connects Brisbane’s Pacific Motorway and Go Between Bridge at Hale Street to Kingsford Smith Drive, the Clem Jones Tunnel and Lutwyche Road following the Exhibition railway line for the majority of its length.

The route is marked as the M3 from the western part of the route, up until the Horace Street interchange.

The motorway cost $220m to complete and incorporates a total of six lanes, four tunnels, 18 bridges and was the largest infrastructure engineering project undertaken in Queensland for decades. The route also includes a 350m long tunnel under the RNA Showgrounds. There is no toll for use of this roadway.

The ICB, built by the Brisbane City Council, is considered one of the most successful road projects in Brisbane, completed well before schedule, on budget, and to date is one of the most used road corridors in the city. Significant congestion occurs in lanes heading towards Hale Street at peak times, this has resulted in a nickname of the "Inner City Car Park".

ICB viaduct over the Breakfast Creek

Construction

The Inner City Bypass was built in 3 stages:

• Stage 1 – Hale Street to Campbell Street which opened during November 2001
• Stage 2 – Campbell Street to Abbotsford Road which opened during February 2002
• Stage 3 – Abbotsford Road to Kingsford Smith Drive which opened during July 2002

Exits and Interchanges

The road is within the local government area of the City of Brisbane.

Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Inner City Bypass becomes Boomerang Street for Pacific Motorway toward Brisbane, Logan and Gold Coast , and the Go Between Bridge for South Brisbane.
Milton	0.5	0.31		Milton Road – Brisbane, Toowong, Ipswich
	0.8	0.50		Caxton Street  – Paddington
Paddington	1	0.6	Musgrave Road - to Kelvin Grave Road	No southbound exit.
Kelvin Grove	1.3	0.8	Victoria Park Road  – Kelvin Grove	Left-in/left out. No southbound exit.
	1.3	0.8	Kelvin Grove Road  – Brisbane	Southbound exit only.
Herston	2.6	1.6	Herston Road  – Kelvin Grove, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Victoria Park Golf Course	Northbound exit only.
Bowen Hills	3.3	2.1	Lutwyche Road Airport Link Tunnel – Sunshine Coast, Brisbane Airport	Inner City Bypass becomes State Route 25.
	3.5	2.2	Clem Jones Tunnel  – Gold Coast
	4.4	2.7	Abbotsford Road  – Sandgate	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Albion	4.7	2.9	Sandgate Road  – Sandgate	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	5	3.1	Breakfast Creek Road  – Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
Inner City Bypass becomes Kingsford Smith Drive .
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access       Route transition

Future interconnectivity

Although not constructed as part of the TransApex project, the ICB is an integral part of the future connection of tunnels and other planned urban motorways within the city. The Inner City Bypass has also been connected to the Airport Link and the Legacy Way tolled tunnels.

The Airport Link was completed in mid-2012 and the Legacy Way in late June 2015.

See also

• Freeways in Australia
• Freeways in Brisbane