Port Wakefield Highway Port Wakefield Road | |
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Coordinates |
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General information | |
Type | Highway |
Length | 89.7 km (56 mi) [1] |
Route number(s) | A1 (2017–present) |
Former route number |
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Major junctions | |
North end | Augusta Highway Port Wakefield, South Australia |
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South end | Main North Road Gepps Cross, Adelaide |
Location(s) | |
Region | Yorke and Mid North, Barossa Light and Lower North, Northern Adelaide [2] |
Major settlements | Two Wells, Virginia, Cavan, Gepps Cross |
Highway system | |
Port Wakefield Highway (and its southern section as Port Wakefield Road) is an important South Australian highway, connecting Adelaide to the Yorke Peninsula, Port Augusta, northern and western South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It is designated National Highway A1 and a part of the National Highway. It is named after Port Wakefield, the first government town north of Adelaide.
Port Wakefield Highway begins at the intersection of Augusta and Copper Coast Highways just north of Port Wakefield, and runs as a four-lane, dual-lane carriageway south to the interchange with the North–South Motorway and Northern Expressway; it changes name to Port Wakefield Road and continues south into Adelaide as a four-lane, dual-carriage road, widening to six lanes at Ryans Road in Parafield Gardens, narrowing back to four lanes at Cavan Road in Gepps Cross, and then ends at Main North Road a short distance later. The route is dual-carriageway for its entire length to Port Wakefield and bypasses all of the small towns along its former route.
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The four-span bridge opened in 1926 over the Gawler railway line at Cavan was replaced with two dual carriageway bridges in 1980. [3] At the same time Virginia and Two Wells were bypassed. [4]
In 2011 an upgrade including road widening of nine kilometres of Port Wakefield Road between Salisbury Highway and Waterloo Corner Road was completed as part of the Northern Expressway project. [5] Historically, the whole route was named Port Wakefield Road, however following the opening of the Northern Expressway, the route from Port Wakefield south to that junction in Waterloo Corner was renamed Port Wakefield Highway. [6]
In February 2020, the northbound ramp from Port Wakefield Road to the Northern Expressway was closed permanently as part of the final stages of opening the Northern Connector, the project name at the time for the northernmost part of the North–South Motorway. Northbound traffic to the Northern Expressway needs to use an earlier entrance to the North–South Motorway or join the Northern Expressway later via Waterloo Corner Road and Heaslip Road. [7]
The original bypass of Port Wakefield has become built up with roadhouses and other businesses, leading to calls to build a new bypass further east; [8] this has evolved into a duplication of the road through Port Wakefield, resulting in wider carriageways and a safer separation of traffic. The contract for detailed design and construction of duplication of the highway through Port Wakefield and a grade-separated intersection with the Copper Coast Highway was let in March 2020 to the Port Wakefield to Port Augusta Alliance (a consortium of CPB Contractors, Aurecon and GHD Group, also responsible for the duplication of Joy Baluch AM Bridge in Port Augusta), [9] [10] with the government announcing an overpass for the intersection with Copper Coast Highway in 2021. [11] Project construction commenced in late 2020, with completion expected in 2022; [9] the overpass to Copper Coast Highway opened in December 2021, four months ahead of schedule. [12]
LGA [13] | Location [1] [14] | km [1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
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Wakefield | Port Wakefield | 0.0 | 0.0 | Augusta Highway (A1 north) – Snowtown, Port Augusta | Northern terminus of Port Wakefield Highway, route A1 continues north along Augusta Highway |
Copper Coast Highway (B85 west) – Kadina, Wallaroo | |||||
2.2 | 1.4 | Balaklava Road (B84 northeast) – Balaklava, Auburn North Street (west) – Port Wakefield | |||
Adelaide Plains | Two Wells | 59.6 | 37.0 | Mallala Road (B77) – Two Wells, Mallala, to Gawler Road (B77) – Gawler | |
Playford | Riverlea Park–Virginia boundary | 66.7 | 41.4 | Angle Vale Road – Virginia, Angle Vale, Gawler | |
Virginia–Waterloo Corner boundary | 72.0 | 44.7 | Old Port Wakefield Road – Virginia | ||
Waterloo Corner | 73.5 | 45.7 | Northern Expressway (M2 northeast) – Gawler North–South Motorway (M2 southwest) – Wingfield, Hindmarsh | Partial interchange: no northbound entrances to Northern Expressway and North–South Motorway Southern terminus of Port Wakefield Highway, northern terminus of Port Wakefield Road | |
Salisbury | 76.7 | 47.7 | Waterloo Corner Road – Salisbury, St Kilda | ||
Bolivar–Paralowie boundary | 80.3 | 49.9 | Bolivar Road (A18) – Modbury North–South Motorway (M2 west) – Waterloo Corner, Wingfield | ||
Dry Creek–Mawson Lakes boundary | 85.7 | 53.3 | Salisbury Highway (A9) – Port Adelaide, Salisbury | Diamond interchange | |
Dry Creek–Mawson Lakes-Cavan tripoint | 86.6 | 53.8 | Gawler and Adelaide-Port Augusta SG railway lines | ||
Cavan | 87.4 | 54.3 | Churchill Road North (west) – Dry Creek Montague Road (east) – Pooraka, Para Vista | ||
Port Adelaide Enfield | Gepps Cross–Dry Creek boundary | 88.5 | 55.0 | Cavan Road (A22) – Dry Creek, Kilburn | |
Blair Athol–Enfield–Gepps Cross tripoint | 89.7 | 55.7 | Grand Junction Road (A16 west, east) – Port Adelaide, Northfield, Hope Valley Main North Road (A20 north-east) – Elizabeth, Gawler, Nurioopta | ||
Main North Road (A1 south) – North Adelaide | Southern terminus of Port Wakefield Road, route A1 continues south along Main North Road | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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Port Wakefield Road passes through the northern Adelaide Plains. To the west of the road is the coastal fringe of upper Gulf St Vincent, including a number of fishing and holiday villages. To the east is rich cropping and farming land.
