Type Motorway Via Sydney Airport | Length 5 km Major cities Sydney | |
 | ||
Route number(s) (No shield)
Joyce Drive to Southern Cross Drive
M1 (2013–present)
Southern Cross Drive to M5 Motorway
A1 (2013–present)
M5 Motorway to The Grand Parade Former
route number Metroad 1 (1993–2013)
Southern Cross Drive to The Grand Parade
National Route 1 (??-1993)
Southern Cross Drive to The Grand Parade NW end Joyce Drive
Mascot, Sydney SE end The Grand Parade (A1)
Brighton-Le-Sands, Sydney Major suburbs / towns Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport | ||
General Holmes Drive is a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) major divided road located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The road forms part of the M1, the A1, the Sydney Orbital Network, and the Australian Highway 1 network. Initially built in 1919 as a two-lane road and duplicated in 1951, the road partially circumnavigates Sydney Airport with its north-western terminus in Mascot, heading east and then south and then south-east, with its south-eastern terminus with The Grand Parade in Ramsgate.
Contents
Map of General Holmes Dr, New South Wales, Australia
The road forms major links with the Southern Cross Drive and the M5 East, both part of the Sydney Orbital Network.
The road is named in honour of William Holmes, a distinguished Australian general who died in action during World War I.
Route
In the northwest, General Holmes Drive starts from Joyce Drive in Mascot, and heads east, reaching a major intersection with Wentworth Drive that carries all traffic exiting from the domestic terminals at Sydney Airport. Further east in Botany, the road meets the Mill Pond Road, a short road that connects with the Southern Cross Drive, carrying traffic north towards the Sydney central business district, with the south-westbound route providing access to both the international and the domestic terminals at Sydney Airport. Via an interchange, General Holmes Drive heads south, forming a junction with Foreshore Drive that carries traffic to Port Botany and La Perouse. General Holmes Drive then heads through the Sydney Airport Tunnel, an eight-lane tidal flow culvert under the south-eastern runways of Sydney Airport. As the road exits the tunnel, there is a major exit to the M5 East. The road crosses over the Cooks River via the Endeavour Bridge, continues southeast into the suburbs of Kyeemagh and Brighton-Le-Sands, before terminating in Ramsgate at the junction with The Grand Parade that carrier traffic towards Sutherland and Wollongong.
Traffic runs in three lanes in both directions through Kyeemagh, becoming four lanes after the M5 East junction. The M5 East can only be accessed southbound, and traffic joins General Holmes Drive northbound.
Several major billboards are situated towards the northwestern terminus of the General Holmes Drive.