Australian highways, freeways and motorways

[Shadow Assassin]

An overview of many of the major highways, freeways and motorways located in Australia, with links to their relevant topics and links to Australian roadgeek sites is available here.

Australia has a national highway system with an unique set of markers used to determine whether a highway is of national significance. Perhaps the most significant of them all is National Route 1, which is a circumferential route going through all the capital cities, with the exception of Canberra, including a spur in Tasmania.


Source from Wikipedia

NSW
New South Wales has an extensive network of highways and freeways throughout the state linking the major cities, most of which has been constructed to a dual-carriageway divided limited access standard in the last 15 years. Sydney, as part of the Orbital system, has a relatively simple freeway network compared to that of Brisbane and Melbourne.
There have been numerous plans to expand Sydney's freeway system, many of which have never seen the light of day, such as the full length of the F3. Currently the main way of getting around Sydney is by using the Metroad system.

In addition to Sydney's major freeways, the city has a large network of arterial roads, which are built to expressway standards.

An overview of NSW's major freeways can be found below, with links to their respective topics. Some freeways have been grouped together:

Major Freeways within the Sydney Metro

• Sydney-Newcastle Freeway [F3]
• M1 Gore Hill Fwy, Warringah Fwy, Sydney Harbour Bridge & Tunnel, Cahill Expressway
• M1 Eastern Distributor & Southern Cross Drive
• M2 Hills Motorway & Lane Cove Tunnel
• M4 Western Motorway & City West Link
• M5 South-Western Motorway & General Holmes Drive
• F6 Southern Freeway
• M7 Motorway
• Cross City Tunnel & Western Distributor

Sydney's Metroad system has a number of arterial roads as part of it, some of which are not freeway-grade. This system, however, may be replaced by alpha-numeric marking:

• Metroad 1
• Metroad 2
• Metroad 3
• Metroad 4
• Metroad 5
• Metroad 6
• Metroad 7
• Metroad 9
• Metroad 10

Major Highways in regional NSW

• NR1 Pacific Highway - Newcastle to Brisbane
• NR1 Northern Distributor - Wollongong
• NR1 Princes Highway - Sydney to Melbourne
• NR15 New England Highway - Maitland to Brisbane
• NR31 Hume Highway - Sydney to Melbourne
• NR23 Federal Highway - Goulburn to Canberra
• NR25 Barton Highway - Canberra to Melbourne
• NR20 Sturt Highway - Mildura to Adelaide

VIC
Victoria, being the most densely populated state, has a far more complex network of freeways compared to NSW. Melbourne, in the 60s, had a particularly ambitious freeway plan, a la Los Angeles, however, much of that plan has never materialized for various reasons.

Melbourne's freeways were originally going to be laid out in a grid pattern, however only a few were constructed. It now uses an alpha-numeric route marking system, like SA, QLD and TAS. It follows the MABC system, as laid out below:
M = of motorway standard
A = a major arterial route that may not meet motorway standard due to not having limited access, etc
B = secondary arterial routes which may be alternatives to A routes
C = routes linking two focal points, may not justify a B route marking due to lack of use/road conditions/etc

Major freeways in Melbourne

• M1 - Princes Freeway
• M1 - Monash Freeway
• M1 - Citylink & West Gate Freeway
• M3 - Eastlink & Eastern Freeway
• M8 - Western Freeway
• M31 - Hume Freeway
• M79 - Calder Freeway
• M80 - Western Ring Road
• M420 - South Gippsland Freeway

Major Highways in regional Victoria

• A1 - Princes Highway
• A8 - Dukes Highway
• M39 - Goulburn Valley Freeway
• A39 - Goulburn Valley Highway

QLD
Queensland - coming soon

SA
South Australia - coming soon

WA
Western Australia - coming soon

TAS
Tasmania - coming soon

NT
Northern Territory - coming soon


SITES OF INTEREST

These are two sites that deal specifically with Australian roads.

• OzRoads
• Expressway

This is an overview topic of Australia's highway and freeway system. It is by no means complete, links will be added as new topics are created.


This list is by no means complete and will most probably result in a wall of text when once complete.

[agentsteel53]

does the 1 not make it all the way around the island, or is it so diminished in significance north of Cairns that this map does not show it?

[Voyager]

So would these be considered the Interstate system of Australia? It seems like they have a whole system, if not an underdeveloped one.

