Circular Quay in 1957 showing the path of the new freeway then under construction

Circular Quay with the Cahill Expressway and Circular Quay railway station in the foreground

Cahill Expressway roadway looking west

Railway level near Circular Quay railway station

View of Circular Quay from the walkway at the top of Cahill Expressway

Love it or hate it, the Cahill Expressway, which straddles the head of Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour, is one of the most recognisable bridges in Australia. The Expressway at its head, and the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge which mark its extremities, are Sydney Cove's focal points and its most identifiable features.

Sydney's first freeway - the Cahill Expressway - is that part of the southern approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge which directs traffic off and onto the bridge to and from the eastern sector of the CBD via a raised roadway on the top deck of a two level steel structure across the front of Circular Quay. The twin lines of the City Circle railway and Circular Quay station occupy the middle level of the structure, the Circular Quay ferry terminals and shops are located on the ground floor level.
The expressway was not built at the same time as the Harbour Bridge to and from which the road traffic which passes over it feeds. It was in fact built over 20 years after the Harbour Bridge was completed, at a time when bridge traffic had become so heavy, a permanent bottleneck existed at the city end of the bridge involving traffic getting onto and off of the bridge.
Like much of what was built around the world in the 1950s, it is functional though rather ugly and in a more environmentally and aesthetically conscious era would never have been allowed to be built. No concern was given to the way the freeway would cut off the city from its harbourfront location, and in spite of strong public opposition to the project, its construction went ahead on the premise of to build it was progress and one does not stand in the way of progress.

In recent years, there has been a groundswell of support for its removal as it is seen by many as an eyesore and an unnecessary barrier between the city centre and the harbour foreshore. During the run-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Federal Government offered to go halves in the cost of removing it and sinking the railway, but the NSW State Government said it could not make available the funds to finance its share, citing more important projects to spend public money on.
At the time of these negotiations, the harbour tunnel was being built and it was hoped by many that the Expressway would become unnecessary, and could therefore be pulled down, but this did not happen. The constant increase in north-south traffic using the bridge and tunnel has seen Expressway traffic on the increase again after an initial drop when the tunnel first came into use.
The Cahill Expressway is named after the then NSW Premier Joseph Cahill, who also approved construction of the Sydney Opera House. The expressway was first proposed in 1945 as part of an overall expressway plan for Sydney. Public opposition began when the proposal was first made public in 1948, with the Quay Planning Protest Committee being formed. Despite the opposition, construction on the elevated section of the expressway went ahead in 1955. The elevated section was opened on 24 March 1958. Work on the sunken section commenced almost straight away after that, and the additional section was opened on 1 March 1962.
Prior to the construction of the elevated section across Circular Quay the city railway was not a circle as it is today. The line on the east side of the city terminated at St James station and the line on the western side went north only, straight onto the Harbour Bridge. In 1958 a rail loop was built which utilised the middle deck of the Cahill Expressway to join Wynyard and St James Stations. A new station - Circular Quay - was built in the centre section above Circular Quay.
Photos: under construction

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