Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending fromSydney viaMelbourne toAdelaide through the states ofNew South Wales,Victoria andSouth Australia. It has a length of 1,941 kilometres (1,206 mi) (along Highway 1) or 1,898 kilometres (1,179 mi) via the former alignments of the highway,^{[citation needed]} although these routes are slower and connections to the bypassed sections of the original route are poor in many cases.

Princes Highway New South Wales –South Australia
General information
Type	Highway
Length	1,898 km (1,179 mi)
Gazetted	November 1913(VIC, as Main Road)[1] July 1925(VIC, as State Highway)[2] August 1928(NSW, as Main Road 1)[3]
Route number(s)	SeeRoute allocation
Former route number	SeeFormer routes
Major junctions
East end	Great Western Highway Ultimo, Sydney
	East Motorway Illawarra Highway Kings Highway Snowy Mountains Highway Monaro Highway Great Alpine Road South Gippsland Highway Strzelecki Highway South Gippsland Freeway EastLink CityLink Western Ring Road Midland Highway Hamilton Highway Great Ocean Road Hopkins Highway Henty Highway Glenelg Highway Riddoch Highway Southern Ports Highway Dukes Highway
West end	Glen Osmond Road Glen Osmond, Adelaide
Location(s)
Major settlements	Wollongong,Nowra,Ulladulla,Batemans Bay,Eden,Orbost,Sale,Traralgon,Melbourne,Geelong,Warrnambool,Mount Gambier,Kingston SE,Tailem Bend,Murray Bridge,Crafers
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway •Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales Highways in Victoria Highways in South Australia

The highway follows the coastline for most of its length, and thus takes quite an indirect and lengthy route. For example, it is 1,040 kilometres (650 mi) from Sydney toMelbourne onHighway 1 as opposed to 870 kilometres (540 mi) on the more directHume Highway (National Highway 31), and 915 kilometres (569 mi) from Melbourne toAdelaide compared to 730 kilometres (450 mi) on theWestern andDukes Highways (National Highway 8). Because of the rural nature and lower traffic volumes over much of its length, Princes Highway is a more scenic and leisurely route than the main highways between these major cities.

Princes Highway starts at the junction ofBroadway (Great Western Highway) andCity Road in theSydney suburb ofChippendale. City Road in fact forms the first section of the highway, and becomesKing Street, Newtown, also part of Princes Highway. Where King Street ends at Sydney Park Road, Princes Highway continues in its own right.

The highway in this section is constructed as a six-lane divided carriageway, other than along King Street (four-lane undivided) and along the western edge of theRoyal National Park, where it is built as four-lane dual carriageway.

The only major engineering structures along its route are the twinTom Uglys Bridge acrossGeorges River. The northbound bridge is of steel truss construction, opened in 1929, whilst the southbound bridge is of prestressed concrete girders, opened in 1987.

It runs through Sydney's southern suburbs (the St George area and Sutherland Shire), viaKogarah,Sutherland andEngadine to the village ofWaterfall.

South of Waterfall the highway is paralleled by the 55-kilometre (34 mi)Princes Motorway (national route M1) to the top of Bulli Pass outside the city ofWollongong, which carries the majority of traffic. The Princes Highway then enters the northern suburbs of Wollongong and theIllawarra region via theBulli Pass, whilst Mount Ousley Road, which is designated as part of national route 1, bypasses Wollongong's northern suburbs to meet the Princes Highway atFairy Meadow, and carries inter-city traffic. Where Mount Ousley Road enters Wollongong, the Princes Motorway branches off Mount Ousley Road, and parallels the highway through the suburbs of Wollongong toYallah.

The Mount Ousley Road-Princes Motorway route is the inter-city and main urban arterial through Wollongong's southern suburbs, whereas the Princes Highway acts as a local arterial.

