The route was planned as early as 1962 (even providing a proposed freeway "dotted line" in the
UBD street directories of the 1970s). The original route was to start at the
Western Distributor, connecting to
Gladesville Bridge via a new elevated freeway. The route would continue approximately to the intersection of Delhi Road and
Epping Road. As of 1963, the section of the North Western Expressway "including Gladesville Bridge, Huntleys Point interchange, Tarban Creek Bridge, Hunters Hill interchange and Fig Tree Bridge" was "in progress". The section from
Fig Tree Bridge at
Hunters Hill to
Gladesville Bridge and the Western Distributor were the only completed sections, with the former section completed in 1965 with the opening of
Tarban Creek Bridge. Work on stage one, from
Ultimo to Pyrmont Bridge Road, began in 1974. Twelve people were arrested during protests in Ultimo against the expressway, a
green ban was imposed by the
Builders Labourers Federation, and the Whitlam government threatened to cut off $42 billion in road funding if the NSW government continued with construction. As a result, construction was suspended. The
Wran government cancelled the project in 1977, as a part of a change in government policy regarding freeways.
Subsequent proposals After cancellation, the section between Fig Tree Bridge and
Lane Cove Road became part of the proposed
Castlereagh Freeway. The section between Delhi Road and Epping Road was shown on a 1984
Department of Main Roads map, but was removed by 1988 when that map was reprinted. The Castlereagh Freeway evolved to become the North West Transport Link, now the
M2 Hills Motorway, which was completed in 1997 and follows the originally planned route from Epping Road to
Seven Hills. The section between Fig Tree Bridge and Epping Road was abandoned. The corridor of land to link the F3 and the M2 via the Lane Cove Valley was reserved for road use since 1988. It was abandoned by the state government in 1996, but was retained as open space. An alternative F3 to M2 link has been built as the
NorthConnex and opened in 2020, under a different alignment. ==References==