Editor’s letter

Now that the Pacific Highway upgrade is finally complete, how has it changed our lives?

Journalist Matthew Condon calls it the “mental map” engraved in the memories of many Australians who have made that epic drive on the Pacific Highway between Brisbane and Sydney. The familiar roadside rest stops, the favourite coffee stops, the best pie place, the dreaded holiday bottlenecks; the shock of flashing lights and wailing sirens whizzing by. And then the waiting, for the past quarter century, for the upgrade to be completed.

The final phase of the largest road infrastructure project in Australia was opened in December and Matt has driven the complete dual carriageway, talking to residents along the way. How have the bypassed towns survived? How has the journey changed? And, most importantly, how many lives have been saved?