It changes to A1 about north of Gympie
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The last bit is new to me. Tolls were last imposed on West Gate Bridge from its opening in 1978 to 1985.
Yes once the Gympie bypass is open it will change to A1 at Curra, just north of Gympie. Currently the M1 finishes as you enter Gympie from the south.
Itâs only large trucks that are going to be tolled regardless of if they take the bridge or tunnel - but the cost of that tolling filters down to consumers and will cause trucks to try and avoid the toll using Footscray Rd and the like, or going the long way around on the Ring Road depending on their destination.
Even if the bridge is still free for cars, itâs still absurd that they are getting away with putting tolls on an existing free route just to ensure the profitability of their new project.
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M6 should just be built all the way to meet M1 at Loftus from the start (and therefore become M1) - rather than going less than half the distance and needing to extended in the future.
What is missing from Sydney is improving North-South travelling. While you can use âorbitalsâ like M5-M7-M2 or M5/M8-M1-M2 to go north-south as a non-stop (and quite expensive) motorway solution, they take you a long way out of the way. Sydney needs an M3 roughly in alignment with A3 or A6. Or at least more grade separated intersections on both A6 and A3 with other major roads to speed up traffic.
A6 and Hume Hwy Bankstown especially - southbound is useless in peak with it being 5-10 minutes quicker to get off A6 through Bankstown local roads and rejoin later.
Plenty Rd in Bundoora was singled out in insurer AAMIâs Decade of Driving report for 2014-2023 released on Wednesday.
The worst road for crashes in NSW is the Hume Hwy in Liverpool, while the Bruce Hwy in Rockhampton is Queenslandâs worst and the Albany Hwy in Cannington is the most dangerous in Western Australia.
In South Australia, Marion Rd in Marion was the worst the hotspot while by Sandy Bay Rd in Sandy Bay was Tasmaniaâs worst.
The Stuart Hwy in Darwin was the most prevalent crash site in the Northern Territory, and Canberra Ave in Fyshwick is the worst in the ACT.
Melbourne car owners falling victim to secret hi-tech vehicle theft hack
Dodgy car thieves are deploying a sneaky new tactic to unlock and steal high-end sports cars without the vehicleâs keys.
Dozens of luxury car owners have fallen victim to the wave of car thefts across Melbourne that is forcing car owners to install third-party security systems.
The hack â which the Herald Sun has chosen not to detail â involves crooks bypassing the vehicleâs security system to program the car to their own spare key.
It allows thieves to break into the vehicle, reprogram their key and drive off within just a few minutes, all while the unsuspecting victimsâ keys are inside their home.
Thieves are heading to homes equipped with their own programming technology sourced from the internet and many are understood to be selling the vehicles for parts.
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Seems that thieves are exploiting weaknesses in the factory installed car alarm systems in vehicles that were built in the past 20 years, which might be state of the art at the time but are outdated now. It really makes it hard for the public to keep their cars from being stolen. I think the police and insurance companies need to update their advice on preventing car stealing.
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Maybe these will make a comeback 
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âDue to the frequent safety accidents involving new energy vehicles in China, hotels and office buildings in many places in Zhejiang Province have successfully banned new energy vehicles from being parked in underground garages, which has attracted outside attention,â the translated post stated.
The new rules have been created in response to an EV fire â believed to be a Mercedes-Benz EQE â on 1 August 2024, which caused damage to at least one apartment block and hundreds of cars, with some residents forced to relocate to shelters.
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The Melbourne Motor Show will be held at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre on 5-6 April 2025.
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The bridge maintenance has been finished early and the bridge reopens at 7pm tonight.
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Some observations about traffic in Britain and Paris vs Australia.
Thankfully jacked up Utes are rare over here, I saw maybe one a day in Britain, none in Paris. Hoons are rare here too. Probably have the equivalent of $2.80 per litre petrol prices to thank for that.
Traffic in London is probably worse than in Paris, despite Paris having higher population density. Though Paris Metro trains seemed more crowded than London Underground, that could be a factor. Both are definitely worse than anything in Australia. Doesnât help that motorways donât go anywhere near the city centre anywhere except up in Glasgow,
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Yes Glasgow is certainly an anomaly with the motorway going right through the centre of the city. Canât think of another UK city where that happens. It is such a relief not having roads full of Rangers and Hi-Luxes though lol.
I was surprised in Germany earlier in the year that there werenât more electric cars on the road. There were some although not many Teslaâs. It seems like thereâs more electric cars on the road in our big cities.
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Really? Thats interesting because Iâm pretty sure the road system in Paris is worse then it is over here. lol
Only in America!
Saw these today whilst in San.Francisco.
Several self driving taxis (Jaguar i-Pace)
And a Tesla Cybertruck. Looks like a giant garbage bin tipped on its side with wheels stuck on. Looks kinda cool in the flesh though.
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Have a look at this video on the Waymo cars:
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âIt could be many years before the project completes,â (Transport for NSW deputy secretary Camilla) Drover said.
"Some advice from the contractor is definitely more than 24 months.
âWhether itâs up to three years or longer, weâre still working through that.â
At the centre of the problem is a 244-metre stretch of tunnel on the southern end of the motorway, as it comes to the surface at Kogarah.
Ms Drover said the shallow depth, combined with soft ground, made tunnelling more challenging than expected.
âThe prior use of this area, it was used as landfill. So itâs not solid,â she said.
âWe will stabilise the ground [with] grout injection and then tunnelling will recommence,â she said.
A new tunnelling method will need to be approved, and water, gas and electricity lines may have to be relocated.
Roads Minister John Graham said the rest of the project was on track.
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The Victorian Governmentâs Department of Transport and Planning is changing names⌠Yet again. As of yesterday, itâs now âTransport Victoriaâ.
They spoke to Ali Moore on 774 ABC Melbourne radio yesterday:
I still think they made a mistake 5 years ago when they split-up VicRoads, moving the majority out into the DoT (with the former simply remaining for licensing and registration). It just seems, both from a government/corporate and operations/public level, that the body has struggled to amalgamate roads and public transport all into one, this includes things like legislation, policy, planning, engineering, administration, operational control centres, maintenance, customer service and communications. All having individual groups, locations and divisions. Just seems unnecessarily convoluted.
What was wrong with DoT (government), VicRoads (roads - everything) and MetLink > PTV (Metro Trains & V/Line, Yarra Trams & the various bus operators)?
The response online has been largely negative, citing more waste of taxpayer money and time.
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