NSW ROUTE NUMBERING:
National Routes/Highways
The National Route & National Highway system is described in much greater detail on the National System page for the entire country. This page focuses on the New South Wales routes which make up the National Route and National Highway system.
Presently, New South Wales has 23 routes that make up part of the National Route and National Highway system. As mentioned on the National System page, the only difference between National Routes and National Highways is the colouring of the shield. National Highways have a green/gold shield, while National Routes have the black and white shield. The reason for the different shields was to denote which routes were federally funded, however, now with the 'Auslink' program, these routes are not so clear cut anymore. It seems New South Wales will abandon the green/gold shields when they adopt their new alpha-numeric numbering system, unlike the other states which have converted so far. Personally, i think they are a great guidance tool, as the National Highways are links between only the capital cities, so if you follow the shields you know your on the major interstate highways. The shields are also even more distinctive now, with no other routes having shields as part of the alpha-numeric system.
New South Wales had the privilage of sharing with Victoria the first National Route, 31, which in 1954 was signposted along the Hume Hwy from Sydney to Melbourne. In the next year, 3 other routes were added, including National Route 1 from Brisbane to Adelaide. Over the subsequent years many routes have been added, and one decomissioned, National Route 13, to create the system of routes we have now. The Green and Gold shields of the National Highway system were introduced in 1974, originally with 4 routes. These were:
Sydney-Brisbane ----> Sydney-Newcastle Tollway (now Freeway)/Pacific Hwy
Sydney-Melbourne ----> Hume Hwy
Canberra Connectors ----> Federal & Barton Hwys
The National Highway shields also stopped on the edge of the Sydney Metroplitan Region, with the Syd-Melb link stopping at the Cross Roads, Casula and the Syd-Bris link stopping at the Pacific Hwy/F3 interchange at Wahroonga (not constructed until 1989 tho). In 1992 two more routes were added to the system, Sydney-Adelaide (Sturt Hwy) and Melbourne-Brisbane (Newell Hwy). In 1994, the decision was made by the federal government to fill in the gaps through the capital cities, and the Sydney Urban Link was born. This consisted of the then 7 year old Cumberland Hwy and a section of the Hume Hwy from Liverpool to the Cross Roads.
Below is a list of the routes in NSW that make up the National System. Click on the links for more information on the route inside NSW.
National Route/Highway 1 -----> Princes/Pacific Hwys, F6/F3 Freeways
National Highway 15 ----> New England Hwy
National Route 16 ----> Murray Valley Hwy
National Route 18 ----> Snowy Mountains Hwy
National Highway 20 ----> Sturt Hwy
National Highway/Route 23 ----> Federal Hwy, Monaro Hwy
National Route 24 ----> Mid Western Hwy
National Highway 25 ----> Barton Highway
National Highway 31 ----> Hume Highway
National Route 32 ----> Gt Western/Mitchell/Barrier Hwys
National Route 34 ----> Oxley Hwy
National Route 37 ----> Kamilaroi Hwy
National Route 38 ----> Gwydir Hwy
National Highway 39 ----> Newell Hwy
National Route 41 ----> Olympic Hwy
National Route 44 ----> Bruxner Hwy
National Route 48 ----> Illawarra Hwy
National Route 52 ----> Kings Hwy
National Route 55 ----> Castlereagh Hwy
National Route 58 ----> Riverina Hwy
National Route 71 ----> Mitchell Hwy
National Route 75 ----> Cobb Hwy
National Route 79 ----> Silver City Hwy