National Highway (Australia)
The National Highway in Australia is a system of highways that connects all of the states and territories of Australia and their largest and most important cities. The system has been part of the National Network in the Nation Building Program (formerly AusLink ) together with the railways since 2009
The National Highway was created in 1974 by the National Highway Act 1974 . Before, the main roads had only been funded by the federal government, but the states were responsible for building and maintaining them.
A number of laws (including the Australian Land Transport Development Act 1988 ), which were repealed with the AusLink National Network, had previously defined which roads could be designated as National Highway. It was the rule that a national highway, also as a connection of several roads, had to establish a direct connection between two capitals of states or the federal capital. A connection to Cairns and a route from Burnie to Hobart in Tasmania had also been designated as the National Highway.
With the AusLink project, the expansion of the road network was stimulated. The national highways can now be financed through the government of states, territories and also through public-private partnership models. The states have to contribute to the financing especially for new routes and new projects are now funded half by the central government and the governments of the states.
Road links on the AusLink National Network
- Sydney - Melbourne via Hume Highway and Hume Freeway
- Sydney - Brisbane via the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway , New England Highway , Cunningham Highway and Pacific Highway
- Brisbane - Cairns via Bruce Highway
- Brisbane - Darwin via Warrego Highway , Landsborough Highway , Barkly Highway and Stuart Highway
- Brisbane - Melbourne via Warrego Highway, Gore Highway , Newell Highway and Goulburn Valley Highway and Hume Freeway
- Melbourne - Adelaide via Western Freeway , Western Highway , Dukes Highway , South Eastern Freeway and Adelaide-Crafers Highway
- Adelaide - Darwin via Port Wakefield Road and Stuart Highway
- Adelaide - Sydney via Sturt Highway and Hume Highway
- Adelaide - Perth via Port Wakefield Road , Eyre Highway , Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, and Great Eastern Highway
- Perth - Darwin via the Great Northern Highway , Victoria Highway and Stuart Highway
- Sydney - Canberra via Hume Highway and Federal Highway
- Melbourne - Canberra via Hume Freeway, Hume Highway and Barton Highway
- Hobart - Burnie including a link from Launceston to Bell Bay via Brooker Highway , Midland Highway and Bass Highway
- Townsville - Mount Isa via Flinders Highway
- Melbourne - Sale on Princes Highway
- Perth - Bunbury via South Western Highway
- Melbourne - Mildura via Calder Highway
- Sydney - Dubbo via Great Western Highway and Mitchell Highway
- Sydney - Wollongong via Southern Freeway and Princes Highway
- Melbourne - Geelong via Princes Highway
- some short connections in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide that connect to the highways, ports or airports