Road Photos & Information: New South Wales
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Camden Valley Way, Camden Bypass, Remembrance Drive & Old Hume Highway
(State Route 89) - Former Alignment: Narellan to Camden (Decommissioned) |
Statistics:
- Length: 72 km (Narellan to Camden: 6 km)
- Northern Terminus: Hume Highway / South Western Freeway (Metroad 5) interchange at Prestons, near Liverpool in southwestern Sydney
- Southern Terminus: Hume Highway (NH31) interchange at Alpine, north of Mittagong
- Suburbs, Towns & Localities along route: Prestons, Catherine Field, Leppington, Denham Court, Smeaton Grange, Narellan, Elderslie, Camden, Menangle, Razorback, Picton, Tahmoor, Bargo, Yanderra, Yerringbool and Alpine
Route Numbering:
- Former:
- Multiplexed with:
General Information:
State Route 89 is the former Hume Highway alignment between Prestons and Alpine near Mittagong. More of the former Hume Highway alignment continues from the northern terminus into the town of Liverpool. That section is defunct as far as numbering is concerned. This happened when the Roads and Traffic Authority decommisioned the Metroad 7 route between the M2 Hills Motorway at West Pennant Hills to the Metroad 5 Hume Highway at Prestons upon opening the Westlink M7 motorway in December 2005.
The route has a very big history, which goes back to the the first road south from Sydney, known as the Great South Road, which was formed in the 1800s. Some sections of the route still utilise the concrete pavement laid in the 1940s. The route is made up of mostly undivided road, however there's sections of 2 lane rural style road, 3 lane road and 4 lane roadway throughout the route, the Camden Bypass is freeway standard from Narellan and Elderslie.
Multiplexes along the route include:
- Tourist Drive 12 from Prestons to Picton and between Tahmoor and Alpine
History:
- 1914: Sydney-Melbourne road (Great South Road) is declared a main road
- 1928: Sections of Great South Road renamed to Hume Highway
- 1940: Hume Highway is (mostly) paved
- 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
- 1959: an experiment using advisory speed
signs on curves on the Hume Highway between Camden and Berrima was successful and
was extended to other roads. 1
- 1970s: Construction of high standard 4 lane freeway between Campbelltown and Prestons, DMR also built another high standard 4 lane road between Bargo and Alpine (near Mittagong)
- 1973: Opening of the 1km long Macarthur Bridge over the Nepean River at Elderslie and Camden
- 26 October 1973: A six
mile (9.7 km) section of the South Western Freeway (formerly F5, now Hume Hwy (Metroad 5)) from Cross Roads to Raby Road opened. 1
- 1974: South Western Freeway extended to Narellan Road near Campbelltown.
- May 1977: South Western Freeway between Yanderra and Alpine opens to traffic. SR89 designation given to the route when the Hume Highway was moved to the South Western Freeway
- March 1989: the Berrima Bypass on Hume Highway opened to traffic2. State Route 89 assigned to the old highway route between Mittagong and Berrima
- 1992: the Mittagong Bypass on Hume Highway opened to traffic. State Route 89 assigned to the Old Hume Highway through Mittagong from Aylmerton to Welby
- Mid 1990s: State Route 89 decommissioned between Alpine and Berrima, replaced by Tourist Drive 17
- December 2005: work was completed to upgrade Camden Valley Way to four lanes between the M7 interchange and Bernera Road, Prestons 1
- 2006: upgrade at the intersection of Camden Valley
Way and Raby Road at Catherine Field 1
- 2007: funding allocated to continue upgrading Camden Valley Way to four-lanes between Bernera Road, Prestons and Narellan Road, Narellan 1
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Advance Directional Sign:
AD sign at on Camden Valley Way at Narellan approaching Narellan Rd (Metroad 9), June 2006. Prior to the changes at this junction, SR89 also multiplexed with TD18 and Metroad 9.
Image © Paul Rands |
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Old Concrete Alignment:
Looking northeast on just off Camden Valley Way and Narellan Road (Metroad 9) at Narellan, October 2006. This is Sharman Close, of which consists of an old alignment of the Hume Highway, this is one of the original concrete pavements used along the route, some of which are still in use as Camden Valley Way further northeast at Leppington.
Image © Paul Rands |
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Supplemental Advance Directional Sign:
Supplemental AD sign at on Camden Valley Way at Narellan approaching Narellan Rd (Metroad 9, June 2006. This sign has since been removed and not replaced.
Image © Paul Rands |
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Former Narellan Road Junction:
Camden Valley Way at the former T-junction with Narellan Rd (Metroad 9), June 2006. This junction has since been reconfigured and now includes The Northern Road (Metroad 9) as well.
Image © Paul Rands |
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1 Roads and Traffic Authority
2 Argyle County web site
Last updated: 17-Dec-2019 0:55
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