diff --git a/cli/commands/bridge/to-l1.ts b/cli/commands/bridge/to-l1.ts
index 1d6506a31..42f319eb4 100644
--- a/cli/commands/bridge/to-l1.ts
+++ b/cli/commands/bridge/to-l1.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { loadEnv, CLIArgs, CLIEnvironment } from '../../env'
 import { logger } from '../../logging'
 import { getAddressBook } from '../../address-book'
 import { getProvider, sendTransaction, toGRT } from '../../network'
-import { chainIdIsL2 } from '../../utils'
+import { chainIdIsL2 } from '../../cross-chain'
 import { loadAddressBookContract } from '../../contracts'
 import { L2TransactionReceipt, L2ToL1MessageStatus, L2ToL1MessageWriter } from '@arbitrum/sdk'
 import { L2GraphTokenGateway } from '../../../build/types/L2GraphTokenGateway'
diff --git a/cli/commands/bridge/to-l2.ts b/cli/commands/bridge/to-l2.ts
index 32b8aef74..1caf008d9 100644
--- a/cli/commands/bridge/to-l2.ts
+++ b/cli/commands/bridge/to-l2.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,11 @@
+import { Argv } from 'yargs'
+import { utils } from 'ethers'
+import { L1TransactionReceipt, L1ToL2MessageStatus, L1ToL2MessageWriter } from '@arbitrum/sdk'
+
 import { loadEnv, CLIArgs, CLIEnvironment } from '../../env'
 import { logger } from '../../logging'
-import { getProvider, sendTransaction, toGRT } from '../../network'
-import { BigNumber, utils } from 'ethers'
-import { parseEther } from '@ethersproject/units'
-import {
-  L1TransactionReceipt,
-  L1ToL2MessageStatus,
-  L1ToL2MessageWriter,
-  L1ToL2MessageGasEstimator,
-} from '@arbitrum/sdk'
-import { chainIdIsL2 } from '../../utils'
-import { Argv } from 'yargs'
+import { getProvider, sendTransaction, toGRT, ensureAllowance, toBN } from '../../network'
+import { chainIdIsL2, estimateRetryableTxGas } from '../../cross-chain'
 
 const logAutoRedeemReason = (autoRedeemRec) => {
   if (autoRedeemRec == null) {
@@ -49,95 +44,75 @@ export const sendToL2 = async (cli: CLIEnvironment, cliArgs: CLIArgs): Promise<v
   logger.info(`>>> Sending tokens to L2 <<<\n`)
 
   // parse provider
+  const l1Provider = cli.wallet.provider
   const l2Provider = getProvider(cliArgs.l2ProviderUrl)
+  const l1ChainId = cli.chainId
   const l2ChainId = (await l2Provider.getNetwork()).chainId
-  if (chainIdIsL2(cli.chainId) || !chainIdIsL2(l2ChainId)) {
+  if (chainIdIsL2(l1ChainId) || !chainIdIsL2(l2ChainId)) {
     throw new Error(
       'Please use an L1 provider in --provider-url, and an L2 provider in --l2-provider-url',
     )
   }
-  const gateway = cli.contracts['L1GraphTokenGateway']
-  const l1GRT = cli.contracts['GraphToken']
-  const l1GRTAddress = l1GRT.address
+
+  // parse params
+  const { L1GraphTokenGateway: l1Gateway, GraphToken: l1GRT } = cli.contracts
   const amount = toGRT(cliArgs.amount)
-  const recipient = cliArgs.recipient ? cliArgs.recipient : cli.wallet.address
-  const l2Dest = await gateway.l2Counterpart()
+  const recipient = cliArgs.recipient ?? cli.wallet.address
+  const l1GatewayAddress = l1Gateway.address
+  const l2GatewayAddress = await l1Gateway.l2Counterpart()
   const calldata = cliArgs.calldata ?? '0x'
 
