Newell Highway

The terrain that the highway traverses is generally flat to gently undulating, with long, straight sections joined by the occasional curved section. However, passing through the Warrumbungle Range, there are steeper grades and tighter curves than on the rest of the highway.[1]

The highway runs generally north-south, parallel to the coast of NSW, about 400 kilometres (250 mi) inland, and is the most direct road link from Victoria to southeastern Queensland, bypassing the more urbanised and congested coastal areas of the state, and in doing so avoiding the difficult coastal topography traversed by the Pacific Highway.

From its northern terminus at Goondiwindi on the Queensland-NSW border, where it meets the Cunningham and Leichhardt Highways, and forms the southward extension of the Cunningham Highway from Warwick and Brisbane, the Newell runs south across the Queensland-New South Wales border through Boggabilla, Moree, Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes, West Wyalong, Narrandera, Jerilderie, and Finley. Its southern terminus is where it crosses the Murray River (part of the border between New South Wales and Victoria) at Tocumwal and meets the Goulburn Valley Highway in Victoria.[7] The Goulburn Valley Highway forms the next section of national route 39 south towards Melbourne via Shepparton and Seymour, where it joins the Hume Highway.

The Newell intersect the following highways:

Bruxner (at Boggabilla), Carnarvon and Gwydir (at Moree), Kamilaroi (at Narrabri), Oxley (east) (north of Coonabarabran), Castlereagh and Oxley (west) (at Gilgandra), Golden and Mitchell (at Dubbo), Mid-Western (east) at Marsden), Mid-Western (west) at West Wyalong), Sturt (at Gillenbah) and Riverina (at Finley).

The Newell Highway is located entirely west of the Great Dividing Range, running largely along the foot of the western slopes of the range, and as such crosses nine major rivers, all west-flowing from the Great Dividing Range. From north to south these rivers are the Macintyre (at Goondiwindi), the Gwydir (10 km north of Moree), the Mehi (at Moree), the Namoi (near Narrabri), the Castlereagh (at Coonabarabran and again at Gilgandra), the Macquarie (at Dubbo), the Lachlan (at Forbes), the Murrumbidgee (at Narrandera), and the Murray (at Tocumwal). Some sections of the Newell Highway are subject to periodic flooding from these rivers,[3] particularly north of Moree,[8] at Dubbo,[9] and south of Narrandera.[10][11]

The route now known as the Newell Highway was proclaimed as State Highway 17 in July 1938, and in July 1941 named in honour of H. H. Newell (Commissioner for Main Roads 1932-1941) following his death in office.[7][6] At the time of the gazettal of state highway 17, it followed existing roads as far as possible, but between Coonabarabran and Narrabri and between Narrandera and West Wyalong [2] no road existed. The section through the Pilliga Scrub between Coonabarabran and Narrabri was constructed during 1941-42 as a wartime defence project, and the section between Narrandera and West Wyalong was constructed in 1946-49. In 1952 the ultimate gazetted route of the highway between Narrandera and West Wyalong was altered from its original 1938 gazetted route.

Under the original national road numbering scheme in 1954, national route 39 was to run from the Hume Highway (national route 30, subsequently changed to 31) at Seymour, via Shepparton Tocumwal, Finley, Narrandera, West Wyalong, Forbes, Parkes, Dubbo, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Narrabri, Moree, Goondiwindi, Moonie, Miles and Banana to Rockhampton, to connect with the Bruce Highway (national route 1). Consequently the Newell Highway, as part of this route, was signposted in 1965 with the standard black and white national route markers. On 15 January 1993, following the passage of the Australian Land Transport Development Act 1988, the Australian Government assumed financial responsibility from the NSW government for the upkeep and improvement of the Newell Highway. It also assumed responsibility for the onward connectors from either end of the Newell Highway - the Goulburn Valley Highway in Victoria and the Cunningham Highway in Queensland. The black and white national route shields were then replaced with green and gold shields (signifying that the highway is a nationally- rather than state-funded route). These in turn were replaced in 2013 by the alpha-numerical shields of the NSW state-based numbering system.

Some sections of the route of the Newell Highway are shared with the routes of other highways. From north to south these are the Gwydir at Moree, the Kamilaroi at Narrabri, the Oxley (from 10 km north of Coonabarabran to Gilgandra), the Castlereagh through Gilgandra, the Mid-Western between Marsden and West Wyalong, and the Riverina (185 m through Finley).

Completion of the sealing of the full length of the highway occurred in 1972.

Town centre bypasses have been provided in Moree, Dubbo, Parkes and West Wyalong (heavy vehicle route). A town bypass at Ardlethan has also been constructed.

• 
  Oxley Highway looking towards the Junction of Newell and Oxley Highways, just east of Coonabarabran, looking south-west.
• 
  National Route 39, the Newell Highway, in New South Wales, just south of West Wyalong, looking south.

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in New South Wales
• List of highways in Queensland
• Bland Creek Bridge

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Newell Highway.

• "Draft Newell Highway Corridor Strategy" (PDF) (PDF). Roads & Maritime Services, Government of New South Wales. April 2014.