It continues north, skirting the western edge of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, running parallel with the railway line until it descends to the Hawkesbury River, crossing at Kangaroo Point in Brooklyn.

At Mount White there are major heavy vehicle checking stations on both northbound and southbound carriageways, to assess compliance and roadworthiness of trucks.

After Kariong, the motorway continues through rural and semi-rural areas of the Central Coast with interchanges at Ourimbah, Tuggerah, Warnervale and Kiar, near Doyalson.

At the West Wallsend interchange, eastbound traffic travels along Newcastle Link Road (route A15) into Newcastle via Wallsend, and westbound traffic travels along Hunter Expressway (route M15) towards Kurri Kurri and Singleton, while the motorway continues north to eventually terminate at a signalised intersection with Weakleys Drive and John Renshaw Drive, in Beresfield.

Planning for a freeway began in 1952, with the aim of providing a high-speed replacement for a section of Pacific Highway that had been built in 1925–30 which was struggling to cope with the increased traffic.

With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, National Highway 1 was replaced with route M1, and Sydney-Newcastle Expressway was officially renamed as M1 Pacific Motorway.

[33] This section of John Renshaw Drive and Pacific Highway between these two points is currently a major bottleneck during holiday and long weekend periods, with delays lasting hours not uncommon.

[38][39] These events have encouraged the NSW motoring organisation NRMA to call for more freight to be moved by rail to reduce the number of trucks using the motorway.

[40] Bushfires have caused closure of the motorway and the nearby railway line and Pacific Highway between Sydney and the Hawkesbury River on a number of occasions.

The fire forced the closure of the two roads and the railway line between Sydney and the Central Coast, resulting in extended disruption to traffic flow.

[citation needed] Because of the frequency of these disruptions to traffic flow, arguments for a second major freeway north from the Sydney metropolitan area continue to be pushed forward.