Sturt Highway

Not to be confused with Stuart Highway.

Sturt Highway South Australia–New South Wales

B-double truck on the Sturt Highway

General information
Type	Highway
Length	947 km (588 mi)
Route number(s)	National Highway A20 Gawler – SA/Vic. Border National Highway A20 SA/Vic. Border – Vic./NSW Border National Highway A20 Vic./NSW Border – Hume Motorway
Former route number	National Highway 20 (1992-2013) Entire route National Route 20 (1955-1992)
Major junctions
West end	Max Fatchen Expressway (National Highway M20), Gawler, South Australia
	Barrier Highway (A32) Barossa Valley Way (B19) Calder Highway(A79) Silver City Highway (B79) Murray Valley Highway Mid-Western Highway (B64) via Cobb Highway (B75) Kidman Way (B87) Newell Highway (A39) Olympic Highway (A41)
East end	Hume Motorway (M31), Tarcutta, New South Wales
Location(s)
Major settlements	Nuriootpa, Renmark, Mildura, Balranald, Hay, Narrandera, Wagga Wagga
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in South Australia Highways in Victoria Highways in New South Wales
Infobox instructions guidelines examples talk

The Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. The Sturt Highway is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions situated adjacent to the route.^[1]

Initially an amalgam of trunk routes, the 947-kilometre (588 mi) Sturt Highway was proclaimed a state highway in 1933 and was named in honour of Captain Charles Sturt who explored the area in 1829 and opened it up for agriculture. In 1955, the Australian Government gazetted the highway as a national route and upgraded as a national highway in 1992, forming the Sydney-Adelaide Link. The Sturt carries the National Highway 20 shield for its entire length, the majority of which is a single carriageway and freeway standard and 6-lane arterial road standard towards its western terminus, north of Adelaide.^[2]^[3]

Route

The highway runs generally east-west, roughly aligned to the Murrumbidgee River in New South Wales, then, following that river's confluence with the Murray River, aligned to the Murray in north-western Victoria and eastern South Australia, generally towards the northern outskirts of Adelaide. The highway is the shortest and highest standard route between Sydney and Adelaide.^[3]

The eastern terminus of the Sturt Highway is at a junction with the Hume Highway at Tarcutta, near Gundagai. Heading west, the Sturt passes through the city of Wagga Wagga and the towns Narrandera, Darlington Point, Hay, Balranald, Euston, leaving NSW by crossing the Murray River into Victoria from Buronga to Mildura. The highway continues more or less due west through the northwest of Victoria before entering South Australia. This section of road was built in 1927 as part of the Murray Valley Road to provide a shorter, and all-weather, road connection between Mildura and Renmark.^[4]^[5] In South Australia, the Sturt Highway passes Renmark, Monash, Barmera, Waikerie, Blanchetown, Nuriootpa and Gawler where it reaches its western terminus, although Gawler is bypassed.^[2]

The original route of the highway, proclaimed in 1938, took a course from Wentworth to Renmark, on the northern side of the Murray River.^[6]^[7]

The highway carries the National Highway shield A20 on its entire route. At its western terminus, the route changes to the M20 on the Max Fatchen Expressway and continues from the Gawler Bypass Road south towards the A1. At its eastern terminus, the route changes to the M31 on the Hume Motorway.^[3]

Upgrades

South Australia

None of the Sturt Highway was originally constructed as dual-carriageway, however work commenced in January 2007 to upgrade the highway to two lanes each way dual carriageway between the Gawler Bypass and Greenock in the Barossa Valley. The project was completed in 2010 with budget savings directed towards further Sturt Highway improvements.^[8]

The Northern Expressway, renamed as the Max Fatchen Expressway in 2013, was built at the south-western end of the Sturt Highway, extending Route A20 by 22 km from Gawler southwest to meet Port Wakefield Road (National Route A1) at Waterloo Corner as part of an AusLink/South Australian Government project to build a new dual-carriageway/freeway standard road as part of the North–South Corridor project. This will provide better access for road transport to Port Adelaide and the industrial areas west and northwest of the city.^[9] Now completed this has essentially made the Sturt Highway dual-carriageway/freeway standard between Adelaide and the Barossa Valley.