+  // transport tokens
   logger.info(`Will send ${cliArgs.amount} GRT to ${recipient}`)
-  logger.info(`Using L1 gateway ${gateway.address} and L2 gateway ${l2Dest}`)
+  logger.info(`Using L1 gateway ${l1GatewayAddress} and L2 gateway ${l2GatewayAddress}`)
+  await ensureAllowance(cli.wallet, l1GatewayAddress, l1GRT, amount)
+
+  // estimate L2 ticket
   // See https://github.com/OffchainLabs/arbitrum/blob/master/packages/arb-ts/src/lib/bridge.ts
-  const depositCalldata = await gateway.getOutboundCalldata(
-    l1GRTAddress,
+  const depositCalldata = await l1Gateway.getOutboundCalldata(
+    l1GRT.address,
     cli.wallet.address,
     recipient,
     amount,
     calldata,
   )
-
-  const senderBalance = await l1GRT.balanceOf(cli.wallet.address)
-  if (senderBalance.lt(amount)) {
-    throw new Error('Sender balance is insufficient for the transfer')
-  }
-  logger.info('Approving token transfer')
-  await sendTransaction(cli.wallet, l1GRT, 'approve', [gateway.address, amount])
-
-  let maxGas: BigNumber
-  let gasPriceBid: BigNumber
-  let maxSubmissionPrice: BigNumber
-
-  if (!cliArgs.maxGas || !cliArgs.gasPrice || !cliArgs.maxSubmissionCost) {
-    // Comment from Offchain Labs' implementation:
-    // we add a 0.05 ether "deposit" buffer to pay for execution in the gas estimation
-    logger.info('Estimating retryable ticket gas:')
-    const baseFee = (await cli.wallet.provider.getBlock('latest')).baseFeePerGas
-    const gasEstimator = new L1ToL2MessageGasEstimator(l2Provider)
-    const gasParams = await gasEstimator.estimateAll(
-      gateway.address,
-      l2Dest,
-      depositCalldata,
-      parseEther('0'),
-      baseFee as BigNumber,
-      gateway.address,
-      gateway.address,
-      cli.wallet.provider,
-    )
-    maxGas = cliArgs.maxGas ? BigNumber.from(cliArgs.maxGas) : gasParams.gasLimit
-    gasPriceBid = cliArgs.gasPrice ? BigNumber.from(cliArgs.gasPrice) : gasParams.maxFeePerGas
-    maxSubmissionPrice = cliArgs.maxSubmissionCost
-      ? BigNumber.from(cliArgs.maxSubmissionCost)
-      : gasParams.maxSubmissionFee
-  } else {
-    maxGas = BigNumber.from(cliArgs.maxGas)
-    gasPriceBid = BigNumber.from(cliArgs.gasPrice)
-    maxSubmissionPrice = BigNumber.from(cliArgs.maxSubmissionCost)
-  }
-
+  const { maxGas, gasPriceBid, maxSubmissionCost } = await estimateRetryableTxGas(
+    l1Provider,
+    l2Provider,
+    l1GatewayAddress,
+    l2GatewayAddress,
+    depositCalldata,
+    {
+      maxGas: cliArgs.maxGas,
+      gasPriceBid: cliArgs.gasPriceBid,
+      maxSubmissionCost: cliArgs.maxSubmissionCost,
+    },
+  )
+  const ethValue = maxSubmissionCost.add(gasPriceBid.mul(maxGas))
   logger.info(
-    `Using max gas: ${maxGas}, gas price bid: ${gasPriceBid}, max submission price: ${maxSubmissionPrice}`,
+    `Using maxGas:${maxGas}, gasPriceBid:${gasPriceBid}, maxSubmissionCost:${maxSubmissionCost} = tx value: ${ethValue}`,
   )
 
