Dukes Highway | |
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Coordinates |
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General information | |
Type | Highway |
Length | 190 km (118 mi) [1] |
Route number(s) |
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Former route number |
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Major junctions | |
Northwest end | Princes Highway Tailem Bend, South Australia |
Southeast end | Western Highway SA/VIC border |
Location(s) | |
Region | Murray and Mallee, Limestone Coast [2] |
Major settlements | Coonalpyn, Keith, Bordertown |
Highway system | |
Dukes Highway is a 190 kilometre [1] highway corridor in South Australia, which is part of the link between the Australian cities of Adelaide and Melbourne. It is part of the National Highway system spanning Australia, and is signed as route A8.
Dukes Highway begins at the intersection with Princes Highway in Tailem Bend. It heads in a southeast direction to the state border with Victoria just east of Bordertown, continuing into Victoria as Western Highway, with the same route signage (route A8). It is mostly a single carriageway of one lane each way, with 36 overtaking lanes. [3] Approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi) has 'wide centre lines', providing a 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) boundary between traffic travelling in opposite directions. [4]
Generally, the quality of Dukes Highway is of a high standard, with the entire road having wide lane widths and sealed shoulders with at least five (and usually six) metres clear beyond the edge line. [5] There are 16 rest areas or parking bays along the Dukes Highway, at approximately 15 km intervals. Each one provides sealed parking space for at least four B-double trucks, with bins, tables, shelter and lighting. [6]
Dukes Highway runs through the northern part of the Limestone Coast region of South Australia. The route and many of the settlements, including Bordertown, were established in the 1850s to supply water to horses for the gold escorts from the Victorian goldfields to Adelaide. [7]
Gold was taken to Adelaide rather than the closer Melbourne because a higher price was offered there. The higher price was offered to stop the South Australian economy from collapsing, as all the labourers were heading to the Victorian Goldfields. The Bullion Act was passed and an Assay office was established in Adelaide for the assaying and stamping of gold in 1852. It is claimed that this saved South Australia from bankruptcy. [8]
By the 1930s, the series of separate tracks had started to coalesce into the route it follows today, and was already being referred to as "the Duke's Highway" – after the Duke of York, later King George VI [9] – but at the time the name had never been officially recognised. There was a push to name the road Tolmer Highway, after former police commissioner Alexander Tolmer of gold escort fame, but this never eventuated. [9]
In the latter half of the 20th century, the western end of Dukes Highway was realigned to meet the Mallee Highway closer to Tailem Bend. It previously ran north from Coomandook on the alignment that is now known as the Old Dukes Highway to Moorlands. [10]
The final 17 km of the highway after Bordertown, was originally built on unstable ground, and was re-constructed in 2005. [11]
Dukes Highway is South Australia's deadliest major road, with 28 deaths in the 5 years to 2009. [12] This has led to calls for road improvements to separate traffic in each direction with a dual carriageway. [13] Point-to-point speed cameras have been installed on one section of the highway to identify drivers who flout the speed limit. [14]
Parts of the highway have wider centre lines installed, with audio tactile treatment to help drivers to realise and recover from drifting across the centre line before they encounter an oncoming vehicle. This is intended to reduce fatigue and inattention-related crashes. [15]
State | LGA [16] | Location [1] [17] | km [1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
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South Australia | Coorong | Tailem Bend | 0.0 | 0.0 | Princes Highway (A1 north, B1 south) – Adelaide, Murray Bridge, Meningie | Northwestern terminus of highway and route A8 |
1.9 | 1.2 | Adelaide–Wolseley railway line | ||||
3.0 | 1.9 | Mallee Highway (B12) – Lameroo, Pinnaroo | ||||
Coomandook | 31.7 | 19.7 | Old Dukes Highway – Moorlands | |||
Coonalpyn | 61.3 | 38.1 | McIntosh Way – Meningie | |||
Tintinara | 94.9 | 59.0 | Adelaide–Wolseley railway line | |||
Tatiara | Keith | 125 | 78 | Riddoch Highway (A66) – Naracoorte, Penola, Mount Gambier | ||
Cannawigara | 161 | 100 | Ngarkat Highway (B57 north) – Pinnaroo, Loxton | Concurrency with route B57 | ||
Bordertown | 171 | 106 | Naracoorte Road (B57 south) – Naracoorte, Penola, Mount Gambier | |||
172 | 107 | Adelaide–Wolseley railway line | ||||
Wolseley | 190 | 120 | Dukes Highway (A8) | Southeastern terminus of Dukes Highway | ||
State border | South Australia – Victoria state border | |||||
Victoria | West Wimmera | Serviceton | Western Highway (A8) – Horsham, Ballarat, Melbourne | Western terminus of Western Highway, route A8 continues east | ||
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Mallee Highway is a highway connecting Tailem Bend in south-eastern South Australia and Piangil in north-western Victoria, running mostly across the Mallee plains. It forms part of the shortest route between Adelaide and Sydney.
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Bordertown, formerly Border Town, is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's east near the state border with Victoria about 250 kilometres (160 mi) east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is where the Dukes Highway and the railway line cross the Tatiara Creek between Adelaide and Melbourne, the capital of Victoria.
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Elwomple is a locality in The Coorong District Council in the South Australian Murray Mallee, southeast of Tailem Bend. The northwest corner is the junction of the Mallee Highway which forms the northern boundary of Elwomple, and the Dukes Highway which forms the southwestern boundary. The Bend Motorsport Park was developed in Elwomple adjacent to this junction. In September 2017, before the facility opened, the boundary between Tailem Bend and Elwomple was adjusted so that The Bend Motorsport Park was officially in Tailem Bend, not Elwomple.