Stuart Highway

Stuart Highway
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Stuart Highway


Length	2834 km
General direction	North-South
From	Daly Street, Darwin, Northern Territory
via	Katherine, NT, Daly Waters, NT, Tennant Creek, NT, Alice Springs, NT, Coober Pedy, SA
To	Princes Highway / Eyre Highway, Port Augusta, South Australia
Allocation	Darwin-Daly Waters: Daly Waters-NT/SA border: NT/SA border-Port Augusta: Formerly
Major Junctions	Arnhem Highway Kakadu Highway Victoria Highway Roper Highway Carpentaria Highway Buchanan Highway Barkly Highway Sandover Highway Plenty Highway Tanami Road Lasseter Highway Oodnadatta Track Anne Beadell Highway

The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways,^[1] it is part of Australia's Highway 1, and Australia's National Highway that extends south to north in the interior of Australia, from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs. The Stuart highway has a lengthy route which is 2,834 kilometres (1,761 mi). The Stuart Highway is often referred to simply as The Track

The highway is named for John McDouall Stuart, the first European to cross Australia from South to North, and it generally follows his route.

1 Route
- 1.1 Northern Territory
- 1.2 South Australia
2 Speed Limits
3 Cannonball Run
4 Flying Doctors
5 Murder/Disappearance
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Route

Stuart Highway intersection in Berrimah, Northern Territory

Stuart Highway at Stuart Park, Northern Territory

The highway passes through the Woomera Prohibited Area

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory section of the Stuart Highway starts from the edge of the Darwin Central Business District at Daly Street and continues as a dual-carriageway to the Arnhem Highway in Howard Springs. The highway continues 317 kilometres (197 mi) south passing the Kakadu Highway to the Victoria Highway at Katherine. The route number changes from National 1 to National 87 The highway then continues 673 kilometres (418 mi) south passing the Roper Highway, the Carpentaria Highway and the Buchanan Highway to the Barkly Highway at Tennant Creek. The highway continues 508 kilometres (316 mi) south into Alice Springs passing the Plenty Highway. It passes through the Macdonnell Ranges and finally crossing the South Australia/Northern Territory border south of Kulgera.^[2] The highway was only fully sealed in the middle 1980s as part of Australia's bicentenary roadworks programme. There are no police patrolling the majority of this remote highway and before the end of 2006 there was no actual speed limit outside towns and other built-up areas on the Northern Territory part.^[3] The bulk of the Northern Territory's population not living in Darwin lies along its track.

South Australia

At the border of the Northern Territory/South Australia border the route number changes from National 87 to National A 87. The Stuart Highway passes through the Far North region and continues to Adelaide. But Its proper routing is from Port Augusta. The highway passes through the Woomera Prohibited Area but travellers may not leave the road. The Highway continues south-east towards Adelaide.

There is petrol and other facilities (meals, toilets etc) available at reasonable intervals (usually around 200 km/124 mi) and more frequent rest stops. Some of the rest stops are located at scenic points with information boards, but others are little more than a picnic table and a rubbish bin in the middle of nowhere.

Speed Limits

There was no absolute speed limit in the Northern Territory before 1 January 2007 but maximum speed limits are posted on some road sections. Drivers were simply required to drive at a safe speed to suit the conditions. Thus the majority of the Stuart Highway had no speed limits at all.^[4] The Northern Territory traffic laws were updated from 1 January 2007 to be similar to the rest of Australia. This included placing a speed limit on all roads (130 km/h/81 mph) on major highways such as the Stuart Highway) and significantly increasing penalties for speeding.^[5]^[6]

Cannonball Run

In 1994 the first and only Cannonball Run in Australia ran from Darwin to Yulara and back again. Based on similar events in the United States, this event ended in tragedy when a Ferrari crashed into a checkpoint south of Alice Springs, resulting in the death of four people.^[7] The remainder of the race had to have a 150 km/h (93 mph) speed limit imposed to prevent further accidents, and then had regular traffic overtake the competitors.^{citation needed}

Flying Doctors

The Royal Flying Doctor Service uses the highway as an emergency landing strip. Sections of the highway are signed to that effect and care should be taken when driving on those sections if there is any aircraft overhead or on the road (pull off the road).

Murder/Disappearance

The highway became the centre of media attention during 2001 after the disappearance and suspected murder of English tourist, Peter Falconio while travelling on the road.