M3 Inner City Bypass (ICB) is a major motorway standard bypass in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia. Bypassing the

Brisbane central business district Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

to the north, it connects Brisbane’s Pacific Motorway and

Go Between Bridge The Go Between Bridge, formerly known as the Hale Street Link, is a toll bridge for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists over the Brisbane River in inner-city Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The bridge connects Merivale and Cordelia Streets in ...

at Hale Street to Kingsford Smith Drive, Legacy Way Tunnel, Clem Jones Tunnel, AirportLink Tunnel and Lutwyche Road following the

Exhibition railway line The Exhibition railway line is a special-purpose railway line in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It conveys Queensland Rail City network passengers during the Royal Queensland Show (locally known as "the Ekka") in August a ...

for the majority of its length. The route is marked as the M3 from the western part of the route, to 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 tunnel under the

RNA Showgrounds Brisbane Showgrounds (formerly known as the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) is located at 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, Queensland, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and was established in 1875. It hosts more than 250 events each ye ...

. The ICB, built by the

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC) is the democratic executive local government authority for the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The largest City Council in Australia by population and area, BCC's jurisd ...

, 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. ICB viaduct and Allison Street Bridge

An upgrade to increase the capacity of ICB was completed in 2018. This included widening each direction to four lanes and a new westbound on-ramp from Bowen Bridge Road. The upgrade was fund and delivered by Transurban Queensland on behalf of Brisbane City Council. Following completion of the upgrade, Transurban Queensland manages the operations, maintenance and incident response along the ICB until 2065, while the road remains toll-free. Transurban Queensland also does routine maintenance services on a 10 + 10 year contract.

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 The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. Unlike LGAs in the other mainlan ...

Interconnectivity

Although not constructed as part of the

TransApex TransApex is 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 CBD. The plan i ...

project, the ICB plays an integral part in the connection of tunnels and other urban motorways within Brisbane's Inner city. As a part of this, the Inner City Bypass has been connected to the Airport Link and the Legacy Way tolled tunnels. The Airport Link was completed in mid-2012North-South Bypass Tunnel, Brisbane, Australia
Road Traffic Technology. and the Legacy Way in late June 2015.

References

{{Road infrastructure in Brisbane Roads in Brisbane Tunnels in Queensland Tunnels completed in 2002 Transport infrastructure completed in 2002 2002 establishments in Australia Road tunnels in Australia Bypasses in Australia

Construction

Exits and interchanges

Interconnectivity

See also

References