List of road routes in New South Wales
Road routes in New South Wales assist drivers navigating roads in urban, rural, and scenic areas of the state. Today, all numbered routes in the state are allocated a letter in addition to a one- or -two digit number, with 'M' routes denoting motorways, 'A' routes denoting routes of national significance, and 'B' routes denoting routes of state significance. The route system includes the officially designated highways, urban and intercity motorways and arterial roads, and important cross-state roads that have not been declared highways.
History
Route numbers have been allocated to NSW roads since 1955. National Route 1 was one of the best known numbered national routes, likely because of its fame for circumnavigating the continent. The insignia of national routes was a five-sided black and white shield, chosen as it is the shape of the Australian national coat of arms.To supplement the national route number system, three ring roads were introduced to Sydney in 1964. These were numbered 1, 3 and 5, with relatively increasing radii. While they were officially decommissioned in 1974, some old ring road 3 signs remained posted into the 1980s, and ring road 1 signs into the 1990s.
In 1973, a system of freeway numbering was introduced to the state to complement the national routes and ring roads. The shields were replicas of the red, white and blue U.S. Interstate Highway shields, and were numbered F1 to F8:
- F1: Warringah Freeway, and its never-built extensions
- F2: reserved for the Castlereagh Freeway, a corridor similar to today's M2 Hills Motorway
- F3: Sydney–Newcastle Freeway, and the never-built Lane Cove Valley Expressway and North Western Expressway
- F4: Western part of today's M4 Western Motorway
- F5: the freeway section of National Highway 31
- F6: Southern Freeway, and its never-built extensions to the Sydney CBD
- F7: reserved for a corridor similar to today's Cahill Expressway, Eastern Distributor and Bondi Junction Bypass
- F8: a section of Wollongong's Northern Distributor
In 1974, the National Highway network was defined, which in New South Wales included the Hume Highway, Federal Highway, Barton Highway, Sydney-Newcastle Freeway and New England Highway. National highways were marked with the same shield as the national routes, except for their green and gold colour and the word 'national' added across the top.
Also in 1974, the three ring roads, 1, 3 and 5, were decommissioned and replaced by new State Routes, which had the same shields as the new freeways but without the red crest. Scores of other State Routes were also designated across New South Wales, marking out urban arterial routes and secondary rural highways. They were allocated as follows:
- 11, 33 and 55: Respectively replaced ring roads 1, 3 and 5. In 1988, state route 77 was commissioned as an additional primary circumferential route.
- 12-76: Greater Sydney. Even numbers were radial while odd numbers were circumferential, roughly increasing in value anticlockwise around the City. Exceptions were State Route 31 and state route 60. Routes 36, 40, 56, 68 and 69 extended beyond the bounds of Greater Sydney. While most State Routes still appear on maps and in street directories, they were haphazardly removed and covered up in Sydney in 1998 and 2004, leaving only routes 29, 31, 40, 44, 54, 56, 60 and 69.
- 78-99: Rural Areas. There was no discernible pattern with these routes. State route 83 was commissioned in 1979 and state route 89 was commissioned in 1980.
- 111, 121-124, 128, 131-133, 135: Greater Newcastle. 111 was added in 1988 following National Highway 1's relocation to the F3 Freeway.
- 151, 153, 155 and 157: Greater Wollongong, in addition to state routes 60, 68, 69 and 88.
- 2: In 2008, Queensland's state route 2 from the Gold Coast was extended a short distance into far northern NSW.
In 2013, the state replaced its entire system of State Routes, National Routes, National Highways and Metroads with an alphanumeric route numbering system. All numbered routes are allocated a letter in addition to its number, with 'M' routes denoting motorways, 'A' routes denoting routes of national significance, and 'B' routes denoting routes of state significance. Instead of shields, the route numbers are displayed as yellow text on green rectangular background outlined in white. The changeover to alphanumeric routes was announced from March 2013 and signs were updated throughout 2013, either by removing old "shield" coverplates installed on newer signs, or installing new alphanumeric coverplates on old shielded signs. In 2020, the styling of the markers was modified to remove the white border, aligning with all other states except the ACT.
Motorways (M routes)
Future road routes
F6 Extension - In 2019, the New South Wales Government announced it would rename the northern extension of the Princes Motorway, between Arncliffe and Kogarah to the "M6 Motorway". No announcement has yet been made on whether the A6 will be renumbered to avoid duplicate numbers.- Westren Sydney Airport Motorway.
Routes of national significance (A routes)
Routes of state significance (B routes)
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John Renshaw Drive
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B69
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B70
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B71
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B72
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B73
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B74
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B75
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B76
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B78
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B79
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B81
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B82
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B83
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B84
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B85
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B87
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B88
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B89
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B91
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B94
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B95