Hume Highway

Hume Freeway Hume Highway
General information
Type
Length	880 km (547 mi)
Opened	1817
Route number(s)	Campbelltown - NSW/Vic. Border: NSW/Vic. Border - Campbellfield: Formerly
	Narellan Road Appin Road Illawarra Highway Federal Highway Barton Highway Lachlan Valley Way Burley Griffin Way Snowy Mountains Highway Sturt Highway Olympic Highway Riverina Highway Murray Valley Highway Midland Highway Goulburn Valley Freeway Northern Highway Sydney Road for full list see Exits & Interchanges
Location(s)
via	Goulburn, Yass, Tarcutta, Albury, Wodonga, Wangaratta, Benalla, Seymour, Craigieburn

The Hume Highway / Hume Freeway is one of Australia's most important and notable interstate highways which runs for 880 km inland between Sydney and Melbourne. 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 as well as serving Albury, Wodonga and Canberra.

The main alternative route is the Princes Highway which goes via the coast rather than inland.

History

The coast of New South Wales from the Queensland border to the Victorian border is separated from the inland by an escarpment, forming the eastern edge of the Great Dividing Range. There are few easy routes up this escarpment. To climb from the coast to the tablelands the Hume Highway uses the Bargo Ramp, a geological feature which provides one of the few easy crossings of the escarpment.

In the first twenty years of European settlement at Sydney (established 1788), exploration southwest of Sydney was slow. This area was heavily wooded at the time, especially the "Bargo brush", which was regarded as almost impenetrable. In 1798 explorers (Wilson, Price, Hacking, and Collins) reached the Moss Vale and Marulan districts, but this was not followed up. Any settlement would have to await the construction of an adequate access track, which would have been beyond the colony's resources at the time, and would have served little purpose as a source of supplies for Sydney, due to the time taken to reach Sydney. In 1804, Charles Throsby penetrated through the Bargo brush to the country on the tablelands near Moss Vale and Sutton Forest. On another expedition in 1818, he reached Lake Bathurst and the "Goulburn Plains". Many of the early explorers would most likely have used aboriginal guides, but they do not appear to have given them credit.

After Charles Throsby's 1818 journey towards present day Goulburn, followed by Hamilton Hume and William Hovell's overland journey from Appin (near Campbelltown) to Port Phillip and return in 1824, development of the Southern Tablelands for agriculture was rapid. The present route of the Hume Highway is much the same as that used by the pioneers.

The route taken by the Hume Highway to climb from the coast to the Southern Tablelands and thence across the Great Divide is situated between the parallel river gorge systems of the Wollondilly and Shoalhaven Rivers. This country consists generally of a gently sloping plateau which is deeply dissected by the Nepean River and its tributaries. The route of the Highway, by using four high level bridges to cross these gorges, avoids the Razorback Range, and has minimal earthworks. The climb from the western side of the Nepean River at Menangle up to Mittagong is fairly sustained, a fact that is hard to appreciate at high speed on the modern freeway. The highway climbs non-stop over a distance of 16 km from the Pheasant's Nest bridge over the Nepean River to Yerrinbool, before dropping slightly before the final climb to reach the tablelands at Aylmerton.

Early road construction

Towrang bridge of 1839

Governor Lachlan Macquarie ordered the construction of a road, which became known as the Great South Road (the basis of the northern end of the Hume Highway) in 1819 from Picton to the Goulburn Plains and he travelled to Goulburn in 1820, but it is unlikely that even a primitive road was finished at that time.

The Great South Road was rebuilt and completely re-routed between Yanderra and Goulburn by Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell in 1833. The Main Roads Management Act of June 1858 declared the Great Southern Road, from near Sydney through Goulburn and Gundagai to Albury, as one of the three main roads in the colony. However, its southern reaches were described as only a 'scarcely formed bullock track' as late as 1858. The road was improved in the mid 1860s with some sections near Gundagai "metalled" and all creeks bridged between Adelong Creek (approximately 10 kilometres south of Gundagai) and Albury.

Mitchell's route, except for the bypasses at Mittagong, Berrima and Marulan (dual carriageways were completed in 1986) is still largely followed by the current highway. Mitchell intended to straighten the route north of Yanderra, but was not granted funding, although his proposed route through Pheasants Nest has similarities to the freeway route opened in 1980. Mitchell's work on the Great South Road is best preserved at Towrang Creek (10 kilometres north of Goulburn), where his stone arch culvert still stands, although it was superseded in 1965 by a concrete box culvert which in turn was superseded by the current route of the highway when it was duplicated in 1972.

In 1914 the NSW section of the highway was declared a main road. Until it was named the Hume Highway in 1928 it was known as the "Great South Road" in NSW and "Sydney Road" in Victoria. It was named after Hamilton Hume, who with William Hovell were the first Europeans to traverse an overland route between Sydney and Port Phillip, in what later became Victoria.

Route

Map of Hume Highway route from Sydney to Melbourne.
KEY

  Hume Highway/Freeway

  Other freeways/motorways

  Other major highways

At its Sydney end, the Hume Highway begins at Parramatta Road, in Summer Hill. This route is numbered as . The first 35 km of the highway was known as Liverpool Road until August 1928, when it was renamed as part of the Hume or Great Southern Highway, as part of the creation of the NSW highway system. Sections of the highway through Sydney's suburbs continue to be also known by its former names of Liverpool Road, Sydney Road and Copeland Street (through Liverpool).

