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[Wikigav]

When this road opended it was a new thing for sydney, the first complete cashless, pay per kilometre system in Sydney. It also finally complete the Sydney Ring Road project, linking up the major motorways and highways. At a lenght of 40 kilometres it is also handy to avoid travelling through inner city traffic. The M stands for Motorway, which in other words means it is tolled and most likely privately owned.

My Favourite picture of the Light Horse Interchange, M7 meets the M4 while under construction - true spaghetti junction


Another pic of it finished at night


Again


The plan for the interchange


Heading south near the beginning of the freeway from the M2 Hills Motorway


Read More here at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westlink_M7

This thread is here to discuss anything related to the Motorway.

[V'Ger]

That's beautiful.

[Shadow Assassin]

Ah, how European is the M7?

[Chris]

So "motorways" are always tolled in Australia and "freeways" are toll free? Because motorways in Europe (they use the British English term mostly here) are often toll free.

[rawr apples]

not too sure about australia's road system, just remember. Different countries, different systems, different ways of operating. Like Germany and its no speed limits, except in that one state

[Shadow Assassin]

Keep in mind, guys, that the usage of the word "motorway" differs from state to state.

NSW and Victoria use Motorway to describe roads that have tolls on them (eg. M7 Motorway, M4 Motorway), and Freeway to describe roads that are otherwise "free" (eg. Sydney-Newcastle Fwy). QLD use motorways exclusively, whether or not they are tolled (eg. Pacific Motorway, Gateway Motorway). WA use freeways exclusively (eg. Mitchell Freeway, Graham Farmer Fwy).

So, yeah, it does differ from state to state.

[Shadow Assassin]

Since the M7 was built (this photo's on the M2 just before that photo shown above), there are so many choices of how to get to Blacktown.

Image courtesy of OzRoads

[A200]

Hello

I am new here 

Just wanted to make a point-

In QLD, most motorways and highways are toll free.

However, in Brisbane, the Logan Mwy has tolls on it, as is the Gateway Bridge (on the Gateway Mwy). There are no other tolls on the Gateway.

With the new tunnels being built- Airport Link, the NSBT (Clem Jones Tunnel), the Hale Street Link, the Northern Link and eventually the East-West Link, they will all be tolled- using automatic tolling systems (E-Toll I think it's called).

The Gov. also announced that from July 1, the Gateway & Logan Mwys will be E-Toll only, and those without an E-Toll tag can still go through, but will have to pay the full toll fare, as well as an extra 40c to the government. The E-Toll tags will be free to purchase (I believe) but you will need to pay $$$ to top it up for use.

Yeah QLDs road naming is really confusing, especially with all the different M1s, M2s, M3s etc and "highways" and "motorways" and "expressways". Really confuses many people.

Regards

Lachlan

[WillWeaverRVA]

Isn't the Westlink M7 owned/maintained by Transurban?

[Shadow Assassin]

Yes, Transurban does maintain the M7 motorway: same with the M2, M4 and M5 motorways and the Eastern Distributor.

Incidentally, they also own and maintain two freeways in Virginia: Pocahontas 895 and Interstate 495 (or at least the HOT lanes on the Capital Beltway).

[njroadhorse]

Is the tolling system on it like our EZPass/Tolltag systems?

[Wikigav]

Is the tolling system on it like our EZPass/Tolltag systems? 

Hmm, im not sure what system your referring to, is it Australia based or elsewhere in the world?. As for the tolling it is completely cash free electronic tagging and pay per kilometre. You can pay the toll within a certain time window after using the road if you dont have a tag. (48 hours i believe). There is no official single tag but from the Roads and Traffic Authority you can pig up an E-tag to work on all tollways in the Sydney region. Transurban has its own one for the motorways it owns. The first example i can think of is like the Sunpass tag on Florida's Turnpike. Im not sure that will help.