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 the longest highway in NSW, and passes through fifteen local government areas.
The highway is named in honour of H. H. Newell, the first Commissioner for Main Roads in New South Wales (1932–1941). It is designated route A39 for its entire length.
Route
From its northern terminus at Goondiwindi in Queensland, where it meets the Cunningham and Leichhardt Highways, and forms the southward extension of Cunningham Highway from Warwick and Brisbane, the Newell runs south across the Queensland-New South Wales border through Boggabilla, Moree, Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes, West Wyalong, Narrandera, Jerilderie, and . Its southern terminus is where it crosses the Murray River (part of the border between New South Wales and Victoria) at Tocumwal and becomes Goulburn Valley Highway in Victoria, to eventually join Hume Highway at Seymour. The highway runs generally north–south, parallel to the coast of NSW but about inland, and is the most direct road link from Victoria to southeastern Queensland, bypassing the more urbanised and congested coastal areas of the state, and in doing so avoiding the difficult coastal topography of the New South Wales North Coast, traversed by Pacific Highway.
The terrain that the highway traverses is generally flat to gently undulating, with long, straight sections joined by the occasional curved section. However, passing through the Warrumbungle Range, there are steeper grades and tighter curves than on the rest of the highway.
The Newell intersects the following highways: Bruxner (at Boggabilla), Carnarvon and Gwydir (at Moree), Kamilaroi (at Narrabri), Oxley (east) (north of Coonabarabran), Castlereagh and Oxley (west) (at Gilgandra), Golden and Mitchell (at Dubbo), Mid-Western (east) at Marsden), Mid-Western (west) at West Wyalong), Sturt (at Gillenbah) and Riverina (at Finley).
Newell Highway is located entirely west of the Great Dividing Range, running largely along the foot of the western slopes of the range, and as such crosses nine major rivers, all west-flowing from the Great Dividing Range. From north to south these rivers are the Macintyre (at Goondiwindi), the Gwydir (10 km north of Moree), the Mehi (at Moree), the Namoi (near Narrabri), the Castlereagh (at Coonabarabran and again at Gilgandra), the Macquarie (at Dubbo), the Lachlan (at Forbes), the Murrumbidgee (at Narrandera), and the Murray (at Tocumwal). Some sections of the Newell Highway are subject to periodic flooding from these rivers, particularly north of Moree, at Dubbo, and south of Narrandera.
Other than short four-lane lengths within some of the urban areas through which it passes, Newell Highway is a single carriageway, two-lane road, although there are many overtaking lanes, with further overtaking lanes under construction for the next four years from 2021.
Traffic volumes along Newell Highway vary from around 1,200 to 4,000 vehicles per day in rural areas. In Dubbo, the largest urban centre through which the highway passes, average daily traffic volumes are in the order of 20,000 vehicles a day. Many heavy vehicles use the Newell Highway – between 26 per cent and 52 per cent of all traffic, depending on the point along the highway. At one point in the Riverina region of NSW, the highway carries approximately 1,900 vehicles daily, of which about 32 per cent is heavy vehicles; while at another point in the north of the state, which carries the largest number of heavy vehicles, on average a truck passes every 60 seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The speed limit on most rural sections of the highway is .
