New England Online > Geography > Transport > Roads & Motorways > Motorways > M2
M2 Motorway
| M2 Motorway | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Length: | 313 km |
| Direction: | North - South |
| Carrigeway: | Dual |
| Start: | Kew |
| Destinations: | Wauchope Kempsey Macksville Coffs Harbour Woolgoolga |
| End: | Yamba |
| Construction: | 2012 - 2026 |
The M2 is the major north-south road along the coast of New England. Seldom venturing more than twenty kilometres from the sea, the road connects all of the major coastal cities together along a 313 kilometre route from Kew in the south, to Yamba in the far north-east.
After the M1, the coastal M2 is one of the most important roads in the country. In terms of traffic volume, the M2 is the fourth busiest road in New England, after the M1, A1 and A2. Historically, the road was a major arterial route along eastern Australia, but with independence and the subsequent access dispute in 2014 ended the use of the roads as an international route.
Description
The motorway begins at Kew, the westernmost suburb of Laurieton, and runs north to join the M1 between Wauchope and Port Macquarie at Sancrox. After crossing the Hastings and Maria rivers, the road strikes north to Kempsey, which is bypassed to the east, with the road rejoining it's old alignment near Fredrickton. The road then proceeds to Eungai, and then on to Macksville.
From Macksville, the road follows the river down to Nambucca Heads, before veering back to the north and along the coast to Urunga. Along this section, the motorway is never more than five kilometres from the sea. After bypassing Urunga to the west, the road passes over the Kalang and Bellinger rivers and makes it's way through Bonville forest to the southern suburbs of Coffs Harbour. The section through the city was bypassed in 2014, and the road now passes over the hills at the back of the city, before returning to the coast at Moonee Beach.
After looping around Woolgoolga, the motorway veers to the north-west, away from the coast and towards Grafton. However, at Glenugie the road deviates back to the north and bypasses the majority of the middle Clarence valley. Near Tucabia, the roads intersects with the M5, and then moves along the Coldstream River to Tyndale on the South Arm of the Clarence River. The last twenty kilometres take the road near Maclean before terminating to the west of Yamba, having traveled 313 kilometres from Kew.
History
The coastal road was originally shunned as a primary route for motor traffic. When highways were first gazetted in the 1920s, the North Coast Highway was only partly sealed, flood-prone and had many river crossings requiring ferries to move vehicles. What little traffic existed preferred the Great Northern Highway along the tablelands. The road was renamed the Pacific Highway in 1931. From the 1950s, the road carried the designation of National Route 1 (see right).
Development of the road was painfully slow, and as the years went by, the road become a busy thoroughfare as the North Coast became an attractive retirement and tourist destination. Statistics from the time state that from 1950 through to 1967, traffic quadrupled along the highway. With a high fatality rate, the highway was considered to be one of the most dangerous in the country.
But it was not until two major coach accidents on the highway in 1989 near Grafton (in which 20 people died) and at Clybucca near Kempsey (in which 35 people died) resulted in a public outcry over the poor quality of the road and its high fatality rate. Government inaction ended, and road was upgraded over the next twenty years, whereby the time New England became independent in 2012, a significant amount of the road was already completed to motorway standard.
The government vowed to continue the upgrade of the road, with a major bypass of Coffs Harbour being finished in 2014. In 2016, the road became state highway 2, with upgraded sections being known as the M2. The final upgrade to the highway took place in 2026, when the Clarence valley bypass was completed. Further lane duplications around Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour have been necessary over the years, but the majority is still a four-lane dual carriageway.
Junctions
| M2 Motorway | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Southbound | Junction | Northbound | |