The main Hume Highway effectively commences at the junction of the M5 South Western Motorway and the Westlink M7 at Casula. Heading northbound, the M5 provides access to Sydney Airport and the CBD; while the M7 provides access to Newcastle and Brisbane bypassing the Sydney CBD. Both of these routes are tolled.

Of the 880 km length of the Hume Highway, the majority of the corridor is dual carriageway or freeway standard in NSW, with mostly two lanes in either direction. The remaining upgrades required are:

• Coolac bypass ($179m) - Construction underway since May 2007, to be completed in December 2009.
• Duplication of the Sheahan bridge in Gundagai ($78m) - Completed May 2009.
• Duplicating 67 km of the "single carriageway sections" between the Olympic Highway Junction at Table Top and the Sturt Highway Junction, 6km north of Tarcutta ($800m) - Due to be opened by December 2009.
• Bypasses of Tarcutta, Holbrook and Woomargama, totalling 20 kilometres ($700m) - Proposed routes are yet to be determined and on-going planning.

The highway in Victoria is called a freeway, but much of the route is of similar design to the non-freeway sections in New South Wales, having dual carriageways with 2 lanes in each direction with no traffic lights but with at-grade intersections.

The principal towns which the Hume Highway passes through or bypasses are (from north to south) Campbelltown, Mittagong, Goulburn, Yass, Gundagai, Holbrook and Albury in New South Wales; and Wodonga, Wangaratta, Benalla, Euroa, Seymour and Craigieburn in Victoria.

At its Melbourne end the original alignment of the Melbourne-Sydney route began (up until the 1992 completion of Stage 1 of the Western Ring Road) at the intersection of Elizabeth St, Flemington Road and Royal Parade. The first section of the former route was Royal Parade, which becomes Sydney Road at Brunswick Road and then becomes the Hume Highway itself at Campbellfield. This route is numbered as , and is now officially called Sydney Road (Hume Highway).

However as the Hume Freeway approaches Melbourne at the suburb of Craigieburn, 27 km north of the city centre, since 2005, the Craigieburn Bypass diverts the Hume Freeway (and the M31 designation) to the east of the original highway, to terminate at the Western Ring Road/Metropolitan Ring Road .

This diversion allows traffic from the Melbourne freeway network in suburban Melbourne to travel on a freeway standard road for the entire distance of 330 kilometres to the Olympic Highway (10 kilometres north of Albury), and from the Sydney Orbital Motorway to just north of Tarcutta for about 368 kilometres (Coolac bypass and duplication of Sheahan Bridge is under construction, opening in December 2009).

Duplication

In NSW the Hume Highway is dual carriageway from the Sydney Orbital Motorway to the Sturt Highway junction (about halfway between Sydney and Melbourne), except for the 2 km long Sheahan Bridge across the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai (duplication currently under construction). Duplication of the Hume Highway between the Sturt Highway interchange and the Olympic Highway is under construction. The Australian Government, which funds maintenance and construction of the Hume Highway, aims to duplicate the some sections of single carriageway by the end of 2009, except for three bypasses of Tarcutta, Holbrook, and Woomargama.

F5 widening

The freeway portion of the Hume Highway between the Sir Roden Cutler interchange (where the freeway joins to the M5 Motorway and M7 Motorways) and the southern end of the Berrima bypass is officially designated the F5 freeway.

A section of the F5 freeway approximately 4 km long between the Roden Cutler interchange and the Brooks Road interchange was widened to four lanes in the southbound direction to accommodate the merging of traffic from the M5, M7 and Hume Highway. The northbound side of the highway was subsequently widened to four lanes, being completed in August 2008.

The section between Brooks Road and Narellan Road has suffered from extreme congestion in peak times since 2001. By 2007, the situation had worsened such that it is usually congested from early morning to late evening every day. In part, this was attributed to the massive Canberra sized housing subdivision in the Camden/Narellan area. Because this section is only two lanes in each direction, it was not uncommon for the traffic to do only 10 km/h even though the speed limit was 110 km/h. A video called "Gridlock on the F5" was produced and there was a successful joint campaign between the local paper, the Macarthur Chronicle and Campbelltown City Council's Mayor, Aaron Rule for the F5, south of Brooks Road to Campbelltown Road to be 8 lanes, and 6 lanes from Campbelltown Road to Narellan Road.

The widening work commenced in January 2009 and is expected to be completed in late 2011, being undertaken in 3 stages. The first stage, widening to 4 lanes each way between Brooks Road and St Andrews Road St Andrews is expected to be completed in 2010, The second stage, widening to 4 lanes each way between St Andrews Road and Raby Road is scheduled to commence in mid 2009 and be completed in mid 2011. The final stage, widening to 3 lanes each way between Raby Road and Narellan Road, is scheduled to commence in late 2010 (following completion of the first stage) and be completed in late 2011.

Construction of a pedestrian bridge between Claymore and Woodbine is also underway. Those suburbs have been developed since the freeway was built, and there have been issues with pedestrians crossing the freeway. During roadworks for the widening of the road, a reduced speed limit of 80 km/h is applied to the designated roadwork areas, in conjunction with reduced lane widths.

Distances to destinations along the highway from Sydney.