-  const ethValue = maxSubmissionPrice.add(gasPriceBid.mul(maxGas))
-  logger.info(`tx value: ${ethValue}`)
-  const data = utils.defaultAbiCoder.encode(['uint256', 'bytes'], [maxSubmissionPrice, calldata])
-
-  const params = [l1GRTAddress, recipient, amount, maxGas, gasPriceBid, data]
+  // build transaction
   logger.info('Sending outbound transfer transaction')
-  const receipt = await sendTransaction(cli.wallet, gateway, 'outboundTransfer', params, {
-    value: ethValue,
-  })
-  const l1Receipt = new L1TransactionReceipt(receipt)
-  const l1ToL2Messages = await l1Receipt.getL1ToL2Messages(cli.wallet.connect(l2Provider))
-  const l1ToL2Message = l1ToL2Messages[0]
-
-  logger.info('Waiting for message to propagate to L2...')
-  try {
-    await checkAndRedeemMessage(l1ToL2Message)
-  } catch (e) {
-    logger.error('Auto redeem failed')
-    logger.error(e)
-    logger.error('You can re-attempt using redeem-send-to-l2 with the following txHash:')
-    logger.error(receipt.transactionHash)
+  const txData = utils.defaultAbiCoder.encode(['uint256', 'bytes'], [maxSubmissionCost, calldata])
+  const txParams = [l1GRT.address, recipient, amount, maxGas, gasPriceBid, txData]
+  const txReceipt = await sendTransaction(cli.wallet, l1Gateway, 'outboundTransfer', txParams)
+
+  // get l2 ticket status
+  if (txReceipt.status == 1) {
+    logger.info('Waiting for message to propagate to L2...')
+    const l1Receipt = new L1TransactionReceipt(txReceipt)
+    const l1ToL2Messages = await l1Receipt.getL1ToL2Messages(cli.wallet.connect(l2Provider))
+    const l1ToL2Message = l1ToL2Messages[0]
+    try {
+      await checkAndRedeemMessage(l1ToL2Message)
+    } catch (e) {
+      logger.error('Auto redeem failed')
+      logger.error(e)
+      logger.error('You can re-attempt using redeem-send-to-l2 with the following txHash:')
+      logger.error(txReceipt.transactionHash)
+    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -172,7 +147,7 @@ export const sendToL2Command = {
         requiresArg: true,
         type: 'string',
       })
-      .option('gas-price', {
+      .option('gas-price-bid', {
         description: 'Gas price for the L2 redemption attempt',
         requiresArg: true,
         type: 'string',
@@ -189,6 +164,11 @@ export const sendToL2Command = {
       .positional('calldata', {
         description: 'Calldata to pass to the recipient. Must be whitelisted in the bridge',
       })
+      .coerce({
+        maxGas: toBN,
+        gasPriceBid: toBN,
+        maxSubmissionCost: toBN,
+      })
   },
   handler: async (argv: CLIArgs): Promise<void> => {
     return sendToL2(await loadEnv(argv), argv)
diff --git a/cli/commands/migrate.ts b/cli/commands/migrate.ts
index 20934d518..3b5c86272 100644
--- a/cli/commands/migrate.ts
+++ b/cli/commands/migrate.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {
   sendTransaction,
 } from '../network'
 import { loadEnv, CLIArgs, CLIEnvironment } from '../env'
-import { chainIdIsL2 } from '../utils'
+import { chainIdIsL2 } from '../cross-chain'
 import { confirm } from '../helpers'
 
 const { EtherSymbol } = constants
diff --git a/cli/commands/protocol/configure-bridge.ts b/cli/commands/protocol/configure-bridge.ts
index d96d462a5..057ebc653 100644
--- a/cli/commands/protocol/configure-bridge.ts
+++ b/cli/commands/protocol/configure-bridge.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { loadEnv, CLIArgs, CLIEnvironment } from '../../env'
 import { logger } from '../../logging'
 import { getAddressBook } from '../../address-book'
 import { sendTransaction } from '../../network'
-import { chainIdIsL2, l1ToL2ChainIdMap, l2ToL1ChainIdMap } from '../../utils'
+import { chainIdIsL2, l1ToL2ChainIdMap, l2ToL1ChainIdMap } from '../../cross-chain'
 
