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Hume Highway (National Highway 31) - Former Alignment: Goulburn To Yass (Decommissioned)

Statistics:

• Length: 500 km (Goulburn to Yass: 83 km)
• Northern Terminus: Narellan Road (Metroad 9) interchange at Mt Annan, near Campbelltown on the outskirts of southwestern Sydney.
• Southern Terminus: NSW-Vic border at Albury
• Miscellaneous: Continues as Hume Freeway (NH-M31) at the Victorian border and travels for 303 km to the Metropolitan Ring Road (M80).
• Suburbs, Towns & Localities along route: Goulburn, Gunning and Yass

Route Numbering:

• Former:
• Decommissioned: 2013
• Road Authority Internal Classification: HW2 1

General Information:

The Hume Highway is one of Australia's most vital highway links. Providing access between Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's 2 largest cities. The National Highway section of the Hume Highway consists of almost 100% dual carriageway road, either rural expressway or motorway standard. Works to duplicate small sections of highway that are not dual carriageway are well underway.

In NSW, the highway in one form or another started life as the Great South Road, linking Sydney with the southern highlands and eventually beyond. The highway was named in 1928 after Hamilton Hume (1797-1873), a famous explorer in the early 19th century who, in 1824, in conjunction with William Hovell first found an overland route between Sydney and the infant colonial outpost of Port Phillip, the original name of Melbourne.

NH31 is the main freight and commuter route between Sydney and Melbourne and has gone through a massive amount of transformation over the past 30 or so years, with many towns being bypassed along its route as well and gradual upgrades to motorway standards. Since the 1960s, the road has either been duplicated, where alignments allow for it, and also large deviations have also been part of the upgrade process.

The route around the Mittagong area averages around 16,000 vehicles every day, in other sections the number drops off a little or closer to Sydney increases.1

The route forms the Remembrance Driveway which honours war veterans, click here for the Remembrance Driveway web site.

Here are some interesting statistics on the Hume Highway: 2

• The Goulburn Bypass is 13 km of concrete dual carriageway.
• The Cullerin Range Deviation consists of 34 km of dual carriageway.
• 17 km of dual carriageways between the Cullarin Range Deviation and the Yass Bypass.
• The Yass Bypass, has 15 bridges and 18 km of dual carriageways.

History:

• 1950s: In 1952, a group of citizens met and formed a committee under Lt-General Sir Frank Berryman to create a national memorial to servicemen by using trees and shrubs as living memorials. The NSW Premier, J J Cahill, officially launched the scheme on 9 December 1953. The Remembrance Driveway project as it was called started on 5 February 1954, when trees were planted at either end of the Driveway at the War Memorial, Canberra, and in Macquarie Place, Sydney, by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. By June 1959, 10,000 trees had been planted. Since then, planting of trees in avenues or groves has continued. When the M5 Motorway replaced the Hume Highway (and also Camden Valley Way) south of Liverpool, it became the focus for planting trees and shrubs in remembrance. 1
• 1970: Dual carriageway and new bridges built, bypassing the old bridge from 1930s at Boxers Creek, north of Goulburn 1
• 1972: Completion of the grade separated interchange between Hume Hwy and Federal Hwy at Wollogorang, south of Goulburn. Also computer based roadsign design trialled for the first time. The first signs designed using the system were for installation on the Hume Hwy at Yass. 3
• 1992: Mittagong and Goulburn Bypasses open
• 1994: Most of the highway route between Breadalbane, west of Goulburn, and Derringullen Creek, west of Yass, was deviated. This included a bypassing of the Cullerin Range

This page concentrates on photos of the former alignments between Goulburn and Yass

Goulburn to Yass			Yass to Goulburn
Preview:	Description:		Preview:	Description:
	Main Southern Railway: Crossing the Main Southern Railway at Yarra, note the old double yellow lines, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands			Milepost: Concrete milepost on Nelanglo St, Gunning, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands
	Black Intersection Directional Sign: Black ID sign with old NH31 shield facing Bredalbane Rd at Bredalbane, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands			Main Southern Railway: Old Hume Hwy (NH31) alignment over the Main South Railway at Gunning, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands
	Black Intersection Directional Sign: Black ID sign at the intersection with Old South Road at Bredalbane, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands			Black Intersection Directional Sign: Black ID sign at the intersection with Old South Road at Cullerin, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands
	Black Intersection Directional Sign: Black ID sign at the intersection with Old South Road at Cullerin, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands			Black Intersection Directional Sign: Black ID sign at the intersection with Old South Road at Bredalbane, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands
	Milepost: Concrete milepost on Nelanglo St, Gunning, March 2017. Image © Paul Rands

1 Roads and Traffic Authority
2 Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
3 Department of Main Roads. The Roadmakers, A History of Main Roads in New South Wales, ISBN 0 7240 0439 4

Last updated: 05-Jul-2020 19:11

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