Approximate road distances (in kilometres) along the Hume Freeway southwards from the Victorian border

Albury bypass

A bypass of Albury was opened in January 2007, having been first proposed in 1964 and following a history of announcements and changes of plans through the 1990s, when Albury residents failed to agree on whether an 'internal' or 'external' bypass route was more appropriate. The 'internal bypass' argument won the day and approval granted in 2004, and construction began in January 2005. The route is parallel to and on the eastern side of the Sydney-Melbourne railway, beginning at the previous highway overpass of the railway 10 kilometres north of Albury. After crossing the Murray River, the bypass route crosses the railway to rejoin the previous highway at the southern end of the Lincoln Causeway. The Albury bypass includes a freeway standard connection to the Murray Valley Highway at Bandiana, east of Wodonga.

Victorian hume freeway upgrade projects

Following completion of the Craigieburn Bypass, the next upgrade project on the Victorian section of the Hume Highway was the construction of the Donnybrook Road interchange, immediately to the north of the Craigieburn Bypass. The upgrade, costing $32 million, removed the at-grade intersection with Donnybrook Road (C723) at Kalkallo and replaced it with an overpass and entry/exit ramps in both directions. Works commenced in December 2007 and completion occurred in March 2009, 3 months ahead of schedule.

VicRoads is also undertaking planning studies for the upgrading of the Hume Freeway to freeway standard between Kalkallo and Beveridge by removing direct access from adjoining properties and eliminating local road intersections. The planning study is intended to amend council planning schemes to reserve space for the upgrade but there is no funding or timetable for the upgrade This section has the highest accident rate of the Hume Freeway in Victoria.

Traffic lights

Today, there is only one set of traffic lights along the whole current route from Melbourne to Sydney. It is located in the town of Holbrook, and is a set of pedestrian lights.

Views

Heading north from Melbourne, the road passes through the hills of the lower Great Dividing Range, some of which is covered with box eucalypt forest but of which much is cleared for farmland, before levelling out through flat, mostly cleared farming country through to Wodonga and the Victoria-New South Wales border. Victoria's landscape differs to that of the typical 'true Australian Outback', a dry summer can leave the ground parched and give travellers from greener foreign lands some idea of the actual outback that lies to the north and west. All of the rural section of the highway in Victoria (280 km) is dual carriageway, and all towns have been bypassed. There are many opportunities along the route to exit the freeway and sample the local produce in the towns and cities along the way, or head east, up into the Australian Alps. Mount Buffalo can be seen in the distance to the east as the highway comes down off the Warby Range near Glenrowan, and a museum commemorating Ned Kelly is located nearby.

Travelling north, after crossing the Murray River, the south bank of which is the Victoria-New South Wales border, the highway continues to passes through the Albury-Wodonga bypass a major regional centre in NSW, that has been bypassed since March 2007 in Albury. North of Albury, a major deviation of the highway was constructed in the 1930s due to the inundation of the original route caused by the raising of the wall of the Hume Dam on the Murray River. The deviation commences at Guinea St (the first part of the Riverina Highway east from Albury as far as what is now Old Sydney Road was until then the Hume Highway), and terminates at Bowna. At either end of the original route is the strange sight of the road disappearing into the waters of Lake Hume.

From Albury, the road continues generally north-east towards Holbrook, further north through hills near Gundagai; Then flat bits of land near Yass, before heading due east past Gunning and Goulburn to near Marulan, where it again turns northeast. Most of the New South Wales countryside from Albury to Marulan has been developed for wool production, with Yass and Goulburn in particular noted for their fine wool.

Speed limits

Like most roads in Australia, the Hume Highway is speed-limited, although it was as recent as 1977 that speed limits were introduced on the section between the Federal Highway interchange and Albury. The majority of the highway from Sydney to Melbourne is 100 or 110km/h, with the speed reduced to 50km/h through the remaining unbypassed towns.

Fixed speed cameras locations

Point to Point speed camera on the Hume Highway in Victoria

In Sydney: next to Ashfield Primary School, near Culdees Road Burwood, Willee St Enfield, Brennan St Yagoona, and Knight St Lansvale. Rural areas: between Gobarralong and Coggans Roads, 5 km north of Coolac, where 350 km of dual carriageway suddenly ends at the bottom of a long incline and the Highway reverts to a poorly-aligned route with limited visibility, and between Dellateroy Creek and Conja Settlement Rd, 5 km north of Tarcutta, again where dual carriageway ends and the Highway reverts to a single carriageway. When the Coolac bypass opens the Speed camera will no longer be operational, due to a "new alignment" of road. In January 2008, fixed speed-cameras were installed in the median strip along the Craigieburn Bypass and northward to Seymour, in Victoria, at roughly 15–20 km intervals.

