Expressway - The Australian Highway Site: Road Photos & Information: NSW: A20

Road Photos & Information: New South Wales

Sturt Highway (A20)

Statistics:

Length:: 598 km
Termini:: Eastern: Hume Highway (M31) at Tarcutta; Western: NSW-VIC border at Buronga
Miscellaneous:: Continues as Sturt Highway (A20) into Victoria
Suburbs, Towns & Localities Along Route:: Tarcutta, Wagga Wagga, Narranderra, Darlington Point, Hay, Balranald, Euston and Buronga

Route Numbering:

Current: A20
Multiplexed with: A39 A41 B87
Former: 20 20
Road Authority Internal Classification: ¹: HW14

General Information: ²

The Sturt Highway is 2 lane rural highway standard for most of its length and is named after Charles Sturt, who explored south western New South Wales, the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers and also parts of the deserts of central Australia in the 1820s and 1830s.

The present Sturt Highway developed as a track along the bank of the Murrumbidgee River linking cattle runs in the 1840s.

Originally the area of the route was the territory of the Wiradjuri Aboriginal people, in whose language Wagga Wagga means 'place of crows'.

Multiplexes along the route include:

: A39 (Newell Hwy), for 1 km, at Gillenbah.; A41 (Olympic Hwy), for 3 km, between Wagga Wagga and Moorong.; B87 (Kidman Way), for 200 m, at Darlington Point.

History: ²

: 1929: The road from Wagga Wagga to Hay was proclaimed as a Trunk Road.; 1930: The road from Wagga Wagga to Hay was named the Sturt Trunk Road in commemoration of Sturt's expedition down the Murrumbidgee River.; 1933: The road from Sydney to Adelaide through Wagga Wagga was proclaimed the Sturt Highway. The new highway comprised what had previously been a section of the Monaro Highway (now the Snowy Mountains Highway) from Lower Tarcutta to Wagga Wagga. The road along the south bank of the Murrumbidgee River from Wagga Wagga to Hay and a portion of the Mid Western Highway from Hay to the South Australian border.; 1940: Yanko Creek Bridge at Narranderra was constructed.; 1941: The current Poisoned Waterholes Creek Bridge (8 km east of Narranderra) constructed, replacing a timber bridge built in 1908.; 1942: The Bullenbong Creek Bridge constructed (43 km west of Wagga Wagga).; 1954: The Yanko Creek bridge was lengthened.; 1962: The Sturt Highway was completely sealed providing a route through to Adelaide.; 1973: The widening of Bullenbong Ck Bridge completed, which included changes to kerbs and railings. Also widening of Poisoned Waterholes Creek Bridge.; 1993: The Yanko Creek bridge was widened.

Tarcutta to VIC Border

Reassurance Directional Sign:

Distance sign at Tarcutta after the Hume Hwy (M31) interchange, October 2013.

Image © Paul Rands

AD Sign:

Advance directional sign approaching Tasman Road and Eunony Bridge Road at Gumly Gumly, June 2008.

Image © Michael Mak

ID Sign:

Intersection directional sign on the corner of Tasman Road and Eunony Bridge Road at Gumly Gumly, June 2008.

Image © Richard Wardle

Intersection Directional Sign:

ID sign facing Docker St, Wagga Wagga, July 2019.

Image © Ben Winkler

Advance Directional Sign:

AD sign approaching Ashmont St and the Olympic Hwy (A41) and Sturt Hwy (A20) split at Moorong, May 2011.

Image © Rob Tilley

Distance Sign:

RD sign, located after the Olympic Hwy intersection at Moorong, July 2010.

Image © Richard Wardle