Increased tolls for motorists using M2 Drivers hit in the pocket: motorists will have to pay $6.05 each way to use the M2. Photo: Getty Images Traffic is flowing more freely on the M2 motorway from today but motorists will be slugged $6.05 each way for the privilege. After more than two years of road widening work which badly clogged traffic on the motorway in morning and afternoon peak, the toll at the main plaza of the M2 jumped from $4.95 from Thursday. The project, which began under the previous Labor government, ran $50 million over budget and six months behind schedule. Tolls are expected to last until 2046 and will rise each quarter. Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the 100,000 motorists using the tollway each day understood there was a "price for progress." He said traffic flows showed a marked improvement on the upgrade's first morning of operation on Thursday. "The upgrade aims to reduce congestion during busy afternoon and morning peak times and improve access to Sydney's orbital network for the growing north-west community," he said. The project added a third lane in each direction, and built four new on and off ramps at Windsor Road, Baulkham Hills and Christie Road and Herring Road at Macquarie Park. The Norfolk Tunnel was also widened in both directions. Speed limits, which dropped to as low as 40km/h during construction, have been increased to 80km/h and 100km/h in some sections. Mr Gay said widening an operating motorway was a "complex" task. The government resisted calls to reduce the toll on the M2 during construction work, but struck a deal with the operator, Transurban, to freeze tolls until the main upgrade was finished. An extension of the M2 toll, as well as that on the M7 and Lane Cove tunnel, has been mooted to help fund Transurban's proposed $2.65 billion link between the M2 and the F3.