Freeway Section Exits & Major Intersections

Hume Freeway South Western Freeway
Northbound exits / intersections	Distance to Sydney (km)	Distance to Melbourne (km)	Southbound exits / intersections
End South Western Freeway continues as South Western Motorway to Bankstown / Sydney	42	838	Start South Western Freeway from South Western Motorway
Newcastle, Brisbane WestLink
Camden, Liverpool Camden Valley Way
no exit	47	833	Ingleburn Brooks Road
St Andrews, Casula Campbelltown Road	48	832	no exit
no exit	52	828	St Andrews, Campbelltown Campbelltown Road
End Hume Freeway continues as South Western Freeway	58	822	Campbelltown, Penrith Appin Road Narellan Road
Penrith, Campbelltown Narellan Road Appin Road			Start Hume Freeway from South Western Freeway
Wilton, Picton, Wollongong Picton Road	80	800	Wilton, Picton, Wollongong Picton Road
Yanderra, Picton Remembrance Drive / Old Hume Highway	92	788	Yanderra Avon Dam Road
Colo Vale, Yerrinbool Church Avenue / Old Hume Highway	105	775	Yerrinbool, Colo Vale Old Hume Highway / Church Avenue
no exit	107	773	Aylmerton, Mittagong, Bowral Old Hume Highway
Richlands, Mittagong, Bowral Wombeyan Caves Road	115	765	no exit
Berrima Mereworth Road / Old Hume Highway	128	752	Berrima, Medway Medway Road
Moss Vale, Wollongong Illawarra Highway	139	741	Moss Vale, Canyonleigh Illawarra Highway
Exeter, Sutton Forest, Service Centre Sallys Corner Road	142	738	Exeter, Sutton Forest, Service Centre Sallys Corner Road
Heavy vehicle checking station	166	714	Marulan, Heavy vehicle checking station Brayton Road
Marulan, Service Centre George Street	167	713	Service Centre
Goulburn Sydney Road	190	690	Goulburn Sydney Road
Goulburn Hume Street	200	680	Goulburn Hume Street
Canberra, Queanbeyan, Cooma via U-turn	208	672	Local Road Barkers Lane
no exit	209	671	Canberra, Queanbeyan, Cooma Federal Highway
Breadalbane Cullerin Road	219	661	Breadalbane Cullerin Road
Gunning, Gunadroo Gundaroo Road	242	638	Gunning, Collector Gunning-Collector Road
Yass, Canberra, Queanbeyan Barton Highway	272	608	Yass, Canberra Barton Highway
Yass, Service Centre Yass Valley Way	281	599	Yass, Service Centre Yass Valley Way
Boorowa, Cowra Lachlan Valley Way	284	596	Boorowa, Cowra Lachlan Valley Way
Harden, Temora Burley Griffin Way	293	587	Harden, Temora Burley Griffin Way
no exit	334	546	Jugiong, Harden Riverside Drive
Murrumburrah, Jugiong Jugiong Road	337	543	no exit
no exit	339	541	Jugiong Riverside Drive
END SINGLE CARRIAGEWAY SECTION	352	528	START SINGLE CARRIAGEWAY SECTION Coolac Bypass under construction Expected completion late 2009
Coolac, Cootamundra Cootamundra Road	357	523	Coolac, Cootamundra Cootamundra Road
Pettit Coleman Street	361	519	Pettit Gobarralong Road
START SINGLE CARRIAGEWAY SECTION Coolac Bypass under construction Expected completion late 2009	364	516	END SINGLE CARRIAGEWAY SECTION
Dog on the Tuckerbox, Service Centre	369	511	Dog on the Tuckerbox, Service Centre
no exit	373	507	Gundagai West Street
Gundagai Sheridan Street	376	504	Gundagai Sheridan Street
South Gundagai Cross Street	378	502	South Gundagai Middle Street
			South Gundagai Mount Street
Tumblong Grahamstown Road	389	491	Tumblong Grahamstown Road
Adelong, Tumut, Cooma Snowy Mountains Highway	403	477	Adelong, Tumut Snowy Mountains Highway
Wagga Wagga, Narrandera Sturt Highway	413	467	Wagga Wagga, Narrandera, Mildura, Adelaide Sturt Highway
END SINGLE CARRIAGEWAY SECTION	414	466	START SINGLE CARRIAGEWAY SECTION Planned upgrade completion 2012
Tarcutta	421	459	Tarcutta
Holbrook	491	389	Holbrook
Woomargama	501	389	Woomargama
START SINGLE CARRIAGEWAY SECTION Planned upgrade completion 2012	540	340	END SINGLE CARRIAGEWAY SECTION
no exit	544	336	Ettamogah, Jindera Wagga Road
Springdale Heights, Thurgoona Thurgoona Drive	549	331	Thurgoona Thurgoona Drive
North Albury, Wirlinga Dallinger Road	551	329	no exit
Albury, Lake Hume, Corowa Riverina Highway	555	325	Albury, Lake Hume Riverina Highway
South Albury Bridge Street	556	324	Albury Bridge Street
MURRAY RIVER	558	322	MURRAY RIVER
NEW SOUTH WALES STATE BORDER VICTORIA
End , Start	558	322	End , Start
no exit	559	321	Tallangatta Bandiana Link
Albury, Wodonga Wagga Road / High Street	560	320	Wodonga, Albury High Street / Wagga Road
no exit	562	318	Wodonga Melrose Drive / Moloney Drive
Wodonga Melbourne Road	564	316	no exit
Yarrawonga, Echuca Murray Valley Highway	576	304	Yarrawonga, Echuca Murray Valley Highway
Barnawartha, Upper Indigo Indigo Creek Road	582	298	Barnawartha, Upper Indigo Indigo Creek Road
Chiltern, Beechworth Chiltern-Howlong Road / Beechworth-Chiltern Road	591	289	Chiltern, Beechworth Chiltern-Howlong Road / Beechworth-Chiltern Road
Springhurst, Rutherglen Rutherglen-Springhurst Road	603	277	Springhurst, Rutherglen Rutherglen-Springhurst Road
Bowser, Wangaratta Wangaratta Road	620	260	Bowser, Wangaratta Wangaratta Road
Wangaratta, Beechworth, Bright, Mount Hotham Great Alpine Road	627	253	Wangaratta, Bright, Mount Hotham Great Alpine Road
Wangaratta, Greta Greta Road	635	245	Wangaratta, Greta Greta Road
Wangaratta Wangaratta Road	638	242	no exit
Milawa Snow Road	640	240	no exit
Service Centre	642	238	Service Centre
no exit	645	235	[[Glenrowan, Victoria|Glenrowan], Moyhu] Glenrowan-Moyhu Road
Glenrowan, Winton Winton-Glenrowan Road	647	233	no exit
Winton, Benalla Benalla-Winton Road	662	218	Winton, Benalla Benalla-Winton Road
Benalla, Shepparton, Mansfield Midland Highway	674	206	Mansfield, Shepparton Midland Highway
Violet Town, Harrys Creek Murchison-Violet Town Road / Harrys Creek Road	697	183	Violet Town, Harrys Creek Harrys Creek Road / Murchison-Violet Town Road
Euroa Euroa Main Road	714	166	Euroa Euroa Main Road
Euroa Euroa Main Road	721	159	Euroa Euroa Main Road
Avenel, Tarcombe Avenel-Nagambie Road / Tarcombe Road	753	127	Tarcombe, Avenel Tarcombe Road / Avenel-Nagambie Road
Seymour, Nagambie, Shepparton, Brisbane Goulburn Valley Freeway / Goulburn Valley Highway	766	114	Seymour, Shepparton Goulburn Valley Highway / Goulburn Valley Freeway
Seymour, Puckapunyal, Tooborac Seymour-Tooborac Road	774	106	Seymour, Puckapunyal, Tooborac Seymour-Tooborac Road
Service Centre	777	103	Service Centre
no exit	780	100	Tallarook Upper Goulburn Road
Tallarook Upper Goulburn Road	783	97	no exit
no exit	793	87	Broadford, Kilmore Broadford-Kilmore Road
Broadford, Flowerdale Strath Creek Road	794	86	no exit
Waterford Park, Clonbinane Broadford-Wallan Road	803	77	Waterford Park, Clonbinane Broadford-Wallan Road
Wandong, Kilmore Epping-Kilmore Road	811	69	Wandong, Kilmore Epping-Kilmore Road
no exit	820	60	Wallan, Whittlesea Wallan-Whittlesea Road
Wallan, Echuca Northern Highway	824	56	no exit
Beveridge Lithgow Street	827	53	Beveridge Old Hume Highway
Mickleham, Donnybrook Donnybrook Road	835	45	Donnybrook, Mickleham Donnybrook Road
Craigieburn Sydney Road	839	41	Craigieburn Sydney Road
Craigieburn, Wollert Craigieburn Road East	842	38	no exit
Roxburgh Park, Epping Cooper Street	849	31	Epping, Roxburgh Park Cooper Street
Start Hume Freeway from Western Ring Road	854	26	Greensborough Metropolitan Ring Road
			End Hume Freeway continues as Western Ring Road to Melbourne

