This video provides a comprehensive tour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Anzac Bridge, Western Distributor Freeway, Eastern Distributor, Warringah Freeway, Cross City Tunnel and Cahill Expressway.
Outstanding video, probably your best yet from Australia. So much to see, my head would be on a swivel driving through there, as is the case with some of your other Australia videos in urban areas, there's a whole lot going in in a very short distance, the soundtrack worked very well and you got the most out of it, synched it like a boss! Faved.
I had a feeling you would really enjoy this one. Yes, you are right....there is *A LOT* going in such relatively short distances in this video. A little bit of everything in an almost literal sense, from 16 lane sections of freeway in a collector/distributor set up (the Warringah Freeway), iconic, world class bridges, narrow tunnels, viaducts, unforgettable skyline views, freeways that go literally underneath skyscrapers...yeah, there's so much to see here. Glad you enjoyed the soundtrack as well; it took me 9+ months to finally find one that I thought would hit all the right points and allow for me to present the video in the way that I had it all drawn up in my head. One recommendation...go back to the 4:47 mark, then slow down the video on RU-vid to .25% of the original speed...just to get a real grasp of how intricate and impressive those giant flyovers and viaducts really are, until you enter the Cross City Tunnel. Makes my mouth foam, every time I re-watch that footage. Thanks for watching!
There's a lot going on in the urban sprawl of Sydney, a tight mix of highways, skyscrapers and infrastructure. The two bridges were iconic, and that soundtrack was brilliant, dynamic and fitting for the urban tour. Excellent video!
Thanks! Yes, that view coming into the CBD along the Western Distributor reminds me quite a bit of approaching Manhattan. I'm back in the "game" as of late...released a Sea Cliff Bridge video 2 weeks ago, and I'm currently done with the sign-editing for my upcoming Brisbane-area video, which means I should have my new video out sometime later this week. Cheers.
Yes Australian freeways aren't equivalent to US interstate, especially in Sydney. Many of you have commented "lot's going on" and that's being polite. Sydney's road infrastructure is chaotic and uncoordinated with no proper linked freeways. Driving in LA by comparison is relaxing! But as Brent rightly point's out you do get some spectacular sight's similar to San Francisco or Seattle.
the problem with sydney is they love to build these high rise apartments everywhere even in the outer suburbs without acknowledging that there needs to be sufficient roads and major freeways to support this. The planning of road infrastructure is a mess. When I saw the footage of the airport tunnel I thought I was dreaming for a second because I have never seen it that quiet. That tunnel is useless from 6am-8pm Mon-Saturday cos its packed like Sardines . M4 is another example of poor decision making at the top. Why build a major freeway that end 10km from the city center then force everyone including truck drivers to use a poor piece of road infrastructure called Paramatta rd?! Even the 2 lane freeways are mind boggling
I agree, yes the views are great and this video is actually pretty cool with cool music. One of the problems is the State Govt allowing so many different contractors to fund these projects with so many hands in the pie no one coordinates with each other or with the govt effectively to create cohesive infrastructure with wide enough motorways. The results means different strategies from one section to another, with so much un-co signage thats too small to read and so many tolls. Though I do like the Pacific Motorway its great.
@@Skybar23 Yeah. Well, at least the Westconnex tunnels are now partially completed. I haven't been through them yet as I haven't been back to Sydney in 1 1/2 years, but they seem to have made a huge difference in getting into and out of Sydney. Really looking forward to the day when the whole Westconnex project is done.
Great video! That's some crazy infrastructure around the CBD, all those exits and tight turns in quick succession. The Warringah Freeway is also the busiest in Australia if I'm not mistaken.
A very short stretch of it carries somewhere around 240,000 vpd, where traffic from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour Tunnel combine onto the Warringah Freeway, but quite a bit of it immediately exits off the Military Road ramps. I haven't been able to determine how many vehicles per day actually use the freeway lanes, just north of Military Road. Glad you enjoyed, King of European roads!
The next freeway tour video (when I'm able to get around to it) will be either the Brisbane, Australia CBD freeway tour, or the downtown Portland freeway tour. Cheers!
Thank you, Mr. King of Ontario roads! It is indeed a spectacular city...you'll love all the inner city districts...tons of walkable districts, full of restaurants, cafes, bars, lounges, coffee houses, all with their own character. One of the world's great cities, no doubt.
Great video! Some of the most impressive highway infrastructure I've ever seen the way the lanes weave through and around some of these buildings.Cool soundtrack too!
