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| Princes Highway | |
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| Formerly in SA and Vic. |
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| Length | 2256 km (1,402 mi) |
| General direction | West-East |
| From | Eyre Highway / Stuart Highway, Port Augusta, South Australia |
| via | Tailem Bend, SA, Mount Gambier, SA, Warrnambool, Vic., Geelong, Vic., Pakenham, Vic., Sale, Vic., Orbost, Vic., Batemans Bay, NSW, Wollongong, NSW |
| To |  Great Western Highway, Chippendale, Sydney |
| Established | 1920 |
| Allocation | [1] |
The Princes Highway is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 that extends from Sydney to Adelaide and Port Augusta, South Australia via Melbourne. The Highway approximately follows the coastline between the three cities, and thus takes quite an indirect and lengthy route, which is 1784 kilometres. By contrast, the National Highway takes the Hume Highway from Sydney to Melbourne, and the Western and Dukes Highways from Melbourne to Adelaide.
Existing roads were re-named ‘Princes 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 highway was officially opened on August 10 1920 at Warragul, Victoria.
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Route
New South Wales
The Princes Highway starts in the Sydney suburb of St. Peters as a continuation of King Street, as a typical, clogged Sydney single carriageway arterial road with two lanes in either direction. Further south, the Princes Highway is a dual carriageway of two or three lanes in metropolitan Sydney, although in some very short stretches it becomes a single carriageway again.
It heads south through the Illawarra region of New South Wales and the city of Wollongong, though this section of highway has been superseded by the Southern Freeway. At the southern end of the Southern Freeway, the highway continues south as an undivided single carriageway, through the South Coast of New South Wales, passing through Nowra and Batemans Bay, and finally crossing the border into Victoria south of Eden.
The Princes highway is considered a dangerous road by the New South Wales NRMA,1 with 10 fatalities and 729 people injured on the highway between Sydney and the state border in 2006.2
Victoria
- See also: Princes Freeway
In Victoria the highway passes through the Gippsland region. After Traralgon, the highway is upgraded to freeway standard with two lanes in either direction, passing the Latrobe Valley and continues heading west into the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, to Dandenong.
While the road continues through Melbourne, the name subsequently changes to Dandenong Road and Queens Road (this section of highway is shown in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as part of F14 Freeway corridor). Closer to Melbourne, the road's name becomes Kings Way, and King Street in central Melbourne. The name changes to Curzon Street after leaving the central business district, and later becomes Flemington Road, Racecourse Road, Smithfield Road and Ballarat Road, in that order, before it clearly starts again at Geelong Road. This reason for this confusing alignment of the highway is that former alignments, originating in western Melbourne were renamed to become the highway.
However, the route of National Route 1 is on the Monash Freeway, which stems from the Princes Freeway in the eastern outskirts of Melbourne and the West Gate Freeway from the Princes Freeway in the western outskirts, and these have been linked together by the southern link of the CityLink tollway. This avoids the confusing and congested arrangement of roads that is Princes Highway in central Melbourne.
Heading towards Geelong in a south-west direction, the West Gate Freeway and Geelong Road join together in a junction to become Princes Freeway, which, unusually for an intercity freeway, has enough traffic on it to merit three lanes in either direction. On the northern outskirts of Geelong, the freeway standard road ends, and the road becomes a three lane dual carriageway with traffic lights and grade intersections, and is frequently clogged. The Geelong Ring Road is currently under construction to avoid these traffic lights, and to ease traffic congestion inside the city.
After Geelong, heading generally west, the highway, now undivided, passes through Colac, before reaching Warrnambool. This last leg avoids the slower, but scenic Great Ocean Road. From Warrnambool, the Princes Highway passes through Portland before crossing the border into South Australia at Mount Gambier.
In May 2008 the Victorian and Federal Governments each committed $110 million to duplicate the Princes Highway from the Geelong Ring Road to Winchelsea.3
South Australia
At Mount Gambier the highway takes a more northward track, passing Coorong National Park. It wanders through Murray Bridge and over the Murray River, becoming a freeway standard road (the South Eastern Freeway), heading into Adelaide, where it loses its freeway status and becomes a divided highway. Beyond, the mostly undivided Port Wakefield Road links Adelaide to the small industrial town it was named after, Port Wakefield, before - confusingly - the Princes Highway continues north again from Port Wakefield to the semi-desert town of Port Augusta, where the highway ends, and splits into the Eyre Highway, heading west to Perth, and into the Stuart Highway, heading north to Darwin.
 Princes Highway at Arncliffe, New South Wales looking north towards Sydney skyline in the far background. |
 Princes Highway at Moruya, New South Wales. |
 Princes Highway at Eden, NSW. |
 The Princes Highway is beautified in some towns, such as Bairnsdale, Victoria, where the median strip has been made a garden |
Route numbering and junctions
| Route numbering |
|---|
| Port Augusta-Port Wakefield, Murray Bridge-Tailem Bend: Formerly  |
| Tailem Bend-Mt. Gambier: Formerly |
| Mt. Gambier-Corio (Waurn Ponds from 2009): Formerly |
| Waurn Ponds-Corio (When Geelong Bypass complete):  4Formerly / |
Werribee-Hoppers Crossing:  Formerly |
Laverton North-Parkville:  Formerly /  |
Brooklyn:   (duplex with ) |
Kingsville-Footscray:  (duplex with ) |
Footscray-Parkville:  |
Parkville-Melbourne:  Formerly |
| Melbourne-Berwick: Formerly |
Malvern:  (duplex with ) |
Caulfield:  (duplex with ) |
Chadstone-Oakleigh:  (duplex with ) |
Berwick-Nar Nar Goon:  Formerly |
Longwarry-Drouin:  Formerly |
Drouin-Nilma:  Formerly |
Moe-Hernes Oak:  Formerly |
Morwell-Traralgon:  Formerly |
| Traralgon-VIC/NSW Border: Formerly |
| VIC/NSW Border-Wollongong: |
Wollongong-Waterfall:  Formerly |
Waterfall-Kogarah:  Formerly |
Kogarah - Sydney:  |
See also
- Highways in Australia
- Highways in Victoria
- List of highways in New South Wales
- List of highways in South Australia
References
- ^ "Princes Highway ignored by NSW govt: NRMA", ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (22 June 2007). Retrieved on 5 February 2008. "NRMA managing director Alan Evans says the highway is one of the most dangerous in the state and he is disappointed that it has been ignored."
- ^ "Road traffic crashes in New South Wales: Statistical Statement for the year ended 31 December 2006" (pdf). Crash statistics. New South Wales Road Traffic Authority (2007). Retrieved on 2008-02-05. (see Table 25: pages 58-59)
- ^ Jeff Whalley (May 9, 2008). "Ring road will be connected to duplicated Princes Highway". Geelong Advertiser. www.geelongadvertiser.com.au. Retrieved on 2008-07-18.
- ^ Alpha-Numeric State Route A10 to be introduced for the Princes Highway in Geelong, Main Roads Victoria. Retrieved on January 30, 2008.
External links
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