Newcastle Inner City Bypass

Newcastle Inner City Bypass New South Wales
Newcastle Inner City Bypass
Coordinates	32°59′40.4″S 151°41′16.1″E / 32.994556°S 151.687806°E
General information
Type	Freeway
Length	15.6 km (9.7 mi) (upon completion)
Route number(s)	A37
Former route number	State Route 123
Major junctions
Bennetts Green – New Lambton Heights (7.6km)
South end	Pacific Highway, Bennetts Green
	Warners Bay Road 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	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.^[1]

The road is divided into five sections.^[2] 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.^[3] 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,^[4] 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.^[5] The contract for construction of that section was awarded to Reed Constructions in February 2011, with construction starting in April 2011.^[6] 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.^[7]

The Shortland – Sandgate section of the bypass was unofficially opened on 16 January 2014 and was opened to traffic on 23 January 2014.^[8]

Interchanges

Newcastle Inner City Bypass
Northbound exits	Distance from Bennetts Green (km)	Southbound exits
End Newcastle Inner City Bypass continues as Pacific Highway to Hexham, Maitland and Taree	15.6	Start Newcastle Inner City Bypass from Pacific Highway
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 to Lambton, Newcastle and Charlestown Newcastle Road to Wallsend and Sydney
Rankin Park to Jesmond section - IN PLANNING -
Traffic Lights (clockwise from bypass) McCaffrey Drive to Wallsend Lookout Road 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	4.1	Charlestown, Warners Bay Hillsborough Road
no exit	2.2	Charlestown, Warners Bay Warners Bay Road
Start Motorway Section	0	End Motorway Section
Traffic Lights (clockwise from bypass) Pacific Highway to Charlestown Pacific Highway 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

References

1. "Newcastle inner city bypass Sandgate to Shortland. Review of environmental factors". NSW Roads and Traffic Authority. 30 June 2006. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
2. "Newcastle Inner City Bypass". NSW Roads and Traffic Authority. 17 September 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
3. A Colenbrander; W Davies; R Handley (23 March 2004). "West Charlestown Bypass: Construction of Urban Freeway Embankments using High Plasticity Clays" (PDF). GHD Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
4. Barker, Sarah (4 March 2008). "Rankin Park to Jesmond – Submissions Report, RTA, March 2008" (PDF). NSW Roads and Traffic Authority. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
5. "Archived Tender Detail View – RTA.09.2535.2697". NSW Roads and Traffic Authority. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
6. "Proposed upgrade of Newcastle Inner City Bypass between Shortland and Sandgate". NSW Roads and Traffic Authority. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
7. "Work Restarts Shortland to Sandgate". Roads and Maritime Services. 24 August 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
8. Davis, Belinda-Jane (16 January 2014). "Bypass opening next week, expressway soon". The Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 17 January 2014.

External links

• ozroads page on NSW State Highway 23