The list of towns on or near the road include:
Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of 1,941 kilometres (1,206 mi) or 1,898 kilometres (1,179 mi) via the former alignments of the highway, although these routes are slower and connections to the bypassed sections of the original route are poor in many cases.
Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions along the route.
The Midland Highway is one of Tasmania's major inter-city highways, running for 176 kilometres (109 mi) between Hobart and Launceston. It is part of the AusLink National Network and is a vital link for road freight to transport goods to and from the two cities. It represents a major north–south transportation corridor in Tasmania and has the route 1 designation as part of the National Highway. The highway consists of various traffic lane arrangements, the most common being two lanes – one in each direction, with overtaking options and at-grade intersections. At both the Launceston and Hobart sections of the highway there are small portions of grade-separated dual carriageway.
A dual carriageway (BrE) or a divided highway (AmE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are designed to higher standards with controlled access are generally classed as motorways, freeways, etc., rather than dual carriageways.
Southern Expressway is an 18.5 km (11.5 mi) freeway through the southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the southern part of the North–South Corridor which extends the full length of Adelaide and is being built to urban freeway standard. It is designated part of route M2.
The Pacific Motorway is a motorway in Australia between Brisbane, Queensland, and Brunswick Heads, New South Wales, through the New South Wales–Queensland border at Tweed Heads.
Main North Road is the major north-south arterial route through the suburbs north of the Adelaide City Centre in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, and linking to Gawler on Adelaide's outer north-eastern fringes.
Port Wakefield is a town at the mouth of the River Wakefield, at the head of the Gulf St Vincent in South Australia. It was the first government town to be established north of the state capital, Adelaide. Port Wakefield is situated 98.7 kilometres from the Adelaide city centre on the Port Wakefield Highway section of the A1 National Highway.
South Road and its southern section as Main South Road outside of Adelaide is a major north–south conduit connecting Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula, in South Australia. It is one of Adelaide's most important arterial and bypass roads. As South Road, it is designated part of route A2 within suburban Adelaide. As Main South Road, it is designated part of routes A13 and B23.
Port River Expressway is a 5.7-kilometre (3.5 mi) freeway-grade road. The expressway links Port Adelaide and the LeFevre Peninsula across the north-western suburbs of Adelaide to major interstate routes via North-South Motorway.
Northern Expressway, also known as the Fatchen Northern Expressway, is a 21 kilometre long controlled-access highway in Adelaide, South Australia. Since March 2020, the North–South Motorway continues west of Port Wakefield Highway and intersects the Port River Expressway to reach the harbour at Port Adelaide. These are the northernmost two parts of the North–South Corridor.
Salisbury Highway is a 15 kilometre major connecting road in the northern suburbs of the Adelaide metropolitan area. It is designated part of route A9.
Gawler Bypass is a major north–south route in the outer northern suburbs of the city of Adelaide, South Australia, connecting Main North Road to the Sturt Highway, bypassing Gawler. The route was built in 1963 in an attempt to redirect traffic on the national highway out of Gawler town centre. It has been upgraded and realigned several times since then.
The North–South Motorway is a partially complete motorway traversing the inner western suburbs of Adelaide, from Waterloo Corner in the north to Bedford Park in the south. Progressively constructed in stages since 2010, once complete it will replace the adjacent South Road as Adelaide's main north–south roadway. It will form the central section of the North–South Corridor, being flanked north and south by the Northern Expressway and Southern Expressway, respectively. It is designated part of route M2.
The North–South Corridor is a series of component motorways travelling through Adelaide, South Australia that will eventually form a continuous link from Old Noarlunga in the outer southern metropolitan Adelaide suburbs through to Gawler in northern metropolitan Adelaide, comprising a distance of 78km. Under South Australia's road route system, the corridor is signed as route M2.
Augusta Highway is the part of Australia's ring route located in South Australia between Port Wakefield and Port Augusta.
Copper Coast Highway is a highway in South Australia which branches off from the Augusta and Port Wakefield Highways 2 km north of Port Wakefield, and heads northwest across the top of Yorke Peninsula to Kadina, ending at the Spencer Gulf town of Wallaroo.
The Joy Baluch AM Bridge is a bridge across Spencer Gulf between Port Augusta and Port Augusta West in South Australia. It carries Highway 1 and is a key road link on both east–west and north–south road routes in Australia. The western end leads to Eyre Peninsula, the Eyre Highway and the Stuart Highway. The eastern end leads to the Augusta Highway towards Adelaide, Victoria and New South Wales.