Cumberland Highway

The Cumberland Highway is a long urban highway located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The highway links the Pacific Highway (A1/B83) and Pacific Motorway ( M1) at Pearces Corner, Wahroonga in the northeast with the Hume Highway (A22/A28) at Liverpool in the southwest.

The entire length of Cumberland Highway is designated route A28.

The name of the highway is derived from the Cumberland Plain and Cumberland County. The name ''Cumberland'' was conferred on the County by Governor Arthur Phillip in honour of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland.

History

The original western Sydney Bypass was Ring Road 5, which ran from the Pacific Highway and the Hume Highway with Parramatta in between. In 1974, Ring Road 5 was superseded by State Route 55. The growth of Sydney's west had instead turned it into a primary arterial with huge increase in freight traffic.

Construction

In December 1981, Old Windsor Road was realigned at its southern end. A section of new road was constructed between the old alignment of Old Windsor Road (now Harris Road) and the realigned Old Windsor Road, replacing another old alignment of Old Windsor Road (now Ferndale Close). This new road section would eventually form part of the Cumberland Highway a few years later.

In 1984, the state government announced a new Cumberland Highway that would supersede the Church Street/Woodville Road route as the major connection between the Pacific and Hume Highways. The existing roads of Hart Drive, Freame St, Emert St, Jersey Rd, Betts Rd, Warren Rd, Smithfield Rd, Palmerston Rd, Cambridge St, Joseph St and Orange Grove Rd were widened and connected to each other to form a continuous road. The first of these to be completed was between Harris Road and Freame Street railway underpass at Wentworthville.

In August 1988, the Cumberland Highway was finally completed, with the completion of the section between the Great Western Highway and Jersey Road. State Route 77 was proclaimed and allocated to the entire length of the highway.

Metroad 7

Metroad 7 replaced State Route 77 in June 1993 and the highway was designated by the Federal Government as an interim National Highway in 1994 until the completion of Westlink M7. When Metroad 7 was introduced, it went along Heathcote Road to the then Metroad 1 (now A1) at . The southern section of Heathcote Road was replaced by the then Metroad 6 (now A6) in 1998, and Metroad 7 was therefore truncated to the end of Cumberland Highway at Liverpool.

Since 1994, various parts of the Cumberland Highway were upgraded which included the widening of Pennant Hills Road.

With the opening of the Westlink M7 motorway in December 2005, the Metroad 7 route south of M2 Hills Motorway was decommissioned and rerouted onto the Westlink M7, leaving only the section north of the M2 Hills Motorway to retain the Metroad 7 route marker. The Metroad 6 was extended northwards from Carlingford to join M2 Hills Motorway at the same time. This was the condition it had stayed until 2013.

With the introduction of alphanumeric routes in New South Wales, the entire Cumberland Highway was allocated the A28 route in May–June 2013 and Metroad 7 was completely decommissioned.

The NorthConnex, opened in October 2020, links the M2 Hills Motorway at with the Pacific Highway and Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga via a motorway tunnel that aims to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow along the Pennant Hills Road section of the Cumberland Highway.

Route

* Pennant Hills Road (from Wahroonga to North Parramatta)
* James Ruse Drive (from North Parramatta to Northmead)
*Briens Road
*Old Windsor Road
*Hart Drive
*Freame Street
*Emert Street
*Jersey Road
*Betts Road
*Warren Road
*Smithfield Road
*Palmerston Road
*New Cambridge Street
*Cambridge Street
*Joseph Street
*Orange Grove Road

Exits and interchanges

See also

* NorthConnex

References

External links

*

{{Streets of Sydney Australia, state=collapsed
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