From the interchange with the Princes Motorway at Yallah, the Princes Highway continues through the bypassedAlbion Park Rail before reaching the southern terminus of the motorway at theOak Flats interchange. From Oak Flats, the Princes Highway is dual carriageway, mostly of freeway standard, with the exception of the Kiama bends atKiama Heights.

The highway then travels along the upgraded sections throughGerringong andFoxground before bypassing the town ofBerry, where the highway follows larger gradients, compared to the flat terrain theIllawarra railway line follows immediately to the east.

Beyond Mullers Lane, Berry, the highway is a single two lane carriageway to Cambewarra Road,Bomaderry. Construction is underway for the duplication of the highway from Mullers Lane to Cambewarra Road and is expected to be completed in 2022.^[4]

From Cambewarra Road the highway is four lane divided through Bomaderry andNowra to near the junction with Warra Warra Road in South Nowra. Duplication to dual carriageway standard of a 6-kilometre (4 mi) length south from here to Forest Road was scheduled for completion in early 2014, following a three-month cessation of work while measures were put in place to protect a hitherto unknown area of habitat of the endangeredgreen and golden bell frog.^[5] Beyond this section is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) of four lane single carriageway from Forest Road to the junction with Jervis Bay Road.

From Jervis Bay Road southward the highway is mostly single two lane carriageway along theNSW South Coast, passing throughUlladulla,Batemans Bay (where the 1-kilometre (0.6 mi) town centre bypass is built as dual carriageway),Moruya,Narooma, then bypassingBega andMerimbula and passing throughEden, before crossing the border at theBlack-Allen Line into Victoria, 550 kilometres (340 mi) from Sydney and 515 kilometres (320 mi) from Melbourne.

A substandard alignment at Victoria Creek 13 kilometres (8 mi) south ofNarooma was upgraded in 2012–13, as well as the 3.5-kilometre (2.2 mi) Bega bypass. Realignments with associated new bridges are also proposed at Termeil Creek, some 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Ulladulla, and Dignams Creek, some 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Narooma. Current identified future projects are a bypass of Nowra-Bomaderry (definite route identified only for section south of Shoalhaven River), and a bypass of Ulladulla-Milton.

In 2007 theNRMA claimed Princes Highway was a dangerous road^[6] with ten fatalities and 729 people injured on the highway between Sydney and the state border in 2006.^[7]

In Victoria, Princes Highway follows a very long and complex route. The route within metropolitanMelbourne carries the original individual names of sections of Princes Highway on signage. Each road section has Princes Highway labelled in bold and the individual name in brackets, such as Dandenong Road or Geelong Road.

Apart from the routes Alt National Route 1, C101 and C109 (in the outer metropolitan areas – such asBerwick andWerribee), the M1 Freeway route intersects (Monash Freeway/CityLink/West Gate Freeway/Princes Freeway) and this carries the much higher volume of traffic, including congestion in the peak periods, serving as the major, most direct and quickest route for Route 1 in Australia.

In Victoria the length from the South Australian border to the New South Wales border is 955 kilometres (593 mi). The highway passes (from east to west) throughOrbost,Bairnsdale andSale in theGippsland region. The highway then passes through theLatrobe Valley, bypassingMorwell,Warragul andPakenham toDandenong and into the south-eastern suburbs ofMelbourne. Most of this section is freeway standard, with the main outstanding work being a freeway bypass ofTraralgon, although the highway through Traralgon has already been built to urban dual carriageway standard.

Through much of Melbourne and its suburbs, the designation of National Route 1 is not along Princes Highway, but ratherMonash Freeway, which intersects the Princes Highway on the eastern outskirts of Melbourne, then the southern link of theCityLink tollway, and thenWest Gate Freeway which bypasses central Melbourne. This avoids the confusing and congested arrangement of roads that is the Princes Highway in central Melbourne. The M1 include an advancedfreeway management system for its entire 75-kilometre (47 mi) urban length, betweenNarre Warren andWerribee. Along with freeway sensors and associated data stations, overhead lane use management system (LUMS) gantries that show speed and lane availability, electronic message boards, real-time drive time signs and arterial road real-time Information signs (before the on-ramps); there are the 64+ ramp signal and metering sites. Hence, the majority of the on-ramps are traffic light controlled, depending on the density and speed of the traffic.

