Princes Highway facts for kids

This page is about the road classified as a highway in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. For other uses, see Princes Highway (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids Princes Highway New South Wales–South Australia
General information
Type	Highway
Length	1,898 km (1,179 mi)
Opened	1920
Route number(s)	See Route allocation
Former route number	See Former routes
Major junctions
East end	Broadway Ultimo, Sydney
	Parramatta Road M5 East Motorway President Avenue King Georges Road Heathcote Road Princes Motorway Illawarra Highway South Gippsland Highway Princes Freeway South Gippsland Freeway Henty Highway Riddoch Highway Dukes Highway
West end	Glen Osmond Road Glen Osmond, Adelaide
Location(s)
Major settlements	Wollongong, Batemans Bay, Eden, Orbost, Sale, Melbourne, Geelong, Warrnambool, Mount Gambier, Kingston SE, Tailem Bend, Murray Bridge, Crafers, Adelaide, Port Wakefield
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales Highways in Victoria Highways in South Australia

The Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney to Adelaide via the coast through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of 1,941 kilometres (1,206 mi) (along Highway 1) or 1,898 kilometres (1,179 mi) via the former alignments of the highway, although these routes are slower and connections to the bypassed sections of the original route are poor in many cases.

The highway follows the coastline for most of its length, and thus takes quite an indirect and lengthy route. For example, it is 1,040 kilometres (650 mi) from Sydney to Melbourne on Highway 1 as opposed to 870 kilometres (540 mi) on the more direct Hume Highway (National Highway 31), and 915 kilometres (569 mi) from Melbourne to Adelaide compared to 730 kilometres (450 mi) on the Western and Dukes Highways (National Highway 8). Because of the rural nature and lower traffic volumes over much of its length, the Princes Highway is a more scenic and leisurely route than the main highways between these major cities.

Route allocation

Sections of the Princes Highway have different route allocations. These allocations, from its northern terminus in Sydney to its western terminus in Port Augusta, are:

Route allocations on the Princes Highway

Route allocation	Road name(s)	Start point	End point	Distance		Cumulative distance		Notes
				km	mi	km	mi
A36	City Road; King Street; Princes Highway	Broadway	Junction with President Avenue, Kogarah	11.3	7.0	11.3	7.0
A1	Princes Highway	Junction with President Avenue, Kogarah	South of Waterfall, with exit as the Princes Highway to Helensburgh	27.8	17.3	39.1	24.3
undesignated	Princes Highway (superseded route)	South of Waterfall	Maddens Plains	20.9	13.0	60	37
B65	Princes Highway (superseded route)	Junction with Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul	Junction with Memorial Drive, Bulli	2.9	1.8	62.9	39.1
undesignated	Princes Highway (superseded route)	Junction with Memorial Drive, Bulli	Haywards Bay	33.6	20.9	96.5	60.0
M1	Princes Motorway	South of Waterfall	North of Albion Park Rail; junction with the Illawarra Highway	55.3	34.4	94.4	58.7
A1	Princes Highway	North of Albion Park Rail	Black-Allan Line, NSW/Victorian border	422	262	516.4	320.9
A1	Princes Highway	Victorian/NSW border	Traralgon
M1	Princes Freeway	Traralgon	Geelong
A1	Princes Highway	Geelong	Victorian/South Australian border
A1	Princes Highway	South Australian/Victorian border	Mount Gambier
B1	Princes Highway	Mount Gambier	Tailem Bend
A1	Princes Highway	Tailem Bend	Port Augusta

Former routes

In 2013, New South Wales introduced a new alphanumeric route numbering system, replacing the former system of national and state routes. The Princes Highway formerly entered Wollongong as State Route 60 down the Bulli Pass and ran a largely separate route from Bulli and Thirroul through to the southern suburbs from the parallel Princes Motorway, the later of which bears the 'M1' route designation. The gazetted route of the Princes Highway differs from the route of State Route 60 (and from that shown on road signs). The gazetted route was designated State Route 60 for its length, but deviated from the road that is signposted as the Princes Highway between Bellambi and North Wollongong (part of Memorial Drive).

History

The section of the Princes Highway between West Helensburgh and Bulli Tops the original coastal route between Sydney and Wollongong, first used in 1843. to Bulli Tops.

The Princes Highway as a named route came into being when pre-existing roads were renamed ‘Prince's Highway’ after the visit to Australia in 1920 of the Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VIII and, after abdicating, the Duke of Windsor).

The original submissions in January 1920 were in order for the Prince to have the opportunity during his visit to make the trip from Melbourne to Sydney overland along the route. Different routes were considered, including the inland route via Yass. This idea never came to fruition, due partly to the limited amount of time and the cost to construct the road to a suitable standard for him to undertake the trip. The Prince did, however, give his permission for the naming.

