Main North Road

Main North Road
Formerly
Length	354 km (220 mi)
Direction	North-South
From	Princes Highway, Stirling North near Port Augusta, South Australia
Major suburbs	Wilmington, Gladstone, Clare, Giles Corner, Gawler, Elizabeth
To	Robe Terrace North Adelaide, South Australia
Allocation	Stirling North‑Wilmington (formerly )  Wilmington‑Giles Corner  Giles Corner‑Gawler (formerly )  Gawler‑Gepps_Cross_(formerly  Gawler‑Gepps Cross (formerly )  Gepps Cross‑North Adelaide (formerly )
Major junctions	Wilmington-Quorn Road Wilmington-Ucolta Road Clare Highway Gulnare-Spalding Road Clare-Peterborough Road

Looking south at Main North Road's southern (city) end. According to signage this section is not a part of the National highway

Main North Road is the major north-south arterial route north of the city of Adelaide, South Australia.^[1]

From the Adelaide city centre, it passes through the Adelaide Parklands and the suburbs of Thorngate, Medindie, Medindie Gardens, Nailsworth, Prospect, Sefton Park, Blair Athol and Enfield before reaching the major intersection at Gepps Cross. Here the road forks, with the Port Wakefield Road (A1 - National Highway 1) continuing to the north, and the Main North Road turning northeast and continuing as the A52.^[2] It continues through Salisbury and Elizabeth to Gawler where the Sturt Highway branches off to the east. As the Main North Road continues northward to the Clare Valley, the Barrier Highway branches northeast towards Burra. Beyond Clare, the Main North Road passes through the Southern Flinders Ranges to Wilmington at the eastern side of Horrocks Pass, and then turns back northwest to Stirling North where it meets the Princes Highway just outside of Port Augusta.

Commuter route

In the metropolitan area, the road is a major commuter route to the central business district.

The portion of Main North Road between the city centre and Mawson Lakes is a 15 minute public transport 'Go-Zone', with the maximum wait for a bus being 15 minutes during peak times (07:30am – 18:30pm weekdays).^[3] Bus routes via Main North Rd generally begin with the prefix "22x". The bus service is provided by SouthLink for Adelaide Metro.

Route numbers

From North Adelaide its official route numbers are:

• to Gepps Cross, where it becomes the (part of the national Highway 1) and continues as Port Wakefield Road to Perth
• _to_Gawler,_where_it_where_it_becomes_the_ to Gawler, where it where it becomes the Gawler Bypass Road and Sturt Highway to Sydney. (At the end of the Northern Expressway )
• to Giles Corner where it continues as the Barrier Highway to Broken Hill
• through the Clare Valley and beyond to Wilmington.
• to Stirling North, 6 kilometres south-east of Port Augusta.

In late 2010 when the Northern Expressway was completed, National Route was diverted to the new road as National Route . Major websites such as Nearmap have begun updating their maps, and allocating Main North Road and the southern section of the Gawler Bypass Road as State Route .

See also

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in South Australia
• Highway 1 (Australia)
• A1 highway (South Australia)

References

1. ^ 2003 Adelaide Street Directory, 41st Edition. UBD (A Division of Universal Press Pty Ltd). 2003. ISBN 0-7319-1441-4. 
2. ^ "Nearmap". Nearmap. 5 December 2010. http://www.nearmap.com/. Retrieved 2010-12-05. 
3. ^ "Go Zones". AdelaideMetro.com.au. http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/routes/go-zones. Retrieved 7 August 2011.