Road Photos & Information: New South Wales

Hume Highway (National Highway 31) - Historical Photos: Campbelltown to Wilton

Statistics:

• Length: 500 km (Campbelltown to Wilton: 22 km)
• Northern Terminus: Narellan Road (Metroad 9) interchange at Mt Annan, near Campbelltown on the outskirts of southwestern Sydney.
• Southern Terminus: NSW-Vic border at Albury
• Miscellaneous: Continues as Hume Freeway (NH-M31) at the Victorian border and travels for 303 km to the Metropolitan Ring Road (M80).
• Suburbs, Towns & Localities along route: Campbelltown, Mt Annan, Menangle Park Douglas Park and Wilton.

Route Numbering:

• Current:
• Former:
• Forthcoming Alphanumeric:  
• Road Authority Internal Classification: HW2 1

General Information:

The Hume Highway is one of Australia's most vital highway links. Providing access between Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's 2 largest cities. The National Highway section of the Hume Highway consists of almost 100% dual carriageway road, either rural expressway or motorway standard. Works to duplicate small sections of highway that are not dual carriageway are well underway.

In NSW, the highway in one form or another started life as the Great South Road, linking Sydney with the southern highlands and eventually beyond. The highway was named in 1928 after Hamilton Hume (1797-1873), a famous explorer in the early 19th century who, in 1824, in conjunction with William Hovell first found an overland route between Sydney and the infant colonial outpost of Port Phillip, the original name of Melbourne.

NH31 is the main freight and commuter route between Sydney and Melbourne and has gone through a massive amount of transformation over the past 30 or so years, with many towns being bypassed along its route as well and gradual upgrades to motorway standards. Since the 1960s, the road has either been duplicated, where alignments allow for it, and also large deviations have also been part of the upgrade process.

The route around the Mittagong area averages around 16,000 vehicles every day, in other sections the number drops off a little or closer to Sydney increases. 2

The route forms the Remembrance Driveway which honors war veterans, click here for the Remembrance Driveway web site.

History:

• 1951: Planning for the F5 Freeway (South Western Fwy) commenced 2
• December 1980: Opening of freeway between Campbelltown and Yanderra north of Mittagong. This section of the Hume Hwy features the highest bridge ever built in NSW was the Pheasants Nest Bridge across the Nepean River, which is 76 metres above water level. 2 When this section was built, it formed part of the longest freeway in Australia at the time and won the DMR world wide design and engineering awards.

The photos shown below are scanned from the DMR publication South Western Freeway, F5 from The Cross Roads near Liverpool to Aylmerton near Mittagong, which was published in December 1980.

Preview:	Description:
	Kenny Hill - Yanderra Section Cutting: Cutting at Menangle Park, alongside the northbound carriageway, 1980. Image © Department of Main Roads New South Wales
	Southbound at Menangle Park: Looking southbound on the Hume Hwy at Menangle Park, 1980. Image © Department of Main Roads New South Wales
	Menangle Road Overpass: Image of the bridge abutment on the Menangle Road overpass. Many of the interchanges and overpasses along the route don't use the same style of abutments, 1977. Image © Department of Main Roads New South Wales
	Nepean River: The twin four-span bridges at Menangle, with the then South Western Freeway crosses the Nepean River, October 1980. Click here for construction information. Image © Department of Main Roads New South Wales
	Moolgun Creek: Towering piers support the dual carriageways of the route over Moolgun Creek at Douglas Park, July 1980. Click here for construction information. Image © Department of Main Roads New South Wales

1 Roads and Traffic Authority
2 Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government