Towns

Almost all towns on the Hume Highway are bypassed. In New South Wales, from Sydney, southwards to Victorian border, the bypassed towns are Ingleburn, Campbelltown, Camden, Picton, Mittagong, Berrima, Marulan, Goulburn, Gunning, Yass, Bowning, Bookham, Jugiong, Coolac, Gundagai and Albury. The three remaining towns on the Hume Highway yet to be bypassed in 2012 will be:

• Tarcutta
• Woomargama
• Holbrook

In Victoria; all towns are bypassed; they are in southwards order from the NSW border Wodonga, Chiltern, Wangaratta, Benalla, Euroa, Violet Town, Seymour, Broadford and Craigieburn.

The old route of the Hume Highway runs straight west from the Cross Roads at Prestons, 4 km south of Liverpool to Carnes Hill, where it joins the route of the Cowpasture Road. It then runs southwest to Camden (the section of the former highway from the Cross Roads to Camden is now called Camden Valley Way).

Camden

Camden lies 60 km south west of Sydney on the Nepean River, and the town dates back to 1840. It retains a lot of character with many historic buildings of interest remaining. There is an aviation museum at nearby Narellan. Urban sprawl has made Camden part of the Sydney metropolitan area.

Camden has been bypassed by the Hume Highway twice. The first bypass was opened in 1973, via the Macarthur Bridge, and runs from Narellan to Benkennie (South Camden). This bypass was in turn bypassed in December 1980 when the section of what was then called the South Western Freeway (route F5) from Campbelltown to Yerrinbool was opened. This linked the freeway sections from the Cross Roads to Campbelltown Rd at St Andrews (opened August 1973) and St Andrews-Camden Road (opened December 1974) to its north with the section from Yerrinbool to Aylmerton (opened May 1977) to its south.

From Camden south to Aylmerton the former highway is now named Remembrance Drive. It climbs southwards from Camden through the Razorback Ridge to Picton, then begins to climb through Tahmoor and Bargo to reach the Southern Tablelands and rejoin the present route of the Hume Highway at Aylmerton, 6 km north of Mittagong. The designation Hume Highway and national route 31 were transferred from what are now Camden Valley Way and Remembrance Drive to the freeway route in the mid 1980s and the former highway route from the Cross Roads to Aylmerton is now state route 89.

Southern Highlands

Hume Highway through Southern Highlands

An alternative route to the highway runs from Aylmerton through Mittagong and Bowral to join the Illawarra Highway at Moss Vale and then follows the Illawarra Highway through Sutton Forest to where it joins the Hume Highway at Hoddles Crossroads (named after Surveyor Robert Hoddle who also laid out the Melbourne CBD).

