The motorway then passes through the major tourist region of the Gold Coast, the destination for most of the vehicular traffic from Brisbane.

Within Queensland, more than a $2 billion was spent on the motorway between 1990 and 1998, including widening the road and safety measures.

The motorway then crosses the Queensland/New South Wales border via a section known as the Tugun Bypass, which passes under the runway of Gold Coast Airport.

The highest point of the motorway is 92 metres (302 ft) AHD on a cutting 130 km (81 mi) south of Brisbane (between Cudgera Creek Rd and Sleepy Hollow Rest Area).

[1] The Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the New South Wales border was originally built in the 1920s, by connecting existing dirt roads together to form one continuous route suitable for use by motor vehicles.

The new road is now the northern section of the Gold Coast Highway, between Helensvale and Loders Creek in Labrador.

In the early 1950s the highway from Mount Gravatt into Brisbane (now part of Logan Road) was the first section to be duplicated.

To reduce this, the rest of the highway south to Helensvale was duplicated gradually, until the final section at Coomera was completed in 1971.

[3] From the Albert River at Beenleigh to Coombabah Creek at Gaven, about 28 km (17 mi), the road surface is portland cement concrete.

There is a fixed speed camera on the Pacific Motorway at Holland Park West, facing northbound.

The oceanside parts of the Gold Coast are characterised by high-rises, residential canal developments, a casino, theme parks, amusement parks and numerous tourist attractions, whilst its inland suburbs are leafy and well kept, looking much like the newer suburbia of other large Australian cities.