Olympic Highway is a rural

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

in the central western and south-eastern Riverina regions of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The highway services rural communities and links

Hume Highway Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and 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 the route ...

with

Mid-Western Highway Mid-Western Highway, sometimes Mid Western Highway, is a state highway located in the central western and northern Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. The highway services rural communities and links the Great Western, Mitchell, ...

and provides part of an alternate road link between

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

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 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

, 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 situated adjacent to the r ...

Route

The highway runs generally north–south, roughly aligned to sections of the Sydney–Melbourne and the Blayney–Demondrille railway lines. A section of the highway through Wagga Wagga is a four-lane divided urban road where the highway is

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

with the Sturt Highway. Olympic Highway approximately parallels Hume Highway to the east and

Newell Highway Newell Highway is a national highway in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It provides the major road link between southeastern Queensland and Victoria via central NSW and as such carries large amounts of freight. At in length, the Newell is th ...

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

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) or Undivided highway (American English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road has a s ...

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 the

Lachlan Valley Way Lachlan Valley Way is a New South Wales country road running from Booligal to north of Yass. Route Lachlan Valley Way commences at the intersection with Cobb Highway in Booligal and heads in a north-easterly direction for about to Hillston. ...

that generally runs northwest–southwest between and and beyond. Olympic Highway heads generally south by west through

Koorawatha Koorawatha is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Olympic Highway between Cowra and Young. It was once a large and thriving centre of activity but now has only a hotel and a cafe. The Koorawatha Hotel h ...

, , , , 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, using ...

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 commercial and business centre 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 with the "city ...

via the Hampden Bridge, a wooden

Allan Truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

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 is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Eac ...

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, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an agency of the New South Wales Government established on 1 November 2011, and is the leading transport and roads agency in New South Wales, ...

). 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 Mitchell Highway is an outback state highway located in the Central West Queensland, central and South West Queensland, south western regions of Queensland and the North West Slopes, northern and Central West, New South Wales, central western ...

) at

Trangie Trangie is a town in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is on the Mitchell Highway north west of the state capital Sydney. It is part of Narromine Shire local government area. At the , Trangie had a population of 1,188. ...

, 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

Cowra Cowra is a small town in the 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 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...

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 offically named Olympic Way on 19 June 1963, in honour of part of the path that the

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

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 10km 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 is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

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