Other projects in South Australia include: a number of overtaking lanes have also been added in recent years to help make it safer with the high volume of traffic.^[10] Major 'S'-bend curves near Waikerie were realigned, and further upgrades to the road were performed up to 2012.^[11]

Significant route changes

The original route of the Sturt Highway in the Riverland passed through Berri and Glossop instead of the current route through Monash. The former alignment is now known as the Old Sturt Highway, route B201. The original route also passed through the middle of the Barossa Valley along what is now the Barossa Valley Way.^[12]^[13] This first changed to a route passing to the north of Nuriootpa around to the north and west of Gawler on the Gawler Bypass Road and Main North Road to Gepps Cross. It later changed to use the Max Fatchen Expressway instead. The more recent road duplication led to it bypassing Daveyston and Shea-Oak Log instead of passing through these small towns.

Victoria

There is also the proposed Mildura Truck Bypass, to be funded by Auslink 2.^[14]

Major river crossings

From east to west, the Sturt Highway follows much of the course of the Murrumbidgee River, on its southern banks, from the Sturt's eastern terminus with the Hume Motorway. At Balranald the Sturt Highway crosses the Murrumbidgee, carrying the highway to the north of the river via the Balranald Bridge.^[15] To the west and south-west, the Sturt Highway crosses the Murray four times; between Buronga and Mildura, carrying the highway to the south of the Murray over the George Chaffey Bridge, a high concrete-girder bridge that was opened in 1985;^[16] between Paringa and Renmark, carrying the highway to the north of the Murray over the Paringa Bridge, a lift-span bridge which used to have a railway through the middle as well as the road carriageway on each side;^[17] between Cobdogla and Kingston On Murray, carrying the highway to the south of the Murray over the Kingston Bridge, a high bridge from an embankment on the right bank to the cliffs on the left bank;^[17] and at Blanchetown, carrying the highway from east to west over the Murray (as the river flows south) over the Blanchetown Bridge, another high bridge to cliffs on the river's western bank.^[17]

The bridge at Blanchetown was originally opened in 1964.^[18] It replaced cable ferries, and was itself replaced in 1998^[19] in response to concern about its ability to continue to carry B-double trucks. The bridge at Kingston On Murray was opened in 1973^[20] also replacing a very busy ferry crossing.

Major intersections

State	LGA^[21]	Location^[22]^[23]	km^[24]	mi	Destinations	Notes
South Australia	Light	Gawler Belt, Ward Belt	0	0.0	Max Fatchen Expressway (National Highway M20) – Adelaide Gawler Bypass Road (A52) – Elizabeth
		Gawler Belt	2	1.2	Redbanks Road – Mallala, Balaklava
		Gawler Belt, Hewett	3	1.9	Horrocks Highway (A32) – Tarlee, Clare Thiele Highway (B81) – Freeling, Kapunda
		Greenock	23	14	Greenock Road – Greenock, Kapunda
		Nuriootpa	31	19	Barossa Valley Way (B19)
	Mid Murray	Truro	42	26	Truro Road – Kapunda
	Mid Murray	Annadale	65	40	Halfway House Road – Sedan, Mannum
	River Murray		91	57	Blanchetown Bridge
	Loxton Waikerie	Paisley	92	57	Hunter Road – Swan Reach, Mannum	east side of Murray River
		Waikerie	130	81	Ramco Road/Cadell Valley Road – Ramco, Cadell
		Kingston On Murray	166	103	Kingston Road – Loxton
	River Murray		168	104	Kingston Bridge
	Berri Barmera	Barmera	179	111	Old Sturt Highway (B201) – Berri
		Monash	185	115	Goyder Highway (B64) – Morgan, Crystal Brook
		Monash	194	121	Old Sturt Highway (B201) – Berri
	River Murray		211	131	Paringa Bridge
	Renmark Paringa	Pike River	222	138	Stanitzki Road – Loxton, Murray Bridge
Victoria	South Australia – Victoria state border		234	145	South Australia – Victoria state border
Victoria	Mildura	Mildura	343	213	Calder Highway (A79) – Merbein, Ouyen	concurrent for 3 kilometres (1.9 mi)
New South Wales	New South Wales – Victoria state border		351	218	New South Wales – Victoria state border
	Murray River		351	218	George Chaffey Bridge
	Wentworth	Buronga	352	219	Silver City Highway (B79) – Wentworth, Broken Hill
	Balranald	Euston	431	268	Murray Valley Highway – Robinvale, Swan Hill
	Murrumbidgee River		509	316	Balranald Bridge
	Balranald	Balranald	511	318	Mallee Highway – Tooleybuc, Ouyen
	Hay	Hay	638	396	Cobb Highway (B75) – Wilcannia, Deniliquin, Echuca Mid-Western Highway (B64) – West Wyalong, Cowra, Sydney
	Murrumbidgee	Waddi	752	467	Kidman Way (B87) – Griffith, Cobar, Jerilderie
	Narrandera	Narrandera	808	502	Newell Highway (A39) – Jerilderie, West Wyalong
	Wagga Wagga	Wagga Wagga	899	559	Olympic Highway (A41) – Albury, Junee	concurrent for about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi)
	Wagga Wagga	Tarcutta	948	589	Hume Motorway (M31) – Albury, Sydney, Canberra
Concurrency terminus Route transition

