The Sydney Orbital Network is a 110 kilometre motorway standard ring road around and through Sydney, the capital of New South Wales in Australia. It runs north from Sydney Airport, underneath the CBD to the North Shore, west to the Hills District, south to Prestons and then east to connect with the airport. Much of the road is privately owned and financed by tolls. History Planning for this beltway, orbital or ring road began as early as 1962 under the "County of Cumberland scheme" (CCS) and was talked about as far back as 1944. Then, from 1973 to 1989, things started to take shape with new sections opening-up and then further advancing by 1999. In 2007, the Lane Cove Tunnel opened, completing the orbital network. Motorways that make up the orbital road The 110 km Sydney orbital consists of several motorways and freeways, they are listed below: Eastern Distributor Southern Cross Drive General Holmes Drive M5 Motorway Westlink M7 M2 Hills Motorway Lane Cove Tunnel Gore Hill Freeway Warringah Freeway Sydney Harbour Tunnel The major sunken/underground sections of the orbital are: Sydney Harbour Tunnel Eastern Distributor M5 East tunnel Epping Tunnel (M2 Hills Motorway, although not really a major tunnel) Sunken Section of the M2 Hills Motorway (The trench between Epping Road) Lane Cove Tunnel The major elevated sections are: Parts of the Westlink M7 Parts of Southern Cross Drive and General Holmes Drive (past the airport) There is significant upgrade work occurring as part of the WestConnex project, which will see the M5 duplicated (total of 4 lanes each way) along with the addition of new freeways to the Sydney network. Tolling The Sydney Orbital Road Network consists of a number of roads built by private companies: tolling is mostly unavoidable when using the road network. A $6.95 toll was added to the M5 East motorway from King Georges Road to Marsh Street on the 5th of July 2020, to coincide with the opening of the M8 tunnel. Highway links Intercity highways are linked to the Orbital, moving traffic away from the old busy National Routes. They are: NorthConnex - linking M1 Pacific Motorway, Newcastle and Brisbane to M2 Hills Motorway M4 Motorway - linking Great Western Highway and Bathurst to Westlink M7 Hume Motorway - linking Melbourne and Canberra to M5 Motorway and Westlink M7 King Georges Road - linking Princes Highway, Princes Motorway and Wollongong to M5