Heading towardsGeelong in a south-west direction, the West Gate Freeway and Geelong Road join and become the Princes Freeway. Which, unusually for an Australian inter-city freeway, carries enough traffic to merit four to three lanes in either direction (often still being congested in the morning and afternoon peaks). On the northern outskirts of Geelong, the highway reverts from freeway to three lane dual carriageway through Geelong and its suburbs, with traffic light-controlled at-grade intersections. Through Geelong the highway is often heavily congested.

With the completion of the freeway standardGeelong Ring Road during 2008–9, the M1 route follows the freeway-standard road from Winchelsea to Traralgon, without encountering any traffic lights (with the exception ofYarragon andTrafalgar, which are yet to be bypassed). The ring road rejoins the original highway at Waurn Ponds on the western edge of Geelong.

Within Geelong, Princes Highway starts at the junction of Princes Freeway in the northern Geelong suburb ofCorio, and runs through Geelong's northern and southern suburbs via an inner-city western bypass of the Geelong City Centre, to the currentHighway 1 segment of the Princes Highway atWaurn Ponds in Geelong's southern suburbs. The highway is six lane dual carriageway from Corio to Latrobe Terrace, continuing as a four-lane dual carriageway to Waurn Ponds. The 1989 re-alignment of Princes Highway (along La Trobe Terrace) provides a dual carriageway, four-lane limited access road to replace the original route along Moorabool Street in South Geelong and High Street in Belmont. Upon the completion of the final section of the Geelong Ring Road, another section of the Princes Highway was superseded in 2013 at Waurn Ponds.

After Geelong the highway heads in a generally western direction, continuing with the 'M1' designation as a dual carriageway road to Winchelsea (opened 2015). West of Winchelsea, the road is presently being reconstructed to dual carriageway standard, passing throughColac, before reachingCamperdown - ultimately reaching the port of Warrnambool. The section from Geelong to Warrnambool runs inland, and so avoids the slower, but scenicGreat Ocean Road. From here, Princes Highway passes throughPortland before crossing the border into South Australia. At this point the highway is 1,530 kilometres (950 mi) from Sydney, 465 kilometres (289 mi) from Melbourne and 510 kilometres (320 mi) fromAdelaide.

AtMount Gambier the highway takes a more northward tack as the coast curves to the northwest, passing theCoorong National Park. AfterKingston SE, it turns inland (north) to avoid the lakes at the mouth of theRiver Murray. Shortly beforeTailem Bend it is joined byDukes Highway, part of the main route between Melbourne andAdelaide. The highway then turns north-west and becomesSouth Eastern Freeway, crosses theMurray River, bypassesMurray Bridge and continues toGlen Osmond on Adelaide's southeastern outskirts.

At this point, Princes Highway is 6 kilometres (4 mi) from Adelaide and 2,055 kilometres (1,277 mi) from Sydney. It continues north-west viaGlen Osmond Road to eventually terminate just south of theAdelaide city centre.

The section of Princes Highway between West Helensburgh and Bulli Tops was the original coastal route between Sydney and Wollongong, first used in 1843.^{[citation needed]} From Bulli Tops this route continued south along today's Mount Ousley Road as far south as Mount Keira Road, and then followed Mount Keira Road around the west ofMount Keira. This route replaced the inland route from Sydney viaLiverpool,Campbelltown,Appin to Bulli Tops.

