Newell Highway

Newell Highway New South Wales
General information
Type	Highway
Length	1,058 km (657 mi)
Route number(s)	A39 (Goondiwindi-NSW/QLD border) x20px A39 (NSW/QLD border-Tocumwal) Duplexes: x20px B56 (Coonabarabran-Gilgandra) x20px B64 (Marsden-West Wyalong) x20px B94 (Mirrool-Ardlethan)
Former route number	National Highway 39 (1992-2013) NSW section National Route 39 (1965-1992)
Major junctions
North end	Leichhardt Highway Goondiwindi, Queensland NSW/Qld Border
	Barwon Highway Cunningham Highway Bruxner Highway Carnarvon Highway x20px Gwydir Highway x20px Kamilaroi Highway x20px Oxley Highway x20px Castlereagh Highway x20px Oxley Highway x20px Golden Highway x20px Mitchell Highway Escort Way Lachlan Valley Way Henry Lawson Way x20px Mid-Western Highway x20px Goldfields Way x20px Mid-Western Highway x20px Burley Griffin Way Irrigation Way x20px Sturt Highway x20px Kidman Way x20px Riverina Highway
South end	Goulburn Valley Highway Tocumwal, New South Wales NSW/Vic Border
Location(s)
Major settlements	Moree, Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Dubbo, West Wyalong, Narrandera, Finley
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales

The Newell Highway is a national highway in New South Wales, Australia. The route is currently signed as the A39, however before 2013 was signed as National Highway 39. The Newell Highway is an important road link for freight between Queensland and Victoria and regional centres in western NSW. At 1,058 kilometres (657 mi) in length, the Newell is the longest highway in New South Wales, and passes through fifteen local government areas.

Traffic volumes along the Newell Highway vary significantly from around 1,200 to 4,000 vehicles per day in rural areas. In the urban centres such as Dubbo, average daily traffic volumes are in the order of 20,000 vehicles a day. A large number of heavy vehicles use the Newell Highway – on average, between 26 per cent and 52 per cent of all traffic on the route. At one point in the south west of the state, the highway carries approximately 1,900 vehicle movements daily, of which about 32 per cent are heavy vehicles; while at another point in the north west of the state, believed to be the highest traffic density on that highway, a truck passes every 60 seconds, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

The Newell Highway carries the National Highway 39 shield for its entire length. The highway is generally flat, with long, straight sections joined by the occasional curved section. However, passing through the Warrumbungle Ranges, there are steeper grades and tighter curves than on the rest of the highway. Open road sections of the Newell Highway are mostly 110 km/h (68 mph) zones. The Newell Highway serves as a major road link between Melbourne and Brisbane; and is named in honour of H. H. Newell, the Commissioner of Main Roads in New South Wales from 1932 until 1941.

Route

The highway runs generally north-south, parallel to the eastern coast of New South Wales, about 400 kilometres (250 mi) inland, and is the main inland direct road link from Victoria to Queensland, bypassing the more urbanised and congested coastal areas of the state.

From its northern terminus at Goondawindi in Queensland where it meets the Leichhardt Highway, the Newell runs to the south across the New South Wales and Queensland state border through Boggabilla, Moree, Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes, West Wyalong, Narrandera, Jerilderie, and Finley. The Newell meets its southern terminus at Tocumwal where the highway crosses the Murray River (part of the border between New South Wales and Victoria) and adjoins the Goulburn Valley Highway in Victoria.

The highway crosses eight major inland rivers, from north to south, the Macintyre between Goondiwindi and Boggabilla, the Mehi at Moree, the Namoi near Narrabri, the Castlereagh at Coonabarabran and at Gilgandra, the Macquarie at Dubbo, the Lachlan and Lake Forbes at Forbes, the Murrumbidgee at Narrandera, and the Murray River at Tocumwal. The Newell Highway is subject to periodic flooding north of Moree, at Dubbo, and south of Narrandera.

At various points on its route, the Newell shares part of its route with other highways including, from north to south, the Gwydir at Moree, the Kamilaroi near Narrabri, the Oxley and Castlereagh between Coonabarabran and Gilgandra, the Mitchell at Dubbo, the Mid-Western between Marsden and West Wyalong, and the Riverina near Finley.

History

The Newell was declared a State Highway in 1938, numbered No. 17, and named in honour of H. H. Newell following his death in 1941. At the time of its gazettal, the Newell Highway followed existing roads as far as possible, the exceptions being between Narrandera and West Wyalong and from Coonabarabran to Narrabri completed during 1941-42 and 1946-49 respectively as wartime and post-war defence projects. Between 1965 and November 1992 the Newell Highway carried the National Route 39 black and white shield and despite its misnomer as a national route, the highway was a patchwork of other national and state highways, and funding of the highway was in the main the responsibility of the NSW Government. Following the passage of the Australian Land Transport Development Act 1988 on 15 January 1993 the Australian Government gazetted the Newell as a national highway and assumed funding and administrative responsibility. Large amounts of non-reflective signs along the highway have reflective NH39 coverplates, a clear indication that they once showed NR39.