The highway had opening ceremonies in both New South Wales and Victoria during 1920. The first section of road from Melbourne was opened on 10 August in Warragul. The road from Sydney was opened on 19 October in Bulli, by the NSW Minister for Local Government, Thomas Mutch.

The approval was given by the Victorian executive to extend the highway west from Melbourne through Geelong, Camperdown, Warrnambool and Portland to the South Australian border in January 1922. The roads were renamed by the South Australian government from Adelaide east to the South Australian border in February 1922. At that time, the route from Adelaide was via Aldgate, Mylor, Macclesfield, Strathalbyn, Langhorne Creek, crossing the Murray River at Wellington, then continuing along the present towns of Meningie, Kingston SE, Robe, Beachport, Millicent and Gambier Town (Mount Gambier). By 1928, the route went through Mount Barker and Wistow to Lanhorne Creek. By 1935, the Princes Highway passed through Nairne and Kanmantoo, Murray Bridge and Tailem Bend (now known as the Old Princes Highway). This road was superseded by the South Eastern Freeway (Crafers-Murray Bridge in stages 1967-1979), Swanport Bridge (1979) and finally the South Eastern Freeway was extended from Crafers to Glen Osmond (2000).

In 1942, as part of wartime defence measures, a road was built from Mount Keira Road to Fairy Meadow. This route forms part of Mount Ousley Road.

In August 2011, the stretch of the highway in South Australia between Port Wakefield and Port Augusta (commonly referred to as "Highway 1") was renamed Augusta Highway as part of a process to standardise the rural property addressing system across the state.

Timeline of significant upgrades and bypasses

Timeline of significant upgrades and bypasses

Date	Project	State	Length		Value	Comments	Notes
			km	mi
1959–1963	North–South Motorway (Pacific Motorway)	NSW				From North Wollongong to West Wollongong, the Motorway was opened in stages, replacing Princes Highway as main north-south route
1961	Maltby By-pass Road (Werribee bypass)	VIC	10.5	6.5	A£950,000	Opened on 16 June 1961 by the Hon. Sir Thomas Maltby ED, MP, Minister of Public Works, the route was named the ‘Maltby By-pass Road’ by then Premier of Victoria, Henry Bolte MP. It was Victoria's first controlled-access highway, or ‘freeway’, as such roads are now generally known in Victoria. ‘It is a 4-lane divided highway, 6.5 miles in route length, with no access from adjoining property or cross roads over its entire length’.
1964	Connector road	NSW				The road, from Mount Ousley Road to the North–South Motorway at Gwynneville, was opened to traffic.
1967	Princes Highway East, near Mount Drummer	VIC	8.9	5.5		A ceremony, sponsored by Orbost Shire Council, at Genoa, was held on 17 January 1967.
1967	South Eastern Freeway (Stage 1)	SA				Bypassed Crafers and Stirling.
1969	Moe bypass	VIC	6.1	3.8		‘A single 24 ft. Carriageway has been provided, with earthworks and grade separated structures which can accommodate future duplicate pavements’.
1972	Haunted Hills section	VIC	4.2	2.6		Second carriageway opened between Gunn's Gully and Hernes Oak.
1973	Road duplication	VIC	6.4	4		Dual carriageway from East Warrnambool to Allansford.
1975		NSW				Princes Highway from Waterfall to Bulli Tops, superseded by the opening of Southern Freeway.
1976	Snowy River Bridge, Princes Freeway, Orbost	VIC	8.4	5.2	A$2.4 million	Opened by the Hon. J A Rafferty, Minister for Transport, 25 November 1976. The bridge was the first of four bridges to be built as part of the freeway bypass of Orbost. It's interesting to note the reference to a ‘freeway’, given that the entire bypass is a single two-lane carriageway and is not controlled access. The CRB's own definition of a freeway can be found in most of their annual reports dating back to the 1960s: ‘A freeway is a road having dual carriageways with no direct access from adjoining properties and side roads. All crossings of a freeway are by means of overpass or underpass bridges, and traffic enters or leaves the freeway carriageways by means of carefully designed ramps’.
1979	Swanport Bridge	SA				Completed the South Eastern Freeway to bypass Murray Bridge.
1981	Drouin bypass	VIC	7	4.3	A$12 million	From Robin Hood to the ‘existing’ highway east of Drouin, with ‘two lanes each direction, plus emergency stopping lanes’. Opened 12 February 1981, by the Hon. J C M Balfour, MP.
1983	Berwick bypass	VIC	7.3	4.5	A$19.6 million	Opened on 14 December 1983 by the Federal Minister for Transport, the Hon. Peter Morris MP, and the Victorian Assistant Minister of Transport, the Hon. Jack Simpson MP. This road bypass was from the Princes Highway, near Hessle Road, to Pink Hill, Beaconsfield.
1987	Road duplication	VIC	9	5.6	A$16 million	Nar Nar Goon to Garfield duplication opened 10 April 1987.
1989	Road duplication	VIC				Garfield to Bunyip River duplication completed in June 1989.
1992	Morwell bypass	VIC				Bypass opened to traffic in April 1992.
1994	Longwarry section duplication	VIC	7.8	4.8	A$25 million	Duplication completed between Bunyip River and Robin Hood in January 1994.
1995	Road duplication	VIC				Duplicated section between Trafalgar East to Moe opened in August 1995.
1997	Road duplication	VIC	7	4.3		Yarragon to Trafalgar duplication opened to traffic on 2 May 1997, completing a dual carriageway highway from Melbourne to Traralgon.
2000	Heysen Tunnels	SA				The tunnel replaced Mount Barker Road (through Eagle On The Hill), extending the Adelaide end of South Eastern Freeway from Crafers to Glen Osmond.
2002	Oak Flats Interchange	NSW				The project was opened on 29 October 2001. The interchange was designed to significantly improve traffic flow around the Albion Park/Oak Flats section of the Princes Highway by removing a railway level crossing and nearby traffic signals. ‘The interchange also connects with Shellharbour City Council's East-West Link Road’.
2005	Kiama bypass	NSW			A$179 million	Opened to traffic on 28 November 2005. The North Kiama Bypass linked the Kiama Bypass in the south and the Princes Highway near Dunmore in the north.
2007	Pakenham bypass	VIC	20	12	A$242 million	Opened to traffic in December 2007, funded jointly by the state and federal governments.
2008	Geelong Ring Road	VIC				Corio to Hamilton Highway, Fyansford opened 14 December 2008.
2009	Geelong Ring Road	VIC			A$380 million	Hamilton Highway, Fyansford to Waurn Ponds opened 14 June 2009, six months ahead of schedule. The project from Corio to Waurn Ponds was funded jointly by the state and federal governments.
2009	Road duplication	NSW			A$108 million	Oak Flats to Dunmore dual carriageways opened to traffic in October 2009, completing a four-lane route between Sydney and south of Kiama.
2013	Geelong Ring Road	VIC				Anglesea Road to Princes Highway opened to traffic in February 2013.
2013	Road duplication	VIC	4	2.5		Wurruk to Sale duplication opened June 2013.
2015	Road duplication	VIC	30	19		From Waurn Ponds to Winchelsea.