 export const configureL1Bridge = async (cli: CLIEnvironment, cliArgs: CLIArgs): Promise<void> => {
   logger.info(`>>> Setting L1 Bridge Configuration <<<\n`)
diff --git a/cli/contracts.ts b/cli/contracts.ts
index 0657f764a..f8ed22277 100644
--- a/cli/contracts.ts
+++ b/cli/contracts.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { BaseContract, providers, Signer } from 'ethers'
 
 import { AddressBook } from './address-book'
+import { chainIdIsL2 } from './cross-chain'
 import { logger } from './logging'
 import { getContractAt } from './network'
 
@@ -22,7 +23,6 @@ import { L1GraphTokenGateway } from '../build/types/L1GraphTokenGateway'
 import { L2GraphToken } from '../build/types/L2GraphToken'
 import { L2GraphTokenGateway } from '../build/types/L2GraphTokenGateway'
 import { BridgeEscrow } from '../build/types/BridgeEscrow'
-import { chainIdIsL2 } from './utils'
 import { SubgraphNFT } from '../build/types/SubgraphNFT'
 import { GraphCurationToken } from '../build/types/GraphCurationToken'
 import { SubgraphNFTDescriptor } from '../build/types/SubgraphNFTDescriptor'
diff --git a/cli/cross-chain.ts b/cli/cross-chain.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ea3b081ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/cross-chain.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+import { L1ToL2MessageGasEstimator } from '@arbitrum/sdk'
+import { BigNumber, providers } from 'ethers'
+import { parseEther } from 'ethers/lib/utils'
+
+import { logger } from './logging'
+
+export const l1ToL2ChainIdMap = {
+  '1': '42161',
+  '4': '421611',
+  '5': '421613',
+  '1337': '412346',
+}
+
+export const l2ChainIds = Object.values(l1ToL2ChainIdMap).map(Number)
+export const l2ToL1ChainIdMap = Object.fromEntries(
+  Object.entries(l1ToL2ChainIdMap).map(([k, v]) => [v, k]),
+)
+
+export const chainIdIsL2 = (chainId: number | string): boolean => {
+  return l2ChainIds.includes(Number(chainId))
+}
+
+interface L2GasParams {
+  maxGas: BigNumber
+  gasPriceBid: BigNumber
+  maxSubmissionCost: BigNumber
+}
+
+export const estimateRetryableTxGas = async (
+  l1Provider: providers.Provider,
+  l2Provider: providers.Provider,
+  gatewayAddress: string,
+  l2Dest: string,
+  depositCalldata: string,
+  opts: L2GasParams,
+): Promise<L2GasParams> => {
+  const autoEstimate = opts && (!opts.maxGas || !opts.gasPriceBid || !opts.maxSubmissionCost)
+  if (!autoEstimate) {
+    return opts
+  }
+
+  // Comment from Offchain Labs' implementation:
+  // we add a 0.05 ether "deposit" buffer to pay for execution in the gas estimation
+  logger.info('Estimating retryable ticket gas:')
+  const baseFee = (await l1Provider.getBlock('latest')).baseFeePerGas
+  const gasEstimator = new L1ToL2MessageGasEstimator(l2Provider)
+  const gasParams = await gasEstimator.estimateAll(
+    gatewayAddress,
+    l2Dest,
+    depositCalldata,
+    parseEther('0'),
+    baseFee as BigNumber,
+    gatewayAddress,
+    gatewayAddress,
+    l1Provider,
+  )
+  // override fixed values
+  return {
+    maxGas: opts.maxGas ?? gasParams.gasLimit,
+    gasPriceBid: opts.gasPriceBid ?? gasParams.maxFeePerGas,
+    maxSubmissionCost: opts.maxSubmissionCost ?? gasParams.maxSubmissionFee,
+  }
+}
diff --git a/cli/env.ts b/cli/env.ts
index ab89c9d85..d607e4be5 100644
--- a/cli/env.ts
+++ b/cli/env.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { Argv } from 'yargs'
 import { logger } from './logging'
 import { getAddressBook, AddressBook } from './address-book'
 import { defaultOverrides } from './defaults'
-import { getProvider } from './utils'
+import { getProvider } from './network'
 import { loadContracts, NetworkContracts } from './contracts'
 
