Newcastle Inner City Bypass

New South Wales
Newcastle Inner City Bypass is located in New South Wales
Newcastle Inner City Bypass
Newcastle Inner City Bypass
Newcastle Inner City Bypass
Coordinates
General information
TypeHighway
Length15.6 km (9.7 mi)
(upon completion)
GazettedJuly 1946 (as State Highway 23)[1]
Route number(s) A37 (2013–present)
Former
route number		 State Route 123 (1974–2013)
Major junctions
Bennetts Green - New Lambton Heights
(7.6 km)
South end Pacific Highway
Bennetts Green
 
  • Warners Bay Road
  • Hillsborough Road
  • Myall Road
  • Carnley Avenue
  • Cardiff Road
North endMcCaffrey Drive
New Lambton Heights
Jesmond – Sandgate
(4.9 km)
South end Newcastle Road
Jesmond
 
  • University Drive
  • Sandgate Road
North end Pacific Highway
Sandgate
Location(s)
RegionHunter
Major suburbsWindale, Mount Hutton, Hillsborough, Kotara, New Lambton Heights, Jesmond, Birmingham Gardens, Shortland
Highway system

Newcastle Inner City Bypass is a freeway in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Originally cobbled together from a collection of arterial roads, it has been slowly upgraded and lengthened in sections over the years to a motorway-standard bypass through the inner western suburbs of Newcastle.

Route

The road is divided into five sections.[2] The first, and southernmost, section is the West Charlestown Bypass, a 6.5-kilometre-long (4.0 mi) freeway standard road, which commences at the intersection with Pacific Highway at Bennetts Green and heads in a northerly direction. The second section leads up the ridge and consists of parts of Charlestown Road and Lookout Road as a divided dual-carriageway arterial road. The third section, currently under construction, will be a freeway diverging from Lookout Road near the intersection of McCaffrey Drive, skirting around the west of John Hunter Hospital to join the next section at Newcastle Road.[3] The fourth section is a freeway-standard bypass of Jesmond from Newcastle Road continuing north, and the fifth section is a freeway extension from the northern end of the Jesmond Bypass to terminate at the intersection with 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.

History

The Newcastle Inner City Bypass route was first planned in the 1950s to connect the Bennetts Green area to Pacific Highway at Sandgate; it was approved in 1957 and subsequently incorporated in the Northumberland County Planning Scheme. The concept of the Newcastle Inner City Bypass emerged from the decision to route the Sydney to Newcastle Freeway west of Lake Macquarie in the mid-1970s: up to that point the freeway was proposed east of Lake Macquarie and involved corridor reservations for high-standard bypasses of Swansea, Belmont and Charlestown. The corridors for Swansea and Belmont have been abandoned, however the corridor from Bennetts Green to Sandgate was maintained by the Department of Main Roads to ultimately provide a bypass of inner Newcastle.[4]

The passing of the Main Roads Act of 1924[5] through the Parliament of New South Wales provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Department of Main Roads. State Highway 23 was declared along this road on 31 July 1946, from the intersection with Pacific Highway at Charlestown, along Charlestown Road via Kotara to Jesmond, and then via Birmingham Gardens along Sandgate Road to the intersection of Pacific Highway at Sandgate.[1] The highway was redeclared along each section of the bypass as they opened.

The passing of the Roads Act of 1993[6] through the Parliament of New South Wales updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, the declaration of Highway 23 runs from the intersection with Pacific Highway at Windale via West Charlestown Bypass, Charlestown and Lookout and Croudace Roads to Newcastle Road at Lambton, then from Newcastle Road at Jesmond to Pacific Highway at Sandgate.[7] Despite its classification as a Highway, it still has no officially gazetted name, and is known only locally as Newcastle Inner City Bypass.

Newcastle Inner City Bypass was signed State Route 123 along its entire length in 1974, moving to new sections of the bypass as they opened. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, this was replaced with route A37.[8]

Construction

The Newcastle Inner City Bypass was not built in a contiguous fashion, with separate sections opened slowly at different times over the following 50 years.

The second section, a 2.4km-long section between Kotara and Rankin Park, was the subject of community debate regarding the location and standard of road to be constructed. In the late 1960s, the Department of Main Roads proposed to construct a major elevated roadway as part of this section, which would have required a strip acquisition of Blackbutt Reserve between Carnley Avenue and McCaffrey Drive. Community concerns against the proposal's effect on the environmentally-sensitive Blackbutt Reserve led to the abandonment of the route through Blackbutt Reserve and the existing Lookout Road section was widened and constructed as a four-lane dual-carriageway arterial road in lieu of freeway conditions, with at-grade intersections at Carnley Avenue, Hurn Street, Cardiff Road and Grandview Road, completed in 1983.[4]

The fourth section of the bypass, a 3.2km-long section between Newcastle Road at Jesmond and Sandgate Road at Shortland and previously known as the "Jesmond to Shortland Relief Route", was the first portion of freeway-standard road to be approved in January 1981. Construction started in May 1984, and the road was opened to traffic in June 1993.[9]

