The first private land sale occurred on Gympie Road near Kedron Brook in 1857. Farms, slaughter yards and tanneries were common sites along Gympie Road prior to World War I. The tram line from the Brisbane CBD was extended to Kedron Park Hotel in 1914, Lutwyche Cemetery in 1925 and Chermside in 1947. The tram service was closed in 1968 and replaced with diesel buses. In 1922, there was a proposal to build Anzac Avenue as a memorial to those who died in World War I. The memorial avenue was to run from Brisbane CBD to Redcliffe. This proposal would use and rename Gympie Road for the northward part of the route and then extend it eastwards towards Redcliffe. However, in its final form, Anzac Avenue commenced at Petrie rather than Brisbane and so Gympie Road was only renamed from Petrie onwards. The first segment of Anzac Avenue from Petrie to Kallangur was formerly Gympie Road. However, at Kallangur, Anzac Avenue left Gympie Road to go east, leaving parts of Gympie Road going north through Kallangur to Burpengary disconnected from the Brisbane to Petrie section. The segment from Kallangur to Burpengary was later renamed Old Gympie Road. The first integrated shopping mall in Queensland opened on the corner of Gympie Road and Hamilton Road, Chermside in 1957. Originally called the Chermside Drive-in Shopping Centre, it has extended on many occasions and is now Westfield Chermside. The route was formerly part of the Bruce Highway and carried the designation National Route 1 until the Gateway Bridge opened in 1986. The route has since had the designations of Alt Route 1 and Metroad 3.
Future
is planning for the Kedron to Bracken Ridge section of the Northern Busway that will generally follow Gympie Road.
Gympie Road has the following interfaces with the Airport Link tunnel:
Northbound carriageway - traffic from either direction exiting the Airport Link can enter Gympie Road about 650 metres north of its southern end.
Southbound carriageway - traffic wishing to proceed in either direction on Airport Link can exit Gympie Road about 500 metres from its southern end.
Southern end - traffic proceeding north from Lutwyche Road and wishing to travel east on Airport Link can cross the southbound carriageway under traffic light control and exit Gympie Road at its southern end.