Yeah, man. The freeway infrastructure that exists within 5 or so miles of Sydney's CBD is mind-blowing. Even the suburban freeways have some interesting features to them. I'm waiting for the end of 2017, when the M4 motorway widening project to 8 lanes with some super-impressive flyover connections to the local street/thoroughfare grid, is set to be completed. Will love featuring that, along with the Light Horse Interchange where the M4/M7 motorways meet up, which is the largest stack interchange in Australia. In the future, an intricate network of additional freeway tunnels (and possibly even another Sydney Harbour freeway crossing) are all set to commence construction. Will love featuring those on my FreewayBrent page, along with the Light Horse Interchange where the M4/M7 motorways meet up, which is the largest stack interchange in Australia. Oh, and in case you're wondering...I'm in a committed, long-distance relationship with my g/f who lives in Sydney, which is why all of these Australia videos started popping up from me over the past year. We'll eventually be getting married. Thanks for watching, dude!
Thank you! Sorry I'm responding 4 years later, haha. Did you ever check out my Auckland-area videos by any chance? The Auckland Harbour Bridge and Waterview Connection ones.
Yeah, wow indeed! One of my favorite driving experiences of my life = driving around the freeways, tunnels and bridges entering and exiting Sydney's CBD. Thanks for watching, dude!
It looks just like entering. New York City only on the left side of the road. BTW I was watching these vids to see how roads in Australia look like... I wanna go there 😀
Wow...I didn't even see your comment until now. Yeah, there is definitely a feeling of entering the Aussie version of NYC along the Western Distributor Freeway. Sorry for the late response; been busy. I did however release a new Aussie video, showcasing the spectacular Sea Cliff Bridge, and I've got another Aussie freeway video, this time based out of Brisbane, that I should be releasing later this week or early next week. Cheers!
Seems like you picked a good time of the day to drive.. so many of those roads are parking lots during peak hour. As someone else commented, it's only so jam-packed because of poor planning and so they have to fit whatever they can. More and more we are having to go underground to tunnels to get some proper roads built in Australia. On another note, having recently been in Tokyo, the roadways between the buildings there take it to a whole other level above this in Sydney. Great video.
It's been awhile since I've laid back to enjoy 'FreewayBrent' and this one was amazing! Great music, views of the city's architect and traffic. Can't believe i only witness one motorbike throughout the video, where are their bike riders?
*The Wiggles are from the Sydney Opera House. The one girl and three boys include Emma, Lachy, Simon, and Anthony. The four animals include Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, and Captain Feathersword the Pirate.*
Thank you for watching and commenting! I think you would also like my "Driving Into Brisbane" video a lot. Here's the video link to the video, if you want to watch sometime. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9rhnH2Dtkj4.html
*New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia are also part of the region Australasia. They also exclude Fiji and Nauru. It's on the Western Pacific Ocean.* PLACE IN THE NEWS: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *Sydney is the capital city of the Australian state of New South Wales. It's near the Tasman Sea. The Sydney Harbour Bridge, across Sydney Harbor, is in Sydney. Sydney is Australia's biggest city, also with the Anzac Bridge in the west. It's in eastern Australia. The Warringah Freeway is in northern Sydney.*
Nice job Brent and if you're wondering the Harbour Bridge is also used by city rail Sydney trains with them going to the western suburbs via Central station. Regarding the Australian motorists they seem to be better than their us counterparts due to many speed cameras
Thanks, man! I've been on those trains before; very convenient and easy to navigate. During my next visit, starting in the middle of this month, I'll be using the trains w/my Opal transit card to get to my lady's place for the first day, before using them again the following day to pick up my rental car. The speed cameras are annoying, but they *do* curb a lot of aggressive driving. Not sure if I'm for or against them.
Thank you! As for the electronic tolling...I'm not 100% sure how I would go about getting something similar, as I rent from a Hertz location when I visit. For a one time fee of $16.99, Hertz activates the tag sticker in my rental vehicle, and then I pay the toll, plus a 3% surcharge per toll. About 30 days after I return the vehicle, Hertz will automatically deduct the tolls from my credit card on file. Figure that's a lot more convenient (and worth the extra money) than trying to track down and remember all the toll booths I pass through.
I'm not sure if there's more money thrown towards litter cleanup, if there's heavier fines for littering, if Aussie's are generally more self-conscious about not littering, or if it's just a combination of everything I listed, but you are def. right, there's very little litter compared to American freeways. You won't see any litter either in my newest freeway video that I just released this morning from Brisbane. Gateway Bridge & Motorway. Cheers!
Hey there! There is definitely some cut-and-paste editing, plus layering involved in getting my signs to look the way they do. I actually utilize a pretty simple program (paint.net), plus Microsoft Powerpoint to make the signage. All the video editing is done on Adobe Elements, although I might give Filmora Pro a chance in the future.
*Oceania is the smallest continent. People call Australasia-Oceania "The Land Down Under". That's because most of the continent lies in the southern hemisphere.* *Canberra is the capital city of Australia. It's nicknamed the Bush Capital City. Australia's biggest city is Sydney. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a bridge in Australia, across Sydney Harbor.*
Sydney did have a major freeway plan but the inner sections of of many freeways were cancelled under the Wran state Labor government and the reservations sold, not unlike the freeway revolts in San Francisco that stopped the Central Freeway and Embarcadero Freeway. The Western Distributor was to connect to the M4 and M2 - the latter via the Gladesville Bridge which has a bit of freeway standard road either side for that reason. The M5 and F6 from the south were to connect in with the Captain Cook Bridge the only inner part of the F6 built to date. North of the Harbour bridge the Newcastle Freeway was to connect also. Originally they had the routes F2, F3, F4, F5 and F6 on US interstate-style route shields ... www.ozroads.com.au/NSW/RouteNumbering/Freeway%20Routes/04.JPG A short F7 was to connect from the eastern suburbs with only the bypass of Bondi Junction built. Traffic congestion has forced the completion of the Roads with Westconnex under construction to join the M4 and M5 to the Western Distributor and Northconnex the M2 and Newcastle freeways ... www.westconnex.com.au/ www.northconnex.com.au/ Westconnex has also seen the widening of the M4 and M5 with Sydney traditionally having notoriously narrow urban freeways with 2 lanes each way.
Released my Sea Cliff Bridge video 2 weeks ago, and I've got another freeway video from Brisbane, that I should be releasing sometime later this week or early next week. Cheers, mate!
The Warringah Freeway was the only American style urban freeway that was ever built in Sydney before all other freeway construction was halted due to people protesting the scale of urban destruction. As a result, all new 'freeway' grade roads built ever since in the urban area are usually in tunnels, only 2 lanes in each direction (with absolutely no hope of expansion), narrow lane widths and no shoulders for emergencies as a result of designing roads to avoid as much urban impact as possible. I wouldn't even be angry if the state government chose to spend money on expanding public transport with the money they saved on freeway construction, but they didn't! They just sat on their fat arses and did nothing. So as a result, most of us have to drive. Just great!
I absolutely love the overpasses along the Warringah Freeway. Especially the High Street overpass; that looks straight out of a 1960's to early 70's Caltrans playbook; totally looks like it would belong in Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay Area, with the concrete casing and guardrail style. Fun fact; the same engineering design company that helped Caltrans design their freeways in the 60's also made its mark in Sydney and the NSW government at the time. Hence, the very similar look to a California freeway. As for the tunnels...well, at least the M5 is having its lane counts doubled when work there wraps up. It also appears that the WestConnex project will include 8 lanes for the tunnel from the M5 to where it will meet up with the M4 (the interchange that will continue to the Anzac Bridge).
Another great bit of 1960s freeway in Sydney is the section of Burns Bay Road immediately north of the Gladesville Bridge - particularly the section of road around the Church St/Hunters Hill interchange. It was never used to its full potential - it would have served as a link between the Sydney CBD and the M1 and M2 (the Gore Hill Freeway/Lane Cove Tunnel would not have been built). Because of that, it is massively overengineered for its present purpose, so it's basically been untouched since construction. It definitely feels like a bit of 1960s/70s Californian freeway construction. The Westconnex tunnel between the planned F6 link and the St Peters interchange will have 10 lanes...which is amazing! I think it's the section between St Peters and the Anzac Bridge interchange that will have 8 lanes, and the rest will be 6 lanes. What's even more interesting about the Westconnex tunnels is that every single onramp will diverge and then allow motorists to choose between merging onto the left lane or right lane of the carriageway to reduce weaving (which seems a bit overkill).
It's actually looking a lot more likely that my family will be moving to the US instead. But...in the mean time, I'll be back in Sydney and Auckland in a month from now!
I thought the same thing; much of it looked like the Central Artery and Storrow Drive, and other segments reminded me of the East River Drive in Manhattan.
Not sure yet. I might feature something from Los Angeles for my next video. I have enough footage for about 10 more videos from Australia...that is, until I move there in 2018! I'll be recording the newly widened M4 motorway in Sydney's suburbs, when the construction wraps up in the middle of this year.