Towns on the Sturt Highway

New South Wales

Victoria

South Australia

Gallery

Sturt Highway marked as A20 near Gumly Gumly
Sturt Highway through Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
The Sturt Highway through Truro, South Australia
The junction of the Sturt and Olympic highways

References

↑ Hema, Maps (2007). Australia Road and 4WD Atlas (Map). Eight Mile Plains Queensland: Hema Maps. pp. 32–33, 69, 71. ISBN 978-1-86500-456-3.
1 2 Rands, Paul (2015). "Sturt Highway & Main North Road (A20)". Road Photos & Information: South Australia. Paul Rands. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
1 2 3 "Sturt Highway". Ozroads. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
↑ "THE MURRAY VALLEY ROAD". Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record. Renmark, SA: National Library of Australia. 18 November 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
↑ "MURRAY VALLEY ROAD". Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record. Renmark, SA: National Library of Australia. 6 April 1928. p. 4. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
↑ "STURT HIGHWAY.". Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser. NSW: National Library of Australia. 9 December 1935. p. 2. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
↑ "State's Chief Highways Named.". The Chronicle. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 16 June 1938. p. 47. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
↑ "Sturt Highway Upgrade". TransportSA. Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. 25 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
↑ "Northern Expressway". TransportSA. Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. 11 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
↑ "Sturt Highway – Riverland passing lanes". AusLink. Department of Transport and Regional Services. 20 July 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
↑ "Sturt Highway – Upgrading Program". AusLink. Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
↑ "THE LOWER MURRAY.". The Riverine Grazier. Hay, NSW: National Library of Australia. 15 February 1949. p. 1. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
↑ South Australia. Highways and Local Government Dept; South Australian Government Tourist Bureau (1950), South Australia showing main road system and important district roads, Highways & Local Government Dept. : M.E. Sherrah, Government photolithographer, retrieved 30 January 2015
↑ Mildura Truck Bypass – Auslink 2(PDF)
↑ "Map of Balranald, NSW". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
↑ "George Chaffey Bridge over Murray River, Mildura". Heritage and conservation register. Roads & Maritime Services, Government of New South Wales. 17 April 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
1 2 3 "The river as a highway: Crossing the Murray". SA memory. State Library of South Australia, Government of South Australia. 31 March 2010. Archived from the original on 31 March 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
↑ "The Official opening of Blanchetown Bridge by the Honourable Sir Thomas Playford G.C.M.G., M.P., Premier of South Australia, on Friday, 24th April, 1964 : souvenir". Highways Department. Government of South Australia. 1964. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
↑ "From one side to the other, to commemorate the opening of the new bridge, November 1998". Blanchetown Bulletin Committee. 1998. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
↑ "Official opening, Kingston Bridge, River Murray by His Excellency the Governor Sir Mark Oliphant, K.B.E. 21st. Feb., 1973". Highways Department. Government of South Australia. 1973. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
↑ "Property Location Browser". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
↑ "Mid North" (PDF). Naming of State Rural Roads. Government of South Australia. 16 December 2013. Rack Plan 869. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
↑ "Murray Mallee, Riverland" (PDF). Naming of State Rural Roads. Government of South Australia. 6 December 2013. Rack Plan 870. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
↑ Google (5 October 2014). "Driving directions Sturt Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 5 October 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sturt Highway.

