Princes Highway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Princes Highway | |
| Port Augusta-Port Wakefield, Murray Bridge-Tailem Bend: |
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| Tailem Bend-Mt. Gambier: | |
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| Mt. Gambier-Geelong: | |
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| Dandenong-Berwick: | |
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| Berwick-Beaconsfield: | |
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| Beaconsfield-Traralgon (highway sections): | |
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| Traralgon-VIC/NSW border: | |
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| NSW/VIC border-Wollongong: | |
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| Wollongong-Waterfall: | |
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| Waterfall-Kogarah: | |
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| Newtown - Sydney: | |
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| Length | ?? kilometres |
| General direction: | West-East |
| From: | Murray Bridge, South Australia |
| To: | Chippendale, Sydney |
| Towns along highway: | Tailem Bend, Mt. Gambier, Warrnambool, Geelong, Pakenham, Sale, Orbost, Batemans Bay, Wollongong |
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. By contrast, the National Highway takes the Hume Highway from Sydney to Melbourne, and the Western Highway from Melbourne to Adelaide.
Existing roads were re-named ‘Princes Highway’ after the visit to Australia in 1920 of the Prince of Wales (who became King Edward VIII, thence the late Duke of Windsor). The highway was officially opened on August 10 1920 at Warragul, Victoria.
The Princes Highway starts in the Sydney suburb of St. Peters as a continuation of King Street, and heads south through the Illawarra region of New South Wales and the city of Wollongong. It continues south, through the South Coast of New South Wales, passing through Nowra and Batemans Bay, and finally crossing the border into Victoria south of Eden.
In Victoria the highway passes through the Gippsland region, the Latrobe Valley and continues heading west into the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, to Dandenong. While the road continues, the name subsequently changes to Dandenong Road and Queens Road, which terminates at Kings Way in central Melbourne. It begins again in the northern reachs of Geelong - former alignments, originating in western Melbourne, were either renamed (eg: Geelong Road in Werribee and inner-eastern Melbourne), or subsumed into the alignment of Princes Freeway (from Altona North to eastern Werribee, and western Werribee to Geelong). However, the Monash Freeway 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.
Tracing through Geelong, and still heading generally west, the highway 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.
At Mount Gambier the highway takes a northward tack, passing Coorong National Park. The last leg wanders through Murray Bridge and over the Murray River into Adelaide. Beyond, 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.
Sections of the Princes Highway have been upgraded or superseded by freeways. They are:
- Southern Freeway between Sydney and Wollongong
- Princes Freeway East between Melbourne and Traralgon
- Monash Freeway through Melbourne's east
- West Gate Freeway through Melbourne's west
- Princes Freeway West between Melbourne and Geelong
- South Eastern Freeway between Adelaide and Murray Bridge
