The North–South Corridor is a series of component

motorway 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 ...

s travelling through

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

that will eventually form a continuous link from Old Noarlunga in the outer southern metropolitan Adelaide suburbs through to

Gawler Gawler, established in 1839, is the oldest country town 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 st ...

in northern metropolitan Adelaide, comprising a distance of 78km. Under South Australia's road route system, the corridor is signed as route M2. Comprising the

Northern Expressway Northern Expressway (also known as the Fatchen Northern Expressway) is a 21 kilometre long controlled-access highway in Adelaide, South Australia. Since March 2020, the North–South Motorway continues west of Port Wakefield Highway and interse ...

, 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 ...

and the Southern Expressway, parts of the corridor are still under construction or planning, with the project aiming for completion by 2031.

Component motorways

By 2031, all of these major road links are proposed to have been completed, thus making a major route through the Adelaide metropolitan area a much more efficient way to travel. Its expected to take only one hour to travel from Noarlunga in the South to Gawler in the North. When announced, the incumbent government had a strategy to deliver the complete project in ten years from May 2015. The components identified by the

Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, from north to south, are:

Northern Expressway

The Northern Expressway opened in September 2010 and was named the Max Fatchen Expressway, as the longest new road project in South Australia for a number of decades.

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 ...

was a popular author and journalist who had grown up and lived most of his life in the area traversed by the expressway. The 4 lane highway extends from Port Wakefield Road, northwest through 5 interchanges in Penfield (2 interchanges), Andrews Farm,

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 Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city o ...

and Gawler River to where it joins the

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 ...

just outside

. Cycling is prohibited on the expressway. The Stuart O'Grady Bikeway was constructed in conjunction with the expressway and follows the southeastern side of it.

North–South Motorway

The North–South Motorway is an incomplete planned motorway traversing the inner western suburbs of

from Waterloo Corner and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in the north to Bedford Park in the south. As a free-flowing north-south route it will be the primary route through Adelaide, bypassing the traffic light intersections along

Port Wakefield Road 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 Wester ...

and

South Road South Road and its southern section as Main South Road outside of Adelaide is a major north–south conduit connecting Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula, in South Australia. It is one of Adelaide's most important arterial and bypass roads. A ...

, and will connect the

and Southern Expressway. For the purposes of construction planning, the motorway was divided into sections which have been progressively constructed since 2010. As of March 2021, approximately of the motorway has been completed with the remaining currently under construction.

Southern Expressway

The Southern Expressway opened in two stages in 1997 and 2001 respectively, as a one way freeway which was closed for an hour twice a day, and reversed direction to match peak traffic flow. It was open northwards, towards the city, on weekday mornings and weekend afternoons. It was open southwards, away from the city, on weekday afternoons and weekend mornings. Duplication of the expressway began in 2011, with the construction of a second carriageway allowing the expressway to operate in both directions at all hours. The duplication opened in August 2014. The northern terminus of the expressway is at South Road in St Marys, where it runs through Bedford Park in an open cutting adjacent to Main South Road on the surface. This section began construction in 2016 and opened in 2020, replacing the original northern terminus, a signalised intersection further south, and bypassing five sets of traffic lights on Main South Road. The southern terminus of the expressway is at Main South Road, Old Noarlunga. Northbound traffic has free-flowing entry onto the roadway. Southbound travellers have a set of traffic lights to exit the expressway. Heading south after the expressway, Victor Harbor can be accessed with one additional set of traffic lights. Traffic to

Cape Jervis Cape Jervis is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located near the western tip of Fleurieu Peninsula on the southern end of the Main South Road approximately south of the state capital of Adelaide. It is named after the headla ...

encounters three more sets of lights.

Sturt Highway extension

The Gawler Bypass extends the continuous motorway at the northern end of the Corridor to the

at Hewett. Beyond Hewett, the Sturt Highway has been built to dual carriageway standards until Nuriootpa. The second carriageway was added between 2007 and 2009, providing a total of two lanes in each direction. The Sturt Highway continues beyond Nuriootpa as just one lane each way. The next major bottleneck is the town of

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

, which has the highway as its main street. A bypass is proposed in 5 to 15 years from the 2015 integrated plan.

References