Sturt Highway
| Sturt Highway | |
 
| |
| Length | 959 kilometres |
| General direction: | West-East |
| From: | Gawler, SA |
| To: | 9 km north of Tarcutta, NSW |
| Towns along highway: | Nuriootpa, Renmark, Mildura, Balranald, Hay, Narrandera, Wagga Wagga, |
The Sturt Highway is an Australian highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.
The Sturt Highway is the main highway route between Sydney and Adelaide. The Sturt Highway commences at its junction with the Hume Highway near Gundagai south west of Sydney. The Highway heads more or less due west, passing through the northwest of Victoria, and linking the towns of Wagga Wagga, Narrandera, Hay, Balranald, Mildura, Renmark and Gawler. The highway carries the route number National 20 in New South Wales and National Highway A20 in Victoria and South Australia. Route A20 continues from Gawler south towards Adelaide along Main North Road.
None of the Sturt Highway is constructed as dual-carriageway, although a number of overtaking lanes have been added in recent years to help make it safer with the high volume of traffic.[1] Major 'S'-bend curves near Waikerie have been realigned, and further upgrades to the road are planned up to 2009. [2]
The Sturt Highway is named after Charles Sturt, who explored south western New South Wales, the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers and also parts of the deserts of central Australia in the 1820s and 1830s. The highway crosses the Murrumbidgee at Balranald having followed that river for much of the route from the Hume Highway, and crosses the Murray a total of four times:
- At Mildura over a high arched bridge
- At Paringa (near Renmark) over a lift-span bridge which used to have a railway through the middle as well as the road carriageway on each side
- At Kingston over a high bridge from an embankment on the right bank to the cliffs on the left bank
- At Blanchetown over another high bridge to cliffs on the right bank.
As well as linking with the Hume Highway, the Sturt Highway connects with:
- the Newell Highway at Narrandera
- the Mid-Western Highway at Hay
- the Mallee Highway at Balranald
- the Murray Valley Highway east of Euston
- the Silver City Highway at Buronga
- the Calder Highway at Mildura
- the Barossa Valley Highway at both Nuriootpa and Gawler.
- Main North Road at Gawler
The Sturt highway is proposed to be extended by 22 km from Gawler southwest to meet Port Wakefield Road at Waterloo Corner as part of the AusLink project creating a new road known as the Northern Expressway. This will provide better access for road transport to Port Adelaide and the industrial areas west and northwest of the city.[3]
The Sturt Highway was allocated a National Route 20 shield. With Victoria and South Australia's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, these sections were altered to a A20 designation.
Towns on the Sturt Highway
Victoria
New South Wales
- Forest Hill
- Gumly Gumly
- Wagga Wagga
- Narrandera
- Darlington Point
- Hay
- Balranald
- Euston
- Gol Gol
- Buronga
South Australia
See also
- Highways in Australia
- Highways in Victoria
- List of highways in New South Wales
- List of highways in South Australia
References
- ^ "Sturt Highway - Riverland passing lanes". AusLink. Department of Transport and Regional Services. 2005-07-20. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Sturt Highway upgrading programme". AusLink. Department of Transport and Regional Services. 2006-05-15. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Building Our Transport Future in South Australia" (Press release). Department of Transport and Regional Services. 2005-05-10. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
{{cite press release}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)