A6 (Sydney)

A6 New South Wales
General information
Type
Length	34 km (21 mi)
History	Superseded Metroad 6 in 2013
Route number(s)	A6 Entire length
Former route number	Metroad 6 (1999-2013) State Route 45 (1974-1999) Entire length
Major junctions
North end	Cumberland Highway Carlingford, Sydney
	Victoria Road M4 Western Motorway Parramatta Road Hume Highway Canterbury Road South Western Motorway Henry Lawson Drive Bangor Bypass
South end	Princes Highway Heathcote, Sydney
Location(s)
via	Carlingford, Eastwood, Dundas Valley, Ermington, Silverwater, Auburn, Lidcombe, Chullora, Greenacre, Bankstown, Padstow, Alfords Point, Menai, Barden Ridge, Lucas Heights, Heathcote
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales

The A6 is a major arterial road linking Cumberland Highway at Carlingford and Princes Highway at Heathcote, via Lidcombe and Bankstown. It was formerly designated as Metroad 6, which was one of the Sydney Metroads.

The A6 provides a link from the northern and western suburbs to Bankstown and the Princes Highway Some stretches such as Silverwater Road, Alfords Point Road, New Illawarra Road and Heathcote Road have very few junctions or are in (currently) rural areas, and the speed limit is therefore relaxed slightly.

The A6 includes a few bridges. One of them is the Silverwater Bridge over Parramatta River, another is the Alfords Point Bridge over G theeorges River.

The name "A6" is just the route allocation for the route as a whole. In actual fact, the A6 route runs along a whole series of roads which also have other names. From north to south they are:

• Marsden Road
• Stewart Street
• Silverwater Road
• St. Hillers Road
• Boorea Street
• Olympic Drive
• Joseph Street
• Rockwood Road
• Stacey Street
• Fairford Road
• Davies Road
• Alfords Point Road
• New Illawarra Road
• Heathcote Road

History

The earliest route allocation of A6 is State Route 45. It was commissioned in 1974, with the route going from Victoria Road in Ermington to Princes Highway in Heathcote. State Route 45 has undergone some realignments since then. The Lidcombe bypass opened in 1982 and State Route 45 was re routed onto the bypass. In 1996, the Silverwater Road extension opened and State Route 45 was extended to Cumberland Highway.

State Route 45 was replaced by Metroad 6 in January 1999 in conjunction with the opening of the the Stacey Street Extension. The northern terminus of Metroad 6 was the Marsden Rd/Pennant Hills Road intersection in Carlingford. When the then Metroad 7 was reassigned from Cumberland Highway to the Westlink M7 motorway when it was opened in December 2005, Metroad 6 was extended northwards to the M2 Hills Motorway.

In 2013, as part of the alphanumeric route scheme, Metroad 6 was decommissioned. The Pennant Hills Road Section of Metroad 6 was replaced by A28 in May-June 2013 while the rest of the Metroad 6 was replaced by A6 in August–October 2013.