As a named route, the highway came into being when pre-existing roads were renamedPrince's Highway after the planned visit to Australia by the Prince of Wales (later to become kingEdward VIII and, after abdicating, the Duke of Windsor) in 1920. The original submissions in January 1920 were in order for the Prince to have the opportunity during his visit to make the trip from Melbourne to Sydney overland along the route. Different routes were considered, including the inland route viaYass.^[8] That idea never came to fruition, due partly to the limited amount of time and the cost of upgrading the road to a suitable standard for him to undertake the trip. The Prince did, however, give his permission for the naming.^[9]

The highway had opening ceremonies in both New South Wales and Victoria during 1920. The first section of road from Melbourne was opened on 10 August inWarragul.^[9] The road from Sydney was opened in Bulli on 19 October, by the NSW Minister for Local Government,Thomas Mutch.^[10]

Within Victoria, the passing of theCountry Roads Act of 1912^[11] through theParliament of Victoria provided for the establishment of theCountry Roads Board (laterVicRoads) and their ability to declare Main Roads, taking responsibility for the management, construction and care of the state's major roads from local municipalities.(Main) Gippsland Road was declared a Main Road over a period of months, from 10 November 1913 (Longwarry throughDrouin toWarragul),^[1] 1 December 1913 (Mulgrave throughDandenong andPakenham to Longwarry, and Warragul throughMoe,Morwell andTraralgon toRosedale),^[12] 2 February 1914 (Rosedale throughSale andStratford toBairnsdale),^[13] to 23 March 1914 (Prahran throughOakleigh and Mulgrave toClayton);^[14]Orbost-Genoa Road fromOrbost viaCann River toGenoa, andSwan Reach-Cunninghame Road from Bairnsdale viaSwan Reach toLakes Entrance, were declared Main Roads on 23 March 1914;^[14] and lastly,Genoa-Eden Road from Genoa to the interstate border with New South Wales andEden beyond, was declared a Main Road on 7 September 1914;^[15] all were renamed in August 1920.^[9]{Melbourne-) Geelong Road was declared a Main Road fromFootscray viaWerribee andLittle River toCorio on 30 December 1913;^[16]Geelong-Colac Road fromGeelong toWaurn Ponds,Geelong-Warrnambool Road fromWaurn Ponds viaColac andTerang toWarnambool,Warrnambool-Port Fairy Road from Warrnambool toPort Fairy, were declared Main Roads on 16 March 1914,^[17] andPort Fairy-Portland Road from Port Fairy toPortland was declared a Main Road on 16 November 1914;^[18] before approval was given by the Victorian executive in January 1922 to extend Princes Highway west from Melbourne through Geelong, Camperdown, Warrnambool and Portland to the South Australian border.^[19] The passing of theHighways and Vehicles Act of 1924^[20] provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board.Prince's Highway was declared a State Highway on 1 July 1925,^[2] traversing the whole length of the state from its western boundary near Mount Gambier in South Australia, through Port Fairy, Warrnambool, Geelong to Melbourne, through Dandenong, Warragul, Sale, Bairnsdale and Orbost to the eastern boundary of the state towards Eden in New South Wales (for a total of 540 miles), subsuming the original declarations of (Main) Gippsland Road, Swan Reach-Cunninghame Road, Orbost-Genoa Road, Genoa-Eden Road, {Melbourne-) Geelong Road, Geelong-Colac Road, Geelong-Warrnambool Road, Warrnambool-Port Fairy Road and Port Fairy-Portland Road as Main Roads.

Within New South Wales, the passing of theMain Roads Act of 1924^[21] through theParliament of New South Wales provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through theMain Roads Board (laterTransport for NSW). Main Road No. 1 was declared along Prince's Highway on 8 August 1928, heading south from the City of Sydney through Sutherland, Wollongong, Nowra, Bateman's Bay and Eden to the southern boundary of the state towards Genoa in Victoria (for a total of 351.5 miles).^[3] With the passing of theMain Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929^[22] to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, this was amended to State Highway 1 on 8 April 1929. Before the adoption of the "Prince's Highway" name in 1920, the road between Sydney and the border was referred to as the Coast Road.^[23]

