In 2005, a major upgrade of the Gateway Motorway was announced.
Leighton Contractors and joint venture partner Abigroup won the contract to upgrade the motorway.
The A$1.88 billion Gateway Upgrade Project includes the duplication of the Gateway Bridge and upgrades to 20 km (12 mi) of the Gateway Motorway from Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Road in the south to Nudgee Road in the north.
The bridge duplication was the largest bridge and road development in Queensland's history.
 The duplicate bridge was specified to have a design life of 300 years.

To the south, the upgrade included widening 12 km (7 mi) of the Gateway Motorway from 4 to 6 lanes.
To the north, it involved the construction of the 7 km (4 mi) Gateway Motorway deviation, an entirely new six-lane motorway between the Gateway Bridge and Nudgee Road.
The deviation runs east of the original motorway through Brisbane Airport Corporation land and provides an alternative means of access to Brisbane Airport (the only effective access from the south).
The new bridge provides a bicycle path unlike the first crossing.

The Wynnum Road upgrade was completed on 13 July 2007 and 2 additional southbound lanes between the Port of Brisbane Motorway and Wynnum Road completed in late 2007.
Four of six lanes of the new Gateway Motorway deviation were opened in July 2009.
All works south of the river were complete by the end of 2009 after 10 years of constant roadwork and traffic disruption.
 The final concrete pour linking the sides of the new bridge was made in late October 2009.
A total of 748 concrete segments, which are supported by 17 piers, were placed for the new bridge.

The duplicate bridge was completed in May 2010 along with the remaining lanes of the Gateway Motorway deviation.

In October 2010, then Minister for Main Roads, Craig Wallace, announced that the original course of the Gateway Motorway via Eagle Farm would be renamed to Southern Cross Way, after Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's aircraft, the Southern Cross, which landed at Eagle Farm in 1928, and so as to avoid confusion with the newly opened Gateway Motorway deviation.
The new Gateway Motorway deviation was given the name Gateway Motorway.
However, like the renaming of the bridges themselves, the change to Southern Cross Way was not without controversy, attracting criticism from the then Shadow Minister for Main Roads and Transport, Fiona Simpson.

Refurbishment of the existing bridge was completed in November 2010.
In 2005, a major upgrade of the Gateway Motorway was announced. Leighton Contractors and joint venture partner Abigroup won the contract to upgrade the motorway. The A$1.88 billion Gateway Upgrade Project includes the duplication of the Gateway Bridge and upgrades to 20 km (12 mi) of the Gateway Motorway from Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Road in the south to Nudgee Road in the north. The bridge duplication was the largest bridge and road development in Queensland's history.  The duplicate bridge was specified to have a design life of 300 years.
To the south, the upgrade included widening 12 km (7 mi) of the Gateway Motorway from 4 to 6 lanes. To the north, it involved the construction of the 7 km (4 mi) Gateway Motorway deviation, an entirely new six-lane motorway between the Gateway Bridge and Nudgee Road. The deviation runs east of the original motorway through Brisbane Airport Corporation land and provides an alternative means of access to Brisbane Airport (the only effective access from the south). The new bridge provides a bicycle path unlike the first crossing.
The Wynnum Road upgrade was completed on 13 July 2007 and 2 additional southbound lanes between the Port of Brisbane Motorway and Wynnum Road completed in late 2007. Four of six lanes of the new Gateway Motorway deviation were opened in July 2009. All works south of the river were complete by the end of 2009 after 10 years of constant roadwork and traffic disruption.  The final concrete pour linking the sides of the new bridge was made in late October 2009. A total of 748 concrete segments, which are supported by 17 piers, were placed for the new bridge.
The duplicate bridge was completed in May 2010 along with the remaining lanes of the Gateway Motorway deviation.
In October 2010, then Minister for Main Roads, Craig Wallace, announced that the original course of the Gateway Motorway via Eagle Farm would be renamed to Southern Cross Way, after Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's aircraft, the Southern Cross, which landed at Eagle Farm in 1928, and so as to avoid confusion with the newly opened Gateway Motorway deviation. The new Gateway Motorway deviation was given the name Gateway Motorway. However, like the renaming of the bridges themselves, the change to Southern Cross Way was not without controversy, attracting criticism from the then Shadow Minister for Main Roads and Transport, Fiona Simpson.
Refurbishment of the existing bridge was completed in November 2010.
Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges