Newcastle Inner City Bypass

Newcastle Inner City Bypass New South Wales
Newcastle Inner City Bypass
Coordinates
General information
Type	Freeway
Length	15.6 km (10 mi) (upon completion)
Route number(s)	x20px A37
Former route number	State Route 123
Major junctions
Bennetts Green – New Lambton Heights (7.6km)
South end	x20px Pacific Highway, Bennetts Green
	Warners Bay Road x20px Hillsborough Road Myall Road Carnley Avenue Cardiff Road
North end	McCaffrey Drive, New Lambton Heights
Jesmond – Sandgate (4.9km)
South end	Newcastle Road
	University Drive Sandgate Road
North end	x20px Pacific Highway, Sandgate
Location(s)
Region	Hunter
LGA(s)	City of Lake Macquarie City of Newcastle
Major suburbs	Bennetts Green, Windale, Mount Hutton, Hillsborough, Garden Suburb, Kotara, New Lambton Heights, Jesmond Birmingham Gardens, Shortland, Sandgate
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales

The Newcastle Inner City Bypass is a road in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie New South Wales, Australia. Alternate titles include State Highway 23, Main Road 123 and H23.

The road is divided into five sections. The southern most section is the West Charlestown Bypass, which is a 6.5 km long freeway standard road which was opened to traffic in 2003. The second section consists of parts of Charlestown Road and Lookout Road, which were widened into a divided dual carriageway non-freeway configuration during the 1980s. The third section is a planned freeway diverging from Lookout Road near the intersection of McCaffrey Drive, skirting around the west of the John Hunter Hospital and passing over Newcastle Road to join the fourth section, the Jesmond bypass, which is a freeway that was constructed during the 1990s. The fifth section is another freeway section from the northern end of the Jesmond Bypass to the Pacific Highway at Sandgate.

With the third section of the route not yet completed, a more circuitous route through suburban roads remains in use for the gap between the second and fourth sections. From the end of the Charlestown Bypass, it is necessary to follow Lookout Road, which becomes Croudace Street, before turning left onto Newcastle Road. Approximately 1.3 km (0.8 mi) after turning left, the Inner City Bypass is rejoined by turning right at the Jesmond roundabout.

Pre-construction early works for the northern most section, between Shortland and Sandgate, began in June 2010. The work to be completed as part of that contract was for digging a cutting where the Sandgate Road bridge has been built over the bypass and filling two other areas, including constructing retaining walls and relocating water mains. The contract for construction of that section was awarded to Reed Constructions in February 2011, with construction starting in April 2011. On 28 May 2012 Roads and Maritime Services decided to terminate its contract with Reed Constructions, which is in liquidation, and remaining works are being completed by Thiess Pty Ltd, the prime contractor for the Hunter Expressway.

The Shortland – Sandgate section of the bypass was unofficially opened on 16 January 2014 and was opened to traffic on 23 January 2014.

Interchanges

Newcastle Inner City Bypass x20px
Northbound exits	Distance from Bennetts Green (km)	Southbound exits
End Newcastle Inner City Bypass x20px continues as Pacific Highway x20px to Hexham, Maitland and Taree	15.6	Start Newcastle Inner City Bypass x20px from Pacific Highway x20px
End Motorway Section		Start Motorway Section
Shortland, Mayfield Sandgate Road	13.9	no exit
Birmingham Gardens, Jesmond, University of Newcastle, Waratah West University Drive	11.7	Birmingham Gardens, Jesmond, Waratah West, University of Newcastle University Drive
Start Motorway Section	10.7	End Motorway Section
Roundabout (clockwise from bypass) Newcastle Road x20px x20px to Lambton, Newcastle and Charlestown Newcastle Road x20px to Wallsend and Sydney
Rankin Park to Jesmond section - IN PLANNING -
Traffic Lights (clockwise from bypass) McCaffrey Drive to Wallsend Lookout Road x20px to Lambton, Maitland and Taree
Grandview Road	7	Grandview Road
Cardiff Cardiff Road	6.8	Cardiff Cardiff Road
Hurn Street	6.4	Hurn Street
Broadmeadow Carnley Avenue	6.2	Broadmeadow Carnley Avenue
Peatties Road	6	Peatties Road
Kimbarra Close	5.9	Kimbarra Close
End Motorway Section	5.6	Start Motorway Section
no exit	5.4	Cardiff, Kotara Park Avenue Charlestown Road
Cardiff, Kotara Myall Road	5	no exit
Charlestown, Warners Bay Hillsborough Road x20px	4.1	Charlestown, Warners Bay Hillsborough Road x20px
no exit	2.2	Charlestown, Warners Bay Warners Bay Road
Start Motorway Section	0	End Motorway Section
Traffic Lights (clockwise from bypass) Pacific Highway x20px to Charlestown Pacific Highway x20px to Belmont and Sydney Lake Street to Windale

See also

• Highways in Australia
• List of freeways in Australia
• List of highways in New South Wales

External links

• ozroads page on NSW State Highway 23