Mittagong lies 110 km south-west of Sydney, just off the Hume Highway at the edge of the Southern Tablelands. It is notable for being the location of Australia's first ironworks. Mittagong's streets are lined with various species of deciduous trees and it has a busy town centre.

Until 1992 when the Mittagong bypass was opened the town was dominated by trucks and in winter it was also busy with skiers' traffic on the way to the Australian Alps. Today the Hume Highway bypasses Mittagong and all the towns of the Southern Tablelands. In the late 1990s, engineers detected subsidence under part of the bypass where it runs along a steep slope near the Nattai River. This was caused by features of the local geology, and mining activity at the adjacent Mount Alexandra coalmine from the 1950s to the 1970s. The problem was remedied by closing one carriageway at a time and building a pair of 'land bridges' across the unstable section of the slope.

Bowral is home to the famous Bradman Museum which not only celebrates the achievements of Bowral's favourite son, Sir Donald Bradman, but also contains a wealth of world sporting information and memorabilia. Bowral is also the setting for "Tulip Time", a Spring celebration where over 100,000 tulips and 25,000 flowers are planted in the town centre.

The population swells during winter when, thousands of visitors book into local hotels and B&Bs to enjoy romantic fires and secluded winter getaways. Spring is also very popular with gardening enthusiasts, who come to view some of the world's most beautiful formal gardens designed by eminent landscape architects such as Paul Sorensen, who designed the gardens of Invergowrie.

Key attractions are the glorious gardens, fine restaurants, many successful vineyards and fresh, local produce of a wide variety. Antique and book stores abound, as do quality fashion retailers and specialty stores.

Moss Vale has several beautiful old and attractive buildings and Leighton Gardens, in the centre of the main street, is a pleasant park. It is best during spring when its flowers are in blossom or in autumn when the leaves of its exotic deciduous trees are changing colour.

Sutton Forest is surrounded by farms, vineyards and is home to elegant country homes and estates. It comprises a church, and inn, a couple of restaurants and one or two specialty shops.

Berrima

Berrima has flourished since it was bypassed in 1989, with tourists finding it an easy day trip from either Sydney or Canberra to enjoy the town square and the Georgian architecture of this historic town.

Twin bridges carrying the Hume Highway over Greenhills Road north of Berrima 34°28′S 150°21′E

Marulan

The Marulan bypass was opened in 1986. The southern part of Governor Lachlan Macquarie's road of 1819 ran from Sutton Forest roughly along existing minor roads through what is now Penrose State Forest to Canyonleigh, Brayton, Carrick and Towrang, where it joined the current route to Goulburn. Branching from this route (now part of the Illawarra Highway) just west of Sutton Forest, a road, now known as Old Argyle Road, developed in the 1820s. It ran to Bungonia, via Wingello, Tallong, and the southern outskirts of Marulan, all, except Wingello, being located in Argyle county, along with Goulburn. Counties and their divisions called parishes never became serious units of government in New South Wales, but they are still used in land administration.

In the early 19th century Bungonia was expected to become a major centre, but it subsequently proved unsuitable for intensive agriculture. Much of Old Argyle Road give the impression of dating from the 1820s, although clearly there must have been a fair amount of human and mechanical maintenance over the last 180 years. It is not recommended after significant rain.

When Thomas Mitchell rerouted the Great South Road in the 1830s, he decided to bring these two roads together to meet at old Marulan, with roads proceeding west to Goulburn and south to Bungonia. When the railway reached Marulan in 1868, the town migrated 3 km north to the railway station. Nevertheless, the old cemetery remains at the Bungonia Road intersection. A quarry is about to be developed near the intersection, so an interchange is to be built. It is at this point that the highway climbs the Marulan Ramp, which is part of the divide between the Shoalhaven and Wollondilly River systems.

Towrang

A major stockade for chain-bound convicts and others involved in the construction of the Great South Road was located on the western side of the Highway at Towrang Creek from around 1836 to 1842. The stockade became the principal penal establishment in the southern district and was noted for its harsh discipline. There were usually at least 250 convicts stationed there. They slept on bare boards with a blanket apiece, 10 men to a box or cell. One of the two official floggers was later found murdered The stockade used to be accessible by a stile, but this has been taken down to discourage use of the once daunting intersection of the Highway with Towrang Road. There are the remains of the powder magazine next to the Wollondilly River, three graves on the north bank of Towrang Creek, and the remains of a weir on Towrang Creek built for the stockade. Aboriginal stone tools have also been found on the banks of Towrang Creek, indicating that this was a route well-travelled long before Hamilton Hume came this way in 1824.

There is also a rest area on the eastern side of the highway, where a well-preserved bridge dating from 1839 (possibly designed by the designer of impressive early bridges in New South Wales, David Lennox) and a 1960s concrete box culvert can be viewed.

At and in-between the seagull intersections of the Highway with Towrang and Carrick Roads has been recently upgraded and opened in September 2007 to improve traffic safety by a seagull intersection for careful merging for vehicles and a wider median in-between these seagull intersections, which was funded under AusLink.

Goulburn

Goulburn is the first city along the Hume Highway from Sydney. It is a farming and administration centre, and from this area comes some of the world's finest wool. Goulburn was bypassed in 1992 and the main street (Auburn Street) is quieter, but still busy during Saturday morning shopping. Picturesque Belmore Park is located midway along Auburn Street. Near Belmore Park is located a number of architecturally and historically significant buildings, including the courthouse, the post office and the railway station. Also in central Goulburn are two cathedrals, both of architectural note. Near the railway station on Sloane Street is a number of old houses and hotels.

