Pacific Motorway M1 Varsity Lakes to Tugun upgrade
The $1.5 billion Pacific Motorway Varsity Lakes to Tugun (VL2T) project to upgrade 10km of the M1 has been completed.
Package A was completed in late 2022 and packages B and C were completed in 2025. The project packages included:
- Package A Varsity Lakes (Exit 85) to Burleigh (Exit 87)
- Package B Burleigh (Exit 87) to Palm Beach (Nineteenth Avenue)
- Package C Palm Beach (Nineteenth Avenue) to Tugun (Exit 95)
Benefits
- Improves safety
- Reduces travel time
- Contributes to economy
- Increases capacity
- Improves network efficiency
- Better road access
Key features
Widening 10km of the M1 from 2 to a minimum of 3 lanes in both directions between Varsity Lakes (Exit 85) and Tugun (Exit 95), including improvements to the road alignment.
- Extending all entry and exit ramps at interchanges, and significant improvements made to:
- Burleigh (Exit 87)
- Tallebudgera (Exit 89)
- Palm Beach (Exit 92).
- Widening the Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek bridges.
- Constructing a new 2-way western service road between Tallebudgera (Exit 89) and Palm Beach (Exit 92) and a new bridge over Tallebudgera Creek connecting the new western service road.
- Installing smart motorway technologies to improve travel time between Varsity Lakes and Tugun.
- Preserving the corridor for a possible future rail extension south of Varsity Lakes.
- Installing bike and pedestrian paths to improve active transport connections.
Funding
The Australian and Queensland governments committed $750 million each towards this project, in a 50:50 funding split. Investment ID 852582.
- Total investment
- $1.5 billion
- Australian Government
- $750 million
- Queensland Government
- $750 million
Key milestones
- 2020: Design complete on all 3 motorway widening packages – A, B and C.
- May 2020: Construction started on Varsity Lakes to Burleigh (Package A).
- Late 2020: Construction started on Burleigh to Palm Beach (Package B) and Palm Beach to Tugun (Package C).
- 2021: Motorway widening on all 3 packages underway across the 10km route.
- November 2022: Package A construction completed.
- April 2025: Construction on Package B completed.
- November 2025: Construction on Package C completed.
February 2022 flood event
In February 2022, a significant rain event was recorded at Tallebudgera Creek catchment. This event was catastrophic and resulted in unprecedented flooding.
In response to community concerns that works being undertaken as part of the VL2T upgrade may have contributed to increased flood levels during this extreme rainfall, an independent hydraulics specialist was engaged to undertake a full hydraulic analysis of the flooding event and its impacts.
Following the release of the independent hydraulics report in March 2023, we obtained new photographic and video evidence from property owners of the February 2022 flooding event. This information was used to improve the accuracy of the flood model used by the hydraulics specialist, with an addendum report released in July 2023.
- Download the independent hydraulics report.
- Download the addendum report.
- Download the Frequently asked questions.
M1 Varsity Lakes to Tugun upgrade construction fly through
Find more details on specific topics:
