Northern Expressway, also known as the Fatchen Northern Expressway, is a 21 kilometre long controlled-access highway in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. Since March 2020, the

North–South Motorway The North–South Motorway is a partially complete motorway traversing the inner western suburbs of Adelaide from Waterloo Corner in the north to Bedford Park in the south. Progressively constructed in stages since 2010, once complete it will ...

continues west of Port Wakefield Highway and intersects the

Port River Expressway Port River Expressway is a freeway-grade road. The expressway links Port Adelaide and the LeFevre Peninsula across the north-western suburbs of Adelaide to major interstate routes via North-South Motorway. The expressway is only grade-separate ...

to reach the harbour at Port Adelaide. These are the northernmost two parts of the North–South Corridor. Cycling is not permitted on the Expressway. The Stuart O'Grady Bikeway is a sealed shared cycling and walking path adjacent to the eastern side of the expressway. The northern end connects to the on-ramp from Two Wells Road to the Gawler Bypass Road, and the southern end is adjacent to Port Wakefield Road at Mill Road.

Route

Northern Expressway commences at the grade-separated interchange with Sturt Highway in

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

and heads southwest, just beyond the northern fringes of suburban Adelaide, to

Port Wakefield Highway Port Wakefield Highway (and its southern section as Port Wakefield Road) is an important South Australian highway, connecting Adelaide to the Yorke Peninsula, Port Augusta, northern and western South Australia, the Northern Territory and Weste ...

in Waterloo Corner. The road has been built to four-lane standard and provides a faster route between northern Adelaide and Gawler, relieving pressure mostly from

Main North Road Main North Road is the major north-south arterial route through the suburbs north of the Adelaide City Centre in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. It continues north through the settled areas of South Australia and is a total of long, fro ...

and other roads through Adelaide's northeastern suburbs. It also allows freight vehicles to avoid residential areas and go straight to Port Wakefield Road.

History

The largest road project undertaken in South Australia in at least sixty years, the expressway was delivered at a cost of approximately jointly funded by the

South Australian South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and Commonwealth Governments. The Design and Construct contract was awarded to the Fulton Hogan York Joint Venture, a partnership between trans-Tasman contractor

Fulton Hogan Fulton Hogan is a large infrastructure construction, roadworks and aggregate supplier company in New Zealand, which is also active in wider Australasia. The company was founded by Julius Fulton and Robert Hogan in Dunedin in 1933. In 2013 the c ...

and South Australian based

York Civil York Civil was a South Australian construction and civil engineering company based in Adelaide, South Australia. It was founded in 1990 by Ian Tarbotton, who remains an owner and director along with Dominic Vieceli. It began with only 10 employe ...

. The design joint venture, managed by Fulton Hogan York Joint Venture consisted of Maunsell, SMEC and Dare Sutton Clark. The work included an 8 km upgrade of the existing

Port Wakefield Road Port Wakefield Highway (and its southern section as Port Wakefield Road) is an important South Australian highway, connecting Adelaide to the Yorke Peninsula, Port Augusta, northern and western South Australia, the Northern Territory and Wester ...

. Part of the cost was covered by the AusLink national transport funding. Construction began in 2008 and the road opened on 13 September 2010. The interchanges/bridges along the expressway were all named after famous battles in which Australian forces fought, such as Long Tan,

Kokoda Kokoda is a station town in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. It is famous as the northern end of the Kokoda Track, site of the eponymous Kokoda Track campaign of World War II. In that campaign, it had strategic significance because it had th ...

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...

, Kapyong and Hamel. In November 2013, one year after the death of prominent South Australian author and journalist Max Fatchen, the Northern Expressway was given the dual name "Fatchen Northern Expressway" in his honour. In December 2019, a Catastrophic bushfire started on the Northern Expressway at Angle Vale, This affected people in Hillier, Munno Para Downs, Kudla, Munno Para West and

. In February 2020, the on ramp from northbound on Port Wakefield Road was permanently closed. Three weeks later, the Northern Connector project was opened, continuing the freeway south from the Northern Expressway as the

Exit list

References

{{Road infrastructure in South Australia Highways in Australia Roads in Adelaide Freeways and highways in Adelaide

Route

History

Exit list

See also

References