13 km south of Goulburn along the Hume Highway is the interchange with the Federal Highway which connects to Canberra and the Snowy Mountains. Goulburn also has the very famous "Big Merino" (a type of sheep that is drought tolerant) is at the service station at the southern interchange for more tourism to attract .

Gunning

Gunning's 19th century main street was built very wide, for the time of horse and bullock-drawn wagons. This served the town well when the main highway between Sydney and Melbourne carried cars and trucks through the town, which ceased when the bypass was completed in 1994. It is now much quieter, and the town has been able to resume a more rural pace of life and to develop something of an industry in providing bed and breakfast accommodation.

Yass

Yass has an impressive and historic main street, with well-preserved 19th century verandah-post pubs (mostly converted to other uses). It is popular with tourists, some from Canberra and others taking a break from the Hume Highway. Hamilton Hume's farm Cooma Cottage is located east of Yass, close to the intersection of the former routes of the Hume and Barton Highways. He lived there until his death in 1873.

Coolac

An earlier monument to the Dog on the Tuckerbox between Coolac and Gundagai, photographed in 1926

The 11 kilometre section at Coolac is the last two lane section of highway between Sydney and Gundagai. Construction of the bypass is scheduled for completion sometime in 2009. After a delay due to indigenous heritage issues, the construction contract was awarded to Abigroup Contractors Pty Ltd in February 2007.

Gundagai

At Snake Gully, adjacent to the highway north of Gundagai is the "Dog on the Tuckerbox". A statue (with souvenir shop next door) was erected five miles (eight kilometres) from Gundagai. Snake Gully serves as a way station for many highway travellers.

The highway bypassed Gundagai in 1977 with the completion of the Sheahan Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River. The Prince Alfred Bridge, on the old route of the highway across the Murrumbidgee floodplain, is of major engineering interest, as it is one of Australia's longest timber trestle bridges, as is the adjacent 1903 railway bridge. The Sheahan Bridge is the second longest bridge in NSW. Gundagai was originally located on the river flats directly beside the Murrumbidgee River, but a disastrous flood in 1852 destroyed the town and drowned 89 people. The town was then relocated to its present position. A new grade-separated interchange opened up at West Street in 2006 [1]. Currently the Shehan Bridge is only 1 lane in each direction since 1977, at that time there was no need to have duplication because there was only 2,000 vehicles crossing per day (vcpd), today it is about 10,000 vcpd. Construction work on duplicating the bridge commenced in January 2008, for a second bridge on the Gundagai side of the Sheahan Bridge. [2] [3]

Tumblong

The route of the highway between Tumblong and Tarcutta is the third route of the highway in this location. The original route led west from Tumblong along the Murrumbidgee River, before turning south over difficult country, crossing what is now the Sturt Highway and rejoining the current route of the highway as Lower Tarcutta Road. This was replaced in December 1938 by the first Tumblong deviation, to the east of the current route. The main features of this section of the highway were a deep, narrow cutting and the reinforced concrete bowstring arch bridge over Hillas Creek. This has been preserved, and is visible on the western side of the highway close to the interchange with the Snowy Mountains Highway.

Thirty eight km southwest of Gundagai is the interchange with the Sturt Highway, which leads to Wagga Wagga, Mildura and Adelaide.

Tarcutta

National Truck Driver Memorial at Tarcutta

Tarcutta, is one of the three remaining towns yet to be bypassed until 2012. Tarcutta is located almost exactly halfway between Sydney and Melbourne, has been a popular stopover and change-over point for truck drivers making their way between the two cities. There is a memorial to truck drivers who have died on the local stretch of the Hume Highway.

With the improvements to the Hume Highway, which cuts travelling time from Sydney to Melbourne to less than a day, the town's importance to the average motorist has diminished. It was near Tarcutta that the final section of the Hume Highway was sealed in 1940.

Holbrook

Holbrook lies on the Hume Highway between Gundagai and Albury and like Tarcutta and Woomargama, is one of the three remaining towns yet to be bypassed until 2012. It is notorious for its speed traps. Holbrook was called Germanton until anti-German sentiment during World War 1 led to the town and the shire being renamed in honour of the wartime submarine captain, Lt Holbrook who was awarded the Victoria Cross. From 1995, a feature of the town has been a partial reconstruction of HMAS Otway, an Oberon class submarine. This landmark was in recognition of the town's namesake's connections with submarines. In addition, Holbrook can also hold a very famous claim to besides a submarine, that it has the only one set of traffic signals (for pedestrians) on the whole of the Hume Highway from the Melbourne's Western Ring Road to the Sydney Orbital Network. Northern Section Southern Section

Woomargama

Woomargama, is a village between Table Top and Holbrook and is one of the three remaining towns yet to be bypassed until 2012.

Table Top

Table Top is a community in the south east part of the Riverina. It is situated on the Hume Highway, about 16 kilometres north of Albury. It has a population of approximately 4510 people. The widening of the bridge over Tabletop Creek from two to three lanes was completed in October 2006.

