Olympic Highway is a rural

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

in the central western and south-eastern Riverina regions of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It services rural communities, links

Hume Highway The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of t ...

with Mid-Western Highway, and provides part of an alternate road link between

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and via and as well as servicing

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

, linking 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 along the route. Initiall ...

Route

Olympic Highway runs generally north–south, roughly aligned to sections of the Sydney–Melbourne and the Blayney–Demondrille railway lines. A section through Wagga Wagga is a four-lane divided urban road where it is concurrent with Sturt Highway. Olympic Highway approximately parallels Hume Highway to the east and

Newell Highway Newell Highway is a National Highway (Australia), national highway in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It provides the major road link between southeastern Queensland and Victoria (state), Victoria via central NSW and as such carries large amo ...

to the west, sharing a short concurrency with Sturt Highway in Wagga Wagga. It is mostly

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation, central reservation/median strip to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road is a type of ...

and also includes wider sections within urban areas and some passing lanes. Where the road passes through suburban areas it accommodates both parking and pedestrian needs of the town shopping centre and highway through traffic. At its northern terminus in Cowra, Olympic Highway meets Mid-Western Highway, along which route A41 continues east to Bathurst, and west as route B64 to ; and Lachlan Valley Way that generally runs northwest–southwest between and and beyond. Olympic Highway heads generally south by west through Koorawatha, , , , Wagga Wagga, and towards its southern terminus via a

trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usi ...

with Hume Highway located north of Albury at . The only major river crossing is the

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

, crossed between and Wagga via the Gobbagombalin Bridge, at long believed to be the longest continuous-span viaduct in New South Wales, situated about northwest of the Wagga CBD and opened on 26 July 1997. Prior to the completion of the "Gobba" Bridge, the Olympic Highway followed a route that took it through the Wagga

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

via the Hampden Bridge, a wooden Allan Truss bridge that was opened in 1895 and eventually demolished in 2014.

History

The passing of the ''Main Roads Act of 1924'' through the

Parliament of New South Wales The Parliament of New South Wales, formally the Legislature of New South Wales, (definition of "The Legislature") is the bicameral legislative body of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). It consists of the Monarch, the New South Wa ...

provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Main Roads Board (later the Department of Main Roads, and eventually

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is a Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government transport services and roads List of New South Wales government agencies, agency established on 1 November 2011. The agency is a different entity to the NSW ...

). Main Road No. 57 was declared from the intersection with Monaro Highway (today

) at Wagga Wagga to Old Junee and continuing north via Temora, Wyalong, Condobolin and Tullamore to the intersection with North-Western Highway (today Mitchell Highway) at Trangie, Main Road No. 210 was declared from the intersection with

near Ettamogah, via Culcairn, Henty to the intersection with Wagga-Narrandera Road (today

) at

, Main Road No. 239 was declared from Young to Wombat (and continuing southwards to Murrumburrah, and northwards to Grenfell), and Main Road No. 243 was declared from Junee to Wallendbeen (and continuing westwards via Coolamon and Grong Grong to Narrandera, and continuing eastwards via Harden to Bowning), on the same day, 8 August 1928. With the passing of the ''Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929'' to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, this was amended to Trunk Road 57 and Main Roads 210 and 239 and 243 on 8 April 1929. The Department of Main Roads, which had succeeded the MRB in 1932, truncated the eastern end of Main Road 243 to Junee on 16 March 1938 (with its western end terminating at the newly declared State Highway 17, later

, at Narrandera). Trunk Road 57 was extended south, from Wagga Wagga via Henty and Culcairn to the intersection with

near Ettamogah (subsuming Main Road 210), and declared Trunk Road 78 from the intersection with Mid-Western Highway in

Cowra Cowra () is a town in the Central West, New South Wales, Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 8,254. Cowra is located approximate ...

via Young, Wombat, Wallandbeen and Cootamundra to Junee (the southern end of Main Road 239 was truncated to meet Trunk Road 78 at Young), on the same day, 29 June 1938; Trunk Road 78 was later extended a short distance west past Junee to the intersection with Trunk Road 57 south of Old Junee on 17 May 1939. Trunk Road 78 was extended further south via Wagga Wagga, Henty and Culcairn to the intersection with

near Ettamogah (subsuming the former alignment of Trunk Road 57, which was truncated just south of Old Junee) and was officially named Olympic Way on 19 June 1963, in honour of part of the path that the

Olympic Torch The Olympic flame is a Olympic symbols, symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony s ...

took on its journey from Cowra to Albury for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. The southern end of Olympic Way was re-aligned on 1 July 1988, to run from Gerogery directly south to terminate at the current-day intersection with

roughly 10 km north of its previous terminus at Ettamogah (the former alignment is now known as Gerogery Road). The passing of the ''Roads Act of 1993'' through the

updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Olympic Way was renamed Olympic Highway in 1996, and the route between Wagga Wagga and Cowra was used again for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games torch relay. Olympic Highway today retains its declaration as Main Road 78, but despite its name, the road is not an official

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

as classified by

, and is considered a rural road. Olympic Highway was signed National Route 41 across its entire length in 1974. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in both states in 2013, this was replaced with route A41.

Major intersections

Gallery

image:HumehwyNSW.JPG, Olympic Highway, route A41, links Albury to Cowra

References

External links