Road infrastructure in regional New South Wales

Motorways	Hume Motorway Hunter Expressway Pacific Motorway (Brisbane–Brunswick Heads) Pacific Motorway (Sydney–Newcastle) Princes Motorway

National highways	Barton Highway Federal Highway Hume Highway New England Highway Newell Highway Sturt Highway

Highways	Barrier Highway Bruxner Highway Carnarvon Highway Castlereagh Highway Cobb Highway Great Western Highway Gwydir Highway Illawarra Highway Kamilaroi Highway Kings Highway Mid-Western Highway Mitchell Highway Monaro Highway Murray Valley Highway Olympic Highway Oxley Highway Pacific Highway Princes Highway Riverina Highway Silver City Highway Snowy Mountains Highway

Local highways	Alpine Way Appin Road Barry Way Bathurst-Ilford Road Bells Line of Road Bucketts Way Burley Griffin Way Bylong Valley Way Camden Valley Way Castlereagh Highway Central Coast Highway Escort Way Fossickers Way Golden Highway Goldfields Way Goulburn-Oberon Road Henry Lawson Way Irrigation Way Kidman Way Lachlan Valley Way Memorial Drive Newcastle Inner City Bypass Newcastle Link Road O'Connell Road Old Hume Highway Picton Road Princes Highway Putty Road Remembrance Drive Summerland Way Thunderbolts Way Waterfall Way Wombeyan Caves Road Yass Valley Way

Bridges	Denison Bridge Grafton Bridge Harwood Bridge Hampden Bridge Macleay River Bridge Martin Bridge Mooney Mooney Bridge Nowra Bridge Sea Cliff Bridge Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest Bridge

Tunnels	Cudgen Road Tunnel St Helena Tunnel

Proposals	Sydney Bypass

Road infrastructure in South Australia

Freeways	Northern Expressway Port River Expressway South Eastern Freeway Southern Expressway

Interstate highways	Barrier Highway Dukes Highway Eyre Highway Mallee Highway Princes Highway Stuart Highway Sturt Highway

State highways	Augusta Highway Gawler bypass road Horrocks Highway Main South Road Port Wakefield Road Riddoch Highway Victor Harbor Road

Arterial roads	Adelaide–Mannum Road Barndioota Road Barossa Valley Way Birdseye Highway Browns Well Highway Cameron Highway Copper Coast Highway Flinders Highway Flinders Ranges Way Glenelg Highway Gorge Road Goyder Highway Horrocks Highway Karoonda Highway Lincoln Highway Ngarkat Highway Olympic Dam Highway Onkaparinga Valley Road Playford Highway RM Williams Way Southern Ports Highway Spencer Highway St Vincent Highway Strathalbyn Road Strathalbyn–Goolwa Road Thiele Highway Tod Highway Wellington Road Wilkins Highway Wimmera Highway Yorke Highway

Outback tracks	Anne Beadell Highway Birdsville Track Colson Track Gunbarrel Highway Mount Davies Road Oodnadatta Track Strzelecki Track

Road infrastructure in Victoria

Freeways	Calder Freeway Goulburn Valley Freeway Hume Freeway Princes Freeway (Geelong Ring Road) Western Freeway

Highways	Bass Highway Bellarine Highway Borung Highway Calder Highway Calder Alternative Highway Glenelg Highway Goulburn Valley Highway Hamilton Highway Henty Highway Hopkins Highway Kiewa Valley Highway Loddon Valley Highway Mallee Highway Maroondah Highway McIvor Highway Melba Highway Midland Highway Monaro Highway Murray Valley Highway Nepean Highway Northern Highway Omeo Highway Princes Highway Pyrenees Highway South Gippsland Highway Strzelecki Highway Sturt Highway Sunraysia Highway Surf Coast Highway Warburton Highway Western Highway Western Port Highway Wimmera Highway

Bypass routes	Old Hume Highway Old Princes Highway Princes Highway (Geelong)

Tourist routes	Great Alpine Road Great Ocean Road Murray Valley Highway Phillip Island Road

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