Projects

The NSW Government Roads & Maritime Services have identified the following major projects either completed, in progress or in planning, as of February 2014:

List of projects on the Princes Highway

Project	Length		Construction		Value	Status	Notes
	km	mi	Start	Complete
Bulli Pass upgrade	1.1	0.68				In planning
Albion Park bypass						In planning
Oak Flats to Dunmore upgrade			June 2007	October 2009	$108 million	Complete
North Kiama bypass	7.6	4.7	November 2003	October 2005	$141 million	Complete
Kiama On and Off Ramps (Northbound and Southbound)				2008/2009	$8 million	Complete
Gerringong upgrade	7.5	4.7	July 2012	August 2015	$340 million	Complete
Foxground and Berry bypass	11.6	7.2	January 2015	Mid 2018	$580 million	Under construction
Berry to Bomaderry upgrade	11.5	7.1				In planning
Nowra Bridge study (southbound)						In planning
South Nowra upgrade – Kingorne Street to Forest Road	6.3	3.9	November 2011	March 2014	$62 million	Complete
Forest Road to Jervis Bay Road	23.5	14.6		December 2008	$23.5 million	Complete
Conjola Mountain realignment	2.3	1.4	September 2008	April 2010	$58 million	Complete
Burrill Lake Bridge replacement				Early 2018	$58 million	Under construction
Termeil Creek realignment	1.6	0.99	February 2015	Mid 2016	$21 million	Under construction
Nangudga Bridge replacement				December 2011	$3.7 million	Complete
Victoria Creek upgrade	3.2	2.0	June 2011	March 2013	$35 million	Complete
Dignams Creek upgrade						In planning
Bega bypass	3.6	2.2	June 2012	December 2013	$55 million	Complete
Pambula River Bridge replacement	3.5	2.2	August 2006	March 2008	$17 million	Complete

Images for kids

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  The Princes Highway is beautified in some towns, such as Bairnsdale, Victoria, where the median strip has been made a garden.