Albury-Wodonga

Hume Highway through Albury in 2002 (pre-bypass)

Albury's history is linked with the two famous Australian explorers, Hamilton Hume and William Hovell, as the city's location sprung from their crossing of the Murray River. Albury, commonly associated with its Victorian twin, Wodonga, is one of the few rural Australian cities to experience a boom, mainly from industrialisation in recent times. Albury is by far the largest centre that has been bypassed since March 2007 [4] by the Hume Highway. The population of the Albury-Wodonga region has exceeded 100,000.

After decades of debate about the route and the funding obligations of the state and federal governments, construction of a freeway 'internal bypass', running through the city itself, commenced in 2005 and was completed March 2007. In addition to catering for through traffic, the new route will serve local residents as a number of interchanges are to be built and it will provide a second road crossing of the Murray River.

Source:

• RTA Albury Wodonga Hume Freeway project
• Albury Wodonga Hume Freeway project

Wangaratta

Hume Highway near Wangaratta

Wangaratta is, after Wodonga, the largest centre in northeast Victoria (population 17,000). It is at the junction of the Hume and Ovens Highways (the 'Great Alpine Road'). The area around it was visited by Hume and Hovell in 1824 and the town was founded in 1837 when the surrounding area was open for farming.

The attractions around town include Merriwa Park, a sunken garden adjacent to the King River, Airworld at Wangaratta Airport, and old goldfield areas of nearby Beechworth and Chiltern.

Benalla

A passable section of "Sydney Road" in the shire of Benalla, 1914.

Benalla is a large town located just off the Hume Freeway between Melbourne and Wangaratta. Founded in 1848, growth was slow until a goldrush in the 1850s. It had many associations with the Kelly gang and the courthouse was the venue for a number of their trials. It also has a memorial to the Australian war hero Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop, an Australian doctor who acted as a leader to allied troops on the Thailand-Burma Railway in World War II.

Euroa

Euroa is famous for a Ned Kelly bank robbery. The town is located on the Seven Creeks and has pretty gardens and a number of attractive 19th century buildings.

Seymour

The Hume Highway bypass of Seymour opened in December 1982. Seymour remains on the Goulburn Valley Highway. The town is in the rich Goulburn Valley which supports the local vineyards. The large Puckapunyal military base is located west of Seymour. Once the centre of the bushranging area of Victoria, it has a museum which displays many period relics of that era. It was until the 1970s a major railway maintenance centre, and part of the railway workshops now houses a railway museum. The museum's collection of rolling stock, including State carriages used by governors and monarchs, is extensive.

Donnybrook

Donnybrook is just 5 kilometres north of Craigieburn. The Federal or Commonwealth Government of Australia under AusLink is providing $13 million for construction of a grade-separated interchange with the Hume Freeway, currently it is an extremely dangerous at-grade interchange at Donnybrook. Completion of the grade-separation interchange is expected to be 2009. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Craigieburn

Craigieburn Bypass

Prior to 2005; the Hume Freeway ended just outside of Craigieburn, this was a major bottleneck in Craigieburn with 12 sets of traffic signals - Just to get into Melbourne or even onto the Melbourne Freeway system. Since 2005; the Craigieburn Bypass links directly to the Western Ring Road/Metropolitan Ring Road to avoid a notorious 17 kilometre bottleneck (including avoiding 12 sets of traffic lights) along the highway route.

Despite some opposition for the bypass by several local governments in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, including the City of Darebin and the City of Moreland, as well as local environmental groups. Their objections were not accepted by the state government [10] and the project went ahead.

In addition, a shared pathway runs along the length of the bypass, which is split into two lanes for pedestrian and cyclist usage. The pathway is around three metres East of the main roadway until Craigieburn Road East, whereupon it switches to the West side until the Amaroo Road bridge. The path crosses roads at three places:

• Cooper Street (flat approach, traffic lights)
• O'Herns Road (flat approach, underpass)
• Craigieburn Road East (steep incline, traffic lights)

The path connects with the existing Metropolitan Ring Road path, from where it is possible to connect to the Merri Creek Trail, Western Ring Road Trail, the City of Whittlesea Public Gardens and Edgars Road.

The Craigieburn Bypass is shown in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as part of the F2 Freeway corridor, which extended south along Merri Creek, Hoddle St, Barkly St in St. Kilda, south through Elwood and Brighton, then east along South Road, connecting to the Dingley Freeway corridor.

Future upgrade

Proposed safety improvements - Kalkallo to Beveridge, to be funded by Auslink 2 (2009-2014) [11].

See also

• Old Hume Highway
• Highways in Australia
• Highways in New South Wales
• Highways in Victoria
• Freeways in Australia
• Freeways in New South Wales
• Freeways in Victoria

External links

• Hume Highway to receive $785m upgrade: Vaile
• Libs to finish Hume duplication by 2012
• QBR (Queensland Business review) Coalition to complete duplication of Hume Highway by 2012
• ALP to fix NSW rural transport corridors
• Vaile exhorts colleagues to keep up the fight to win

Construction news

• Coolac Bypass, RTA
• Coolac bypass better projects, RTA
• Hume Highway, Abigroup
• Coolac bypass, Abigroup
• Sheahan bridge duplication, RTA
• Hume Highway duplication package, RTA
• Southern Alliance
• Northern Alliance
• Hume Highway to receive $785m upgrade: Vaile
• Liberals to finish Hume duplication by 2012
• QBR (Queensland Business review) Coalition to complete duplication of Hume Highway by 2012
• ALP to fix NSW rural transport corridors
• Media release - Warren Truss, Minister for Transport and Regional Services