[njroadhorse]

So would these be considered the Interstate system of Australia? It seems like they have a whole system, if not an underdeveloped one.

Yeah, you could say that much.  Motorways/freeways are the interstates, and National Highways/roads are like the U.S. routes.  State roads are like our state roads

[Voyager]

Are most of those freeways only 4 or so total lanes?

[Wikigav]

Are most of those freeways only 4 or so total lanes?

Actually, consdering the low population of Australia (21 million) compared to a similar area of the continous 48 states of the USA(306 million) most roads are only 2 lanes, but thats is all that is required. Between the bigger cities on the East and South East areas they are sometimes 4 lane dual carriageway but it depends on each individual state. Aswell as they sometime form major city roads aswell, namely route 1 in Sydney.

does the 1 not make it all the way around the island, or is it so diminished in significance north of Cairns that this map does not show it?

As for this question, the area between Cairns and Cloncurry is so dearth of people the roads in that area are actually dirt. The one does continue to Cairns in this way, and btw, it goes to Tasmania (The island below mainland Australia). Its a continent also, not just an island in the Pacific.

[Stephane Dumas]

I dust-off a bit this thread, I saw a good website about Australian roads at http://www.ozroads.com.au/

[Chris]

Australia has always amazed me. It measures 2,500 miles east-west (almost contiguous U.S.) and 1,400 to 1,900 miles north-south.

The lower 48 states have a population of 280 million, while Australia has 22 million on almost the exact same surface area.
Australia has only two paved east-west coast-to-coast roads, the Eyre Highway and the Northern Highway / Barkly Highway.

[njroadhorse]

Here's another good Australian roads site expressway.paulrands.com

[Bryant5493]

Road video posted by a fellow road video YouTube user, roadmonitoroz.

Be well,

Bryant

[Chris]

It sure looks steep on this picture:

[national highway 1]

does the 1 not make it all the way around the island, or is it so diminished in significance north of Cairns that this map does not show it?

Ahh.. you see agentsteel53, the section of Highway 1 between Normanton, Qld & Borroloola, NT is unsealed. Us Aussies don't usually sign unsealed routes.

[Bickendan]

Is 'unsealed' in this context an Oz definition? If so, enlighten us Yanks that use hoods instead of bonnets on our cars, please.
(Unbuilt? Decommissioned? Damaged beyond repair?)

[mightyace]

^^^

Unpaved?  Unimproved?  Dirt?  Stone?

[njroadhorse]

It means it's not paved with asphalt, right?  IIRC that's what it means.

[national highway 1]

it's just a dirt road.

[Bickendan]

Ah, understood.

[Plutonic Panda]

This seems like a pretty big project:

Important highway works will improve journey times in Australia's Queensland and New South Wales states. Work will be carried out to widen and improve the Bruce Highway on the northern side of Brisbane in Queensland. The project is being paid for jointly by the Australian Federal Government and the Queensland Government.

The stretch of highway will be widened so that it features four lanes in either direction, instead of three as at present. The widening work will reduce journey times and also improve safety for drivers. The project will also allow greater protection from flooding for the route.

The upgrade for the Bruce Highway is Queensland's biggest ever road infrastructure plan. The work is aimed at improving safety, flood resilience, and capacity along the length and breadth of the highway between Brisbane and Cairns. A budget of US$7 billion (A$10 billion) has been provided by the Australian Federal Government for the project.

https://www.worldhighways.com/wh10/news/australian-highway-works-queensland-and-nsw

Will upgrade the entire road between Brisbane and Cairns? Because on aerial imagery some of it looks to still be a two lane undivided road

[Stephane Dumas]

I founded by  luck this video about the Pacific Highway linking Sydney to Brisbane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-qIllkVVNE

[bing101]

A Toll Tunnel is under discussion in the Brisbane area.

[mrose]

Australia loves two things: tunnels, and tolls.

[Bickendan]

Australia loves two things: tunnels, and tolls.

When you go down under in Oz, you go down under.

[Bruce]

Sydney opened the Rozelle Interchange at a cost of $4 billion (US$2.5 billion). A giant underground complex that has created tons of traffic because merges are a thing, signage is terrible, and induced demand is proven real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESLh2yP-hmc

[Rothman]

Pfft.  Last phrase is silly.  Other two factors, not so much.

[Plutonic Panda]

I'm gonna mention induced demand but leave out latent demand. Said every anti-car urbanist nut ever.