Within South Australia, roads from Adelaide to the South Australian border with Victoria were renamed by the State government in February 1922.^[24] At that time, the route from Adelaide was viaAldgate,Mylor,Macclesfield,Strathalbyn, andLanghorne Creek, crossing the Murray River atWellington, then continuing along the present towns ofMeningie,Kingston SE,Robe,Beachport,Millicent and Gambier Town (Mount Gambier).^[25] By 1928, the route went throughMount Barker andWistow toLanghorne Creek.^[26] By 1935, the Princes Highway passed throughNairne andKanmantoo,^[27]Murray Bridge andTailem Bend (now known as theOld Princes Highway). That road was superseded by theSouth Eastern Freeway (Crafers-Murray Bridge in stages 1967–1979),Swanport Bridge (1979), finally extended from Crafers to Glen Osmond (2000). The section between Kingston SE and Millicent has also been replaced by a more direct inland route. The coastal route through Robe and Beachport is now route B101, theSouthern Ports Highway.

In 1942, as part of wartime defence measures, a road was built from Mount Keira Road toFairy Meadow. This route forms part of Mount Ousley Road.^{[citation needed]}

The passing of theRoads Act of 1993^[28] through theParliament of New South Wales updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Princes Highway today retains its declaration as Highway 1, from the intersection with Broadway in Chippendale in Sydney, to the state border with Victoria.^[29]

The passing of theRoad Management Act 2004^[30] through theParliament of Victoria granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads toVicRoads: VicRoads re-declared the road in 2010 asPrinces Highway West (Arterial #6500), beginning at the state border with South Australia to Geelong, then from Altona North to Parkville;^[31] and in 2007 asPrinces Highway East (Arterial #6510), beginning at the Melbourne CBD to Narre Warren, then from Yarragon to Trafalgar, then from Morwell to the state border with New South Wales.^[32]

In August 2011, the stretch of the highway in South Australia between Adelaide and Port Augusta (commonly referred to as "Highway 1") was renamedPort Wakefield Highway (between Adelaide andPort Wakefield) andAugusta Highway (between Port Wakefield and Port Augusta) as part of a process to standardise the rural property addressing system across the state.^[33]

Princes Highway was signed National Route 1 across its entire length in 1955. TheWhitlam government introduced the federalNational Roads Act 1974,^[85] where roads declared as a National Highway were still the responsibility of the states for road construction and maintenance, but were fully compensated by the Federal government for money spent on approved projects.^[85]: S7 As an important interstate link between the capitals of South Australia and Victoria, the parts of Princes Highway not already replaced by South Eastern Freeway between Adelaide and Tailem Bend were declared aNational Highway in 1974. With all three states' conversion to their newer alphanumeric systems between the late 1990s to the early 2010s, its former route number for the most part was updated to A1 for the highway within Victoria (in 1997), South Australia (in 1998), and eventually the New South Wales section (in 2013),^[86] but with many exceptions: see below.

Due to its history of bypasses, many sections of Princes Highway today have different route allocations. These allocations, from its northern terminus in Sydney to its western terminus in Adelaide, are:

*The gap between the two stages of Princes Freeway are taken up by either a series of unrelatedly named motorways (Monash Freeway,CityLink andWest Gate Freeway) or largely by Princes Highway.

Within New South Wales, Princes Highway formerly entered Wollongong as State Route 60 down theBulli Pass and ran a largely separate route fromBulli andThirroul through to the southern suburbs from the parallelPrinces Motorway, the latter of which today is designated part of route M1.^[94] The gazetted route of Princes Highway today differs from the route of State Route 60 (and from that shown on road signs).^[95][96] The gazetted route was designated State Route 60 (now part of route B65,Memorial Drive) for its length, but deviated from the road that is signposted as Princes Highway betweenBellambi andNorth Wollongong.

• Highway 1 (Australia)
• Highway 1 (South Australia)
• Highways in Australia
• Highways in Victoria
• List of highways in New South Wales
• List of highways in South Australia
• Princes Freeway

• RTA Webcam Suburban Sydney
• VicRoads (Victorian road departmen)