Major exits and intersections

State	LGA	Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Queensland	Goondiwindi	Goondiwindi			Marshall Street west to Barwon Highway (State Route 83) – Goondiwindi town centre, St George Cunningham Highway (National Highway A39) north to Leichhardt Highway (National Highway A39) and Cunningham Highway (National Route 42) – Brisbane, Rockhampton, Warwick Kildonan Road (Tourist Drive 3) east – Border Rivers Tourist Drive	Northern highway terminus at roundabout
			0	0	x20px Newell Highway	x20px Route transition: South end of National Highway A39, north end of A39
Queensland – New South Wales state border			1	0.6	Queensland – New South Wales state border
New South Wales	Macintyre River		2	1.2	Bridge over river
	Moree Plains	Boggabilla	8	5.0	x20px Bruxner Highway (B60) – Northern Rivers coast
	Gwydir River		122	76	Bridge over river
	Moree Plains	Moree	131	81	Boggabilla Road
	Mehi River		133	83	Bridge over river
	Moree Plains	Moree	133	83	x20px Gwydir Highway (B76) east – Warialda	B76 eastern concurrency terminus
			134	83	x20px Gwydir Highway (B76) north / Alice Street west – Collarenebri	B76 western concurrency terminus at roundabout
	Narrabri	Narrabri	232	144	x20px Kamilaroi Highway west – Wee Waa
	Namoi River		235	146	Bridge over river
	Narrabri	Narrabri			x20px Kamilaroi Highway (B51) east – Boggabri, Gunnedah	Roundabout
	Warrumbungle	Coonabarabran	348	216	x20px Oxley Highway (B56) north-east – Gunnedah	B56 northern concurrency terminus
	Gilgandra	Tooraweenah	407	253	Tooraweenah–Mendooran Road  – Tooraweenah
		Gilgandra	441	274	x20px Castlereagh Highway (B55) east  – Mendooran, Dunedoo	B55 eastern concurrency terminus
	Castlereagh River		442	275	Jack Renshaw Bridge
	Gilgandra	Gilgandra	442	275	x20pxx20px Castlereagh Highway (B55) / Oxley Highway (B56) – Coonamble, Warren	B55 and B56 concurrency termini
	Talbragar River		501	311	Bridge over river
	Dubbo	Dubbo	506	314	x20px Erskine Street (B84) – Dunedoo
	Macquarie River		507	315	Emile Serisier Bridge
	Dubbo	Dubbo	508	316	x20px Mitchell Highway (A32)  – Wellington, Narromine
	Narromine	Tomingley	559	347	Tomingley Narromine Road  – Narromine
	Parkes	Parkes	626	389	Condobolin Road west  – Condobolin Clarinda Street / Orange Road east  – Orange
	Forbes	Forbes	659	409	Lachlan Valley Way east  – Cowra Henry Lawson Way  – Grenfell	Lachlan Valley Way northern concurrency terminus
	Lake Forbes		660	410	Oxley Bridge
	Lachlan River		661	411	Bridge over river
	Forbes	Bundaburrah	665	413	Lachlan Valley Way west  – Condobolin	Lachlan Valley Way southern concurrency terminus
	Bland	Marsden	726	451	x20px Mid-Western Highway (B64) east  – Grenfell	Mid-Western Highway eastern concurrency terminus
		Wyalong	758	471	x20px Barmedman Road (B85)  – Temora
		West Wyalong	763	474	x20px Mid-Western Highway (B64) west  – Hay	Mid-Western Highway western concurrency terminus
	Coolamon	Mirrool Junction	813	505	x20px Burley Griffin Way (B94) east  – Temora	Burley Griffin Way eastern concurrency terminus
		Ardlethan	831	516	x20px Burley Griffin Way (B94) west  – Griffith	Burley Griffin Way western concurrency terminus
	Narrandera	Grong Grong	876	544	Ganmain Road  – Coolamon
		Narrandera	898	558	Irrigation Way  – Griffith
	Irrigation Canal		898	558	Bridge over the canal
	Murrumbidgee River		899	559	Narrandera Bridge
	Narrandera	Narrandera	900	560	x20px Sturt Highway (A20) south-east  – Wagga Wagga	Sturt Highway south-eastern concurrency terminus
			901	560	x20px Sturt Highway (A20) north-west  – Darlington Point	Sturt Highway north-western concurrency terminus
	Jerilderie	Jerilderie Junction	991	616	x20px Kidman Way  – Griffith
	Billabong Creek		1,005	624	Bridge over river
	Jerilderie	Jerilderie	1,007	626	Conargo Road  – Conargo
	Berrigan	Finley	1,042	647	x20px Riverina Highway  – Deniliquin, Berrigan	B58 concurrency terminus
	Murray River		1,057	657	Edward Hillson Bridge
New South Wales – Victoria state border			1,058	657	New South Wales – Victoria state border
Victoria	Moira	Koonoomoo			Goulburn Valley Highway (A39)  – Melbourne	Southern highway termninus: continues as Goulburn Valley Highway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Route transition

Gallery

• 

  Oxley Highway looking towards the Junction of Newell and Oxley Highways, just east of Coonabarabran, looking south-west.

• 

  National Route 39, the Newell Highway, in New South Wales, just south of West Wyalong, looking south.

See also

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