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

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, 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 also colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD", "the city", or simply "town". The CBD is located on a point ...

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 The M7 Clem Jones Tunnel (CLEM7), known during its development as the North–South Bypass Tunnel (NSBT), is a A$3.2 billion motorway grade toll road under the Brisbane River, between Woolloongabba and Bowen Hills in Brisbane, Queensland. ...

, AirportLink Tunnel and Lutwyche Road following the Exhibition railway line for the majority of its length. The route is mark 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 The Brisbane Showgrounds (formerly known as the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) is a multi-purpose venue located in Bowen Hills, Queensland, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Australia. Established in 1875, it hosts more than 250 events each year, the larges ...

. The ICB, built by the

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC, also known as Council) is the local government of the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. The largest local government in Australia by population, BCC's jurisdiction includes 2 ...

, 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

Construction

The ICB was laid in vacant land or connected pre-existing streets in Brisbane. 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 The Hale Street link to Coronation Drive was widened in 1994 along Boomerang Street, at a site which would later form the entrance to the ICB and the connection to the Go Between Bridge. This site was previously occupied by the Arnott's Biscuit Factory and adjoining carpark, which were controversially demolished. Hale Street originally ran only between Milton Road and Musgrave Road. The ICB was built along vacant land, rail yards and playing fields. Gilchrist Avenue in Victoria Park previously extended to and joined Kelvin Grove Road, before being removed to make way for the ICB. 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 funded 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.

Exits and interchanges

The road is within the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the

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

Interconnectivity

Although not constructed as part of the

TransApex TransApex was 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 central busine ...

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 The M5 Legacy Way (formerly Northern Link Tunnel) is a long tunnel linking the Western Freeway at Toowong and the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. The project consisted of two bored tunnels carrying two motorway grade lanes of tr ...

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