Northern Expressway, also known as the Fatchen Northern Expressway, is a 21 kilometre long

controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

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 States and territories of Australia, 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 o ...

. 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-separat ...

to reach the harbour at

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

. These are the northernmost two parts of the North–South Corridor. Cycling is not permitted on the Expressway. The

Stuart O'Grady Bikeway The Stuart O'Grady Bikeway is a shared path in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, following the eastern side of the Max Fatchen Expressway. The northeastern end is adjacent to the on ramp from Two Wells Road to the Gawler Bypass. The southwest ...

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 Gawler Bypass is a major north–south route in the outer northern suburbs of the city of Adelaide, South Australia, connecting Main North Road to the Sturt Highway, bypassing Gawler. The route was built in 1963 in an attempt to redirect traffi ...

, 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 Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions situated adjacent to the r ...

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 in

Waterloo Corner Waterloo Corner is a rural/urban suburb approximately 22 kilometres north of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. Most of the land is used for agricultural purposes, including wheat, olives, grapes and tomatoes. Port Wakefield Ro ...

. 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, f ...

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. 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,

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 Maxwell Edgar Fatchen, AM (3 August 192014 October 2012) was an Australian children's writer and journalist. Early life Fatchen was born at "Narma" private hospital, South Terrace, Adelaide, the only son of Cecil William Fatchen and Isabe ...

, 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 Angle Vale is a semi-rural town on the Adelaide Plains between Gawler and Virginia in South Australia. It is steadily being surrounded by Adelaide's suburban sprawl. It is close to many vineyards and farms. The town includes Trinity College's Gaw ...

, 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