It runs north-south through the south-eastern and eastern suburbs of Adelaide, at the foot of the Adelaide Hills. The southern end is at the beginning of National Route M1, the South Eastern Freeway, which is also the intersection with the south-eastern ends of Cross Road and Glen Osmond Road. Portrush Road extends north from there to Payneham Road, crossing the four major arterial routes from the south-eastern and eastern suburbs into the city: Greenhill Road, Kensington Road, The Parade and Magill Road. Portrush road carries approximately 36,000 vehicles per day, including heavy freight trucks. It is an authorised route for trucks up to B-double and vehicle carrier size. Had the Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study of the 1960s progressed, a Hills Freeway would have been constructed to link the SouthEastern Freeway to the Port of Adelaide. This would have subsequently removed the freight that utilises Portrush Road today.
A17
At Payneham Road, the A17 turns north-west and changes name to Lower Portrush Road. As it crosses the River Torrens, it changes name to Ascot Avenue. At the intersection with North East Road, it changes name to Taunton Road. At the end of Taunton Road, it turns north again and changes name to Hampstead Road, continuing north and terminating at the intersection with Grand Junction Road,. The A17 and the A16 constitute the major heavy road transport route through suburban Adelaide from Port Adelaide and anywhere north of Adelaide to the South East of South Australia and the adjacent state of Victoria.
History
Portrush Road was named by Nathaniel A. Knox after Portrush in Northern Ireland. Knox owned land near the intersection with Greenhill Road, in the area now occupied by the suburbs of Glenunga and Glenside. In a 1949 street directory, the southern end of Portrush Road had its current route to Kensington Road. North of Kensington Road, it took the name Kensington Terrace, then Wellington Road north of the Magill Road intersection to Payneham Road. What is now Lower Portrush Road did not exist at all. Ascot Avenue was a minorstreet running off of North East Road which did not exactly line up with Taunton Road on the other side of North East Road. The nearest bridge over the River Torrens was the Felixstow Bridge on Felixstow Road, which is now O.G. Road. Lower Portrush Road and the bridge across the Torrens was opened in November 1970.
