Princes Highway facts for kids

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, Nowra, Ulladulla, 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

Projects

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

Images for kids

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  Princes Highway at Moruya.

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  Princes Highway at Eden.

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  Princes Highway at Woonona

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

See also

In Spanish: Carretera Princes para niños