 const { formatEther } = utils
diff --git a/cli/network.ts b/cli/network.ts
index 3dc2e69c1..6667a960d 100644
--- a/cli/network.ts
+++ b/cli/network.ts
@@ -10,16 +10,19 @@ import {
   Overrides,
   BigNumber,
   PayableOverrides,
+  Wallet,
 } from 'ethers'
 
 import { logger } from './logging'
 import { AddressBook } from './address-book'
 import { loadArtifact } from './artifacts'
 import { defaultOverrides } from './defaults'
+import { GraphToken } from '../build/types/GraphToken'
 
 const { keccak256, randomBytes, parseUnits, hexlify } = utils
 
 export const randomHexBytes = (n = 32): string => hexlify(randomBytes(n))
+export const toBN = (value: string | number | BigNumber): BigNumber => BigNumber.from(value)
 export const toGRT = (value: string | number): BigNumber => {
   return parseUnits(typeof value === 'number' ? value.toString() : value, '18')
 }
@@ -368,3 +371,26 @@ export const linkLibraries = (
   }
   return bytecode
 }
+
+export const ensureAllowance = async (
+  sender: Wallet,
+  spenderAddress: string,
+  token: GraphToken,
+  amount: BigNumber,
+) => {
+  // check balance
+  const senderBalance = await token.balanceOf(sender.address)
+  if (senderBalance.lt(amount)) {
+    throw new Error('Sender balance is insufficient for the transfer')
+  }
+
+  // check allowance
+  const allowance = await token.allowance(sender.address, spenderAddress)
+  if (allowance.gte(amount)) {
+    return
+  }
+
+  // approve
+  logger.info('Approving token transfer')
+  return sendTransaction(sender, token, 'approve', [spenderAddress, amount])
+}
diff --git a/cli/utils.ts b/cli/utils.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 6fda0d611..000000000
--- a/cli/utils.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-import { Contract, Wallet, providers } from 'ethers'
-
-import { loadArtifact } from './artifacts'
-
-export const l1ToL2ChainIdMap = {
-  '1': '42161',
-  '4': '421611',
-  '5': '421613',
-  '1337': '412346',
-}
-
-export const l2ChainIds = Object.values(l1ToL2ChainIdMap).map(Number)
-export const l2ToL1ChainIdMap = Object.fromEntries(
-  Object.entries(l1ToL2ChainIdMap).map(([k, v]) => [v, k]),
-)
-
-export const contractAt = (
-  contractName: string,
-  contractAddress: string,
-  wallet: Wallet,
-): Contract => {
-  return new Contract(contractAddress, loadArtifact(contractName).abi, wallet.provider)
-}
-
-export const getProvider = (providerUrl: string, network?: number): providers.JsonRpcProvider =>
-  new providers.JsonRpcProvider(providerUrl, network)
-
-export const chainIdIsL2 = (chainId: number | string): boolean => {
-  return l2ChainIds.includes(Number(chainId))
-}
diff --git a/tasks/deployment/sync.ts b/tasks/deployment/sync.ts
index 27e668f00..29cebd7bd 100644
--- a/tasks/deployment/sync.ts
+++ b/tasks/deployment/sync.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { ContractTransaction } from 'ethers'
 import { task } from 'hardhat/config'
 import { cliOpts } from '../../cli/defaults'
-import { chainIdIsL2 } from '../../cli/utils'
+import { chainIdIsL2 } from '../../cli/cross-chain'
 
 task('migrate:sync', 'Sync controller contracts')
   .addParam('addressBook', cliOpts.addressBook.description, cliOpts.addressBook.default)