Planning for the construction of the freeway began in 1951. Its first stage, connecting the
Bradfield Highway to
Miller Street, opened on 19 June 1968. As its name suggests, the road was envisioned as the first stage of a freeway system for Sydney's
Manly/
Warringah area. An early alignment had the freeway crossing into the Manly Warringah area via
Castlecrag, then later via
Castle Cove. The freeway was never extended in this direction due to opposition by the residents of Castlecrag. A large amount of residential and commercial property, half a golf course, and a cemetery were resumed by the government to build this freeway. The freeway originally featured a 3x2x2x3 arrangement with the inner two
carriageways both running in the same direction during peak times. The changeover process was slow both on the freeway and the Harbour Bridge, with large numbers of red plastic 'candle sticks' or 'candy bars' being manually moved four times every weekday. The original north termination point of the freeway was Chandos Street, Cammeray; with a small extension being added to Willoughby Road in 1978. through the
Parliament of New South Wales provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the
Main Roads Board (MRB). With the subsequent passing of the
Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929 to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, the
Department of Main Roads (having succeeded the MRB in 1932) declared Main Road 651 along the freeway, from the interchange with Bradfield Highway and Lavender Street in North Sydney to the interchange with Gore Hill Freeway and Willoughby Road in Naremburn (and continuing northwest along the
Gore Hill Freeway to
Lane Cove), on 22 January 1993. updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Warringah Freeway retains its declaration as part of Main Road 651. A 24-hour Bus Lane (buses, taxi cabs and hire cars) was added after the Sydney Harbour Tunnel opened in 1992. It runs southbound on the outer carriageway and across the Harbour Bridge. This has proven to be a major success, carrying more persons in the morning peak hour than all other southbound lanes combined. The first of the new Military Road ramps opened in June 2006. Most northbound traffic now has to exit from the right of the six northbound outer carriageway lanes, instead of the left. The previous exit ramp (for a right turn into Military Road) previously had three general lanes and one bus lane. There are now no general lanes, and two bus lanes. Traffic turning left into Falcon Street still uses the old ramp. The stated reason for this change is to remove all the traffic which enters the freeway at North Sydney, then exits again at Military Road, adding to peak hour delays. The route was allocated Freeway Route 1 when it was opened in 1968; when the extension to Willoughby Road opened in 1978, it was extended along with it. It was replaced by National Route 1, and State Route 28 was extended from its previous terminus (at Longueville Road and Pacific Highway in Lane Cove) along Gore Hill Freeway and Warringah Freeway to Bradfield Highway, when
Gore Hill Freeway opened in 1992. National Route 1 was diverted from Warringah Freeway along the
Sydney Harbour Tunnel at North Sydney when it was opened later in 1992. National Route 1 was replaced by Metroad 1, and State Route 28 was replaced by Metroad 2, in 1993; Metroad 2 was eventually removed when the
Lane Cove Tunnel opened in 2007. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, Metroad 1 was replaced by route M1.
Original blueprint exit Following the opening of the first section of this freeway in 1968, there were plans for six further stages to be constructed to the north. • Stage 1 – Willoughby Road extension, and a tunnel under the
North Shore Line. Planned completion 1973. Willoughby road extension completed 1978. Tunnel under the railway completed 1992 as part of the
Gore Hill Freeway. • Stage 2 – Northbridge to Castlecrag, and Wakehurst Parkway link. Planned completion 1974. Never built due to lobbying by the Castlecrag Progress Association. • Stage 3 – Bridge over
Middle Harbour between east
Castlecrag and
Seaforth. Planned completion 1974. Never built due to lobbying by the Castlecrag Progress Association. • Stage 4 –
Seaforth to
Balgowlah spur link. Planned completion 1974. Never built due to lobbying by the Castlecrag Progress Association. • Stage 5 – Upgrade of Wakehurst Parkway to freeway conditions to Warringah Road. Spur link to Manly Vale. Planned completion 1977. Partially completed (
Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation) 1985. • Stage 6 – Willoughby Road to Pacific Highway/Epping road junction. Planned completion 1980. Completed 1992 as the
Gore Hill Freeway. Various proposals over the years have been made to complete Warringah Freeway to the area of its name, due to the chronic traffic problems afflicting the North Shore from
Mosman to
Chatswood. The residents of
Castlecrag, who opposed the construction of this freeway, also suffer from these traffic problems, however, they find this preferable to the environmental and aesthetic amelioration that the area would have suffered, had the construction of Stage 3 gone ahead. In the early 2000s, one proposal from the
Liberal state opposition was for the construction of a six lane tunnel starting at the
Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation in Balgowlah, joining with Gore Hill Freeway. The Liberal Party formed state government in 2011, and the proposal became known as the
Beaches Link.
Warringah Freeway Upgrade The NSW Government proposal to build the
Western Harbour Tunnel and
Beaches Link included plans to upgrade Warringah Freeway to accommodate the tunnel entries and exits. The works were expected to take about seven years and would involve significant impacts to adjacent parks (
St Leonards and
Cammeray Golf Course) during and after construction.
Roads & Maritime Services claimed the upgrade would "streamline Australia's busiest road". In September 2021, the design and construction contract for the Warringah Freeway upgrade was awarded to
CPB Contractors and
Downer EDI. In 2023, the
state government cancelled the
Beaches Link, citing budgetary and other pressures. The local federal member for
Warringah,
Zali Steggall, criticised the decision; while the local
Willoughby City Council welcomed the move. ==Tolls==