Augusta Highway is the part of Australia's ring route ( Highway 1) located in

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 ...

between

Port Wakefield Port Wakefield may refer to. Australia *Port Wakefield, South Australia, a town and locality * Port Wakefield railway line, part of the now-closed Balaklava-Moonta railway line in South Australia * Port Wakefield Circuit, a former motor racing cir ...

and

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

Route

Augusta Highway starts at the intersection with Eyre and

Stuart Highway Stuart Highway is a major Australia, Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; a distance of . Its northern and sou ...

s in Port Augusta West, then crosses the northern section of

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...

into central Port Augusta. It continues in a southerly direction as a single-carriageway highway with occasional overtaking lanes past Port Germein,

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South ...

, Crystal Brook and through Snowtown until it eventually meets

Copper Coast Highway Copper Coast Highway is a highway in South Australia which branches off from the Augusta and Port Wakefield Highways 2 km north of Port Wakefield, and heads northwest across the top of Yorke Peninsula to Kadina, ending at the Spencer Gul ...

just north of

, where it continues south as

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 ...

History

It was named Augusta Highway in 2011, and was formerly known simply as ''Highway One'' (and also as ''Princes Highway'', despite not being continuous to

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

in the southeast of the state). When a Highway Naming Committee was formed around 1999, there were proposals for the highway to become part of

Eyre Highway Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It ...

, or named Wakefield Highway.

Upgrades

Following the

2018 South Australian state election The 2018 South Australian state election to elect members to the 54th Parliament of South Australia was held on 17 March 2018. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly or lower house, whose members were elected at the 2014 election, and 11 of 22 se ...

, upgrades were announced for both ends of the Augusta Highway. At the northern end, the

Joy Baluch AM Bridge The Joy Baluch AM Bridge is a bridge across Spencer Gulf between Port Augusta and Port Augusta West in South Australia. It carries Highway 1 and is a key road link on both east–west and north–south road routes in Australia. The western en ...

across

is to be duplicated to improve safety for both local and highway traffic. At the southern end, the contract for detailed design and construction of the duplication of the highway through Port Wakefield and a grade-separated intersection with the

was let in March 2020. Both projects were contracted to the Port Wakefield to Port Augusta Alliance (a consortium of

CPB Contractors CIMIC Group Limited (formerly Leighton Holdings) is an Australian construction contractor. It is active in the telecommunications, engineering and infrastructure, building and property, mining and resources, and environmental services industries ...

Aurecon Aurecon is an engineering, management, design, planning, project management, consulting and advisory company based in Australia, with operations in the Middle East, New Zealand and South East Asia. History Formed through the merger of three ...

and

GHD Group GHD Group Pty Ltd (formerly known as Gutteridge Haskins & Davey) is a global employee-owned multinational technical professional services firm providing advisory, architecture and design, buildings, digital, energy and resources, environmental ...

), with the government announcing an overpass for the intersection with Copper Coast Highway in 2021. Construction on both projects commenced in late 2020, with completion expected in 2022; the overpass to Copper Coast Highway opened in December 2021, four months ahead of schedule. As finishing works were continuing around Port Wakefield, a new project started to duplicate the highway from the Copper Coast Highway to the southern side of Lochiel.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highways in South Australia Highway 1 (Australia) {{Australia-road-stub