The first section, the 6.5km West Charlestown Bypass, commenced earthworks construction in July 2000, and was opened to traffic in early 2003.[10]

Pre-construction works for the fifth (northernmost) section, the 2.3km-long section between Sandgate Road at Shortland and Pacific Highway at 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.[11] The contract for construction of that section was awarded to Reed Constructions in February 2011, with work starting in April 2011.[12] On 28 May 2012 Roads & Maritime Services terminated its contract with Reed Constructions which had been placed in liquidation, and remaining works were completed by Thiess, the prime contractor for the Hunter Expressway.[13] The Shortland – Sandgate section of the bypass was unofficially opened on 16 January 2014 and opened to traffic on 23 January 2014.[14]

In June 2014, the NSW Government announced it would provide $280 million to complete the third section (i.e. Rankin Park to Jesmond section) of the bypass, including $150 million from Restart NSW.[15] It includes building a new and improved entrance to the John Hunter Hospital. In February 2019, it was approved by the state government.[16] Major construction began in late 2021, targeting completion in mid 2025.[3]

Interchanges

LGALocationkmmiDestinationsNotes
Lake MacquarieBennetts Green0.00.0 Pacific Highway (A43), Charlestown, Newcastle, Belmont, SydneySouthern terminus of Newcastle Inner-City Bypass and route A37 at traffic lights
Lake Street, Windale
Hillsborough2.21.4Warners Bay Road, Charlestown, Warners BayHalf-diamond interchange woth one roundabout, northbound entry and southbound exit only
4.12.5 Hillsborough Road (B57), Charlestown, Warners BayDogbone interchange
Kotara South5.33.3Myall Road, Cardiff, KotaraNorthbound entry and exit only
NewcastleKotara5.53.4Charlestown Road/Park Avenue/Johnson Street, Cardiff, KotaraSouthbound entry and exit only
5.63.5Main Northern railway line through Tickhole Tunnel
6.23.9Carnley Avenue, BroadmeadowTraffic lights
New Lambton Heights6.84.2Cardiff Road – CardiffTraffic lights
7.64.7McCaffrey Drive – Wallsend
Lookout Road – Lambton, John Hunter HospitalRoute A37 continues north along Lookout Road at traffic lights
Rankin ParkNewcastle Inner City Bypass, section 3Rankin Park to Jesmond section under construction[3]
Jesmond10.76.6 Newcastle Road (A15 west, A15/A37 east) – Lambton, Newcastle, Charlestown, WallsendRoundabout; route A37 continues east along Newcastle Road
Birmingham Gardens11.77.3University Drive, Birmingham Gardens, Waratah West, University of NewcastleRoundabout interchange
Shortland13.98.6Sandgate Road – Shortland, Hunter Wetlands CentrePartial offset dumbbell interchange, no southbound exit
Sandgate14.89.2Main North railway line
15.69.7 Pacific Highway (A43), Hexham, Maitland, TareeNorthern terminus of Newcastle Inner-City Bypass and route A37 at traffic lights
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Main Roads Act, 1924-1945". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 90. National Library of Australia. 16 August 1946. p. 1846. Archived from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Newcastle Inner City Bypass". Roads & Traffic Authority. 17 September 2010. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. 1 2 3 "Newcastle Inner City Bypass, Rankin Park to Jesmond". The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (federal). Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  4. 1 2 Barker, Sarah (4 March 2008). "Rankin Park to Jesmond – Submissions Report, RTA, March 2008" (PDF). Roads & Traffic Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  5. ↑ State of New South Wales, An Act to provide for the better construction, maintenance, and financing of main roads; to provide for developmental roads; to constitute a Main Roads Board Archived 11 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine 10 November 1924
  6. ↑ State of New South Wales, An Act to make provision with respect to the roads of New South Wales; to repeal the State Roads Act 1986, the Crown and Other Roads Act 1990 and certain other enactments; and for other purposes. Archived 11 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine 10 November 1924
  7. ↑ Transport for NSW (August 2022). "Schedule of Classified Roads and Unclassified Regional Roads" (PDF). Government of New South Wales. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  8. ↑ "Road number and name changes in NSW" (PDF). Roads & Maritime Services. Government of New South Wales. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  9. ↑ "RTA Annual Report 1992-93" (PDF). Roads & Traffic Authority. Sydney. October 1993. p. 70.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ "Archived Tender Detail View – RTA.09.2535.2697". Roads & Traffic Authority. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  12. ↑ "Proposed upgrade of Newcastle Inner City Bypass between Shortland and Sandgate". Roads & Traffic Authority. 18 February 2011. Archived from the original on 16 March 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  13. ↑ "Work Restarts Shortland to Sandgate". Roads & Maritime Services. 24 August 2012. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ↑ Davis, Belinda-Jane (16 January 2014). "Bypass opening next week, expressway soon". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "Newcastle Inner City Bypass". Roads & Maritime Services. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  16. ↑ Parris, Michael (28 February 2019). "Planning Department gives green light for inner-city bypass". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.