Metroad 7
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| Metroad 7 | |
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| Length | Approx. 40 kilometres (53 including 13 km for Pennant Hills Road from the M2 to F3) |
| General direction: | North-South |
| From: | Wahroonga |
| To: | Prestons |
| Route: | Pennant Hills Road (Wahroonga - West Pennant Hills) M2 Motorway (West Pennant Hills - Dean Park) Westlink M7 (Dean Park - Prestons) |
Metroad 7 is a Metroad in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Metroad 7 links the Hume Highway (National Highway 31) at Prestons with the Pacific Highway and the F3 Freeway at Wahroonga.
The roads forming the original Metroad 7 route were dual-named with Cumberland Highway in addition to their existing name. This dual-naming system has been retained even after the reassignment of most of the length of Metroad 7 to the Westlink M7 motorway.
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[edit] History
The original western Sydney Bypass was Ring Road 5, which busiest section (Pennant Hills Road and Woodville Rd) is between Pacific Highway and Hume Highway with Parramatta in between. In the 1980s, Ring Road 5 was superseded by State Route 55. The growth of Sydney's west had instead turned it into a primary arterial with huge increase in freight traffic.
In 1994, Cumberland Highway was upgraded and replaced Woodville Rd for the Liverpool-Parramatta stretch. Pennant Hills Rd was widened and retained for the Parramatta–Wahroonga stretch. This Liverpool–Wahroonga route was initially State Route 77, later signed as Metroad 7 and was designated by the Federal Government as an interim National Highway until the completion of Westlink M7. From the introduction of Metroads in Sydney, Metroad 7 went along Heathcote Road to Metroad 1 at Heathcote. A southern section of Heathcote Road has now been replaced by Metroad 6.
The Westlink M7 motorway was completed in December 2005, and now connects the M5 from the south-west, the M4, and the M2 to the north-west.
[edit] Westlink M7
With the opening of Westlink M7 in December 2005, Metroad 7 between Liverpool and Beecroft was reassigned to the new motorway. Much of the former Metroad 7 traffic has switched from the Cumberland Highway route onto the Westlink M7 motorway, which is electronically tolled according to distance travelled. The Westlink sports the new alphanumeric M7 square shield rather than the hexagon Metroad shield.
[edit] Track
Following the completion of the Westlink M7 motorway, Metroad 7 commences in the south at the M5 South Western Motorway interchange in Prestons. It follows the route of the Westlink M7 motorway until the M2 Hills Motorway at Baulkham Hills. The M2 Hill Motorway is co-designated Metroad 2 and Metroad 7 between there and Pennant Hills Road (Metroad 2/Metroad 6/Metroad 7 interchange). Metroad 7 then follows Pennant Hills Road to Wahroonga, terminating at the corner of the Pacific Highway (Metroad 1).
Prior to the completion of the Westlink M7, Metroad 7 commenced at Hume Highway in Casula, through to Liverpool via Cross Roads M5 South Western Motorway (Metroad 5) interchange. From then on it followed the Cumberland Highway crossing the M4 Western Motorway (Metroad 4) interchange and Great Western Highway at Wentworthville, bypassing Parramatta until Briens Rd and James Ruse Drive. From there it followed Pennant Hills Rd via the M2 Hills Motorway (Metroad 2) interchange until it ended at the Pacific Highway/Sydney-Newcastle Freeway interchange at Wahroonga. This route had numerous sets of traffic lights and did not have any major freeway grade stretches apart from James Ruse Drive – and with the industrial growth of the western suburbs, traffic was a major issue until the completion of the Westlink M7.
[edit] See also
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