Mid-Western Highway

Mid-Western Highway New South Wales
General information
Type	Highway
Length	520 km (323 mi)
Opened	1928
Route number(s)	B64 Hay - Cowra A41 Cowra - Bathurst
Former route number	National Route 24 (1954-2013) Entire Route[1]
Major junctions
West end	Cobb Highway Hay, New South Wales
	Kidman Way Newell Highway Goldfields Way Henry Lawson Way Olympic Highway Lachlan Valley Way Mitchell Highway
East end	Great Western Highway Bathurst, New South Wales
Location(s)
Major settlements	Goolgowi, Rankins Springs, West Wyalong, Grenfell, Cowra, Blayney
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales

The Mid-Western Highway, sometimes the Mid Western Highway,^[2] is a state highway located in the central western and northern Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. The 520-kilometre (320 mi) highway services rural communities and links the Great Western, Mitchell, Olympic, Newell, Cobb and Sturt highways. The Mid-Western Highway forms part of the most direct route road link between Sydney and Adelaide,^[3][4] with its eastern terminus in Bathurst and western terminus in Hay.

Gazetted and named as a state highway in August 1928, the Mid-Western Highway carries the National Highway shield A41 between Bathurst and Cowra and the State Route B64 shield between Cowra and Hay. The highway shares a concurrency with the Newell Highway between Mardsden and West Wyalong.^[5] The highway is a single carriageway along its entire length.

During 2014 the Roads & Maritime Services in conjunction with the NSW Geographical Names Board commenced a consultation process to change the name of the highway to the Wiradjuri Highway,^[2] as the only the state highway to lie fully within the Aboriginal Wiradjuri cultural area.^[6]

Route

The highway runs generally northeast-southwest, roughly aligned to the Lachlan River in New South Wales, then stretching across the Hay Plain, generally towards the south-western corner of New South Wales.

The eastern terminus of the Mid-Western Highway is at a junction with the Great Western Highway and Mitchell Highway in the city of Bathurst. Heading west by southwest, the highway carries the A41 shield and passess through Blayney, Carcoar where the village is bypassed in 1975,^[5] and to Cowra where the highway crosses the Lachlan River and forms the northern terminus of the Olympic Highway and provides access to the Lachlan Valley Way. At Cowra the highway heads west, carrying the State Route B64 shield to Grenfell with a link to the Henry Lawson Way as the Mid-Western Highway heads further west to its junction with the Newell Highway at Marsden. From Mardsen to West Wyalong the route is concurrently badged as B64 and as the National Highway A39. The Mid-Western Highway and Newell concurrency terminates west of West Wyalong and the Mid-Western continues further west through Weethalle, and then southwest to Rankins Springs and Goolgowi before reaching its western terminus in Hay where it joins the Sturt Highway via the Cobb Highway.^[5]

Following the upgrade of the Hume Highway to a dual carriageway along the vast majority of its length in New South Wales and the declaration of the Sturt Highway as a national highway, despite the Mid-Western Highway being the most direct route between Sydney and Adelaide, the route via the Hume and Sturt highways through Wagga Wagga offers motorists a quicker route, despite being approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) longer.^[7]

The only major river crossing is the Lachlan River at Cowra.

Major intersections

LGA	Location	km[8]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Bathurst	Bathurst	0	0	Great Western Highway (A32 east) – Lithgow, Katoomba, Sydney	Eastern highway terminus
		0	0	Mitchell Highway (A32 west) – Orange, Dubbo	Eastern highway terminus
Cowra	Cowra	104	65	Lachlan Valley Way (B81 northwest) – Gooloogong, Forbes, Condobolin	Lachlan Valley Way (B81) concurrency terminus
Lachlan River		104	65	Cowra Bridge
Cowra	Cowra	105	65	Lachlan Valley Way (B81 southeast) – Boorowa, Bowning	Lachlan Valley Way (B81) concurrency terminus
		105	65	Olympic Highway (A41 southwest) – Young, Junee, Wagga Wagga	continues southwest as the Olympic Highway (A41) continues west as the Mid-Western Highway (B64)
Weddin	Grenfell	158	98	Henry Lawson Way (southeast) – Young	Henry Lawson Way eastern concurrency terminus
		167	104	Henry Lawson Way (northwest) – Forbes	Henry Lawson Way western concurrency terminus
Bland	Marsden	227	141	Newell Highway (A39) – West Wyalong – Forbes	Eastern concurrency terminus with the Newell Highway (A39)
	Wyalong	259	161	Goldfields Way (B85 south) – Temora, Wagga Wagga
	West Wyalong	265	165	Newell Highway (A39 south) – Narrandera	Western concurrency terminus with the Newell Highway (A39)
		265	165	Ungarie Road – Ungarie, Condobolin, Lake Cargelligo
Carrathool	Goolgowi	411	255	Kidman Way (B87 southeast) – Griffith, Darlington Point, Coleambally Kidman Way (B87 northwest) – Hillston, Cobar	Roundabout
Hay	Hay	520	323	Cobb Highway (B75 north) – Ivanhoe, Wilcannia, Broken Hill	Western highway terminus
		520	323	Cobb Highway (B75 south) – Deniliquin, Moama	Western highway terminus
		522	324	Sturt Highway (A20 west) – Balranald, Mildura, Adelaide Sturt Highway (A20 east) – Narrandera, Wagga Wagga, Sydney	Route transition: Adelaide – Sydney
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Route transition

See also

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

References

1. Alpha Numeric route numbers - A new Road Numbering System, NSW Transport Roads & Maritime Services. Retrieved on 17 June 2013.
2. "Proposal to rename the Mid Western Highway". Roads & Maritime Services. Government of New South Wales. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
3. Rands, Paul (10 November 2013). "Mid Western Highway (B64)". Road Photos & Information: New South Wales. Expressway: The Australian Highway Site. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
4. Rands, Paul (7 December 2013). "Mid Western Highway & Olympic Highway (A41)". Road Photos & Information: New South Wales. Expressway: The Australian Highway Site. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
5. "Mid-Western Highway". Ozroads. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
6. Mid Western Highway/Wiradjuri map (PDF) (Map). Roads & Maritime Services, Government of New South Wales. 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
7. "Sturt Highway". Ozroads. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
8. Google (3 April 2015). "Mid-Western Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 3 April 2015.

External links