List of highways in New South Wales

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This is a list of highways in New South Wales, Australia. The present highway network in New South Wales was established in August 1928 when the Country Roads Board (the predecessor of the Department of Main Roads and the Roads and Traffic Authority) superseded the 1924 main road classifications and established the basis of the existing NSW main road system. (the full list of main roads gazetted appears in the NSW Government Gazette of 17 August 1928). The number of a road for administrative purposes is not the same as the route number it carries eg. the Great Western Highway is state highway 5 for administrative purposes but is signposted as part of national route 32.)

Unlike other countries which use numbers, highways in New South Wales are identified by names related to explorers of the early 1800s, or politicians, or regional names. Since 1954 most NSW highways have carried a national route number, but these are not generally known or used, with the exception of Highway 1, which is assigned to the highways which follow the Australian mainland coast, and route 31 (the Hume Highway), which connects Sydney and Melbourne. Oddly, a second national route 1 runs from Hobart to Burnie in Tasmania.

The major interstate highways in Australia have been designated as part of the National Highway network, which means that the national government funds their maintenance and upgrading, whilst the states undertake the actual work.

National highway routes in New South Wales include the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne, the New England Highway between Newcastle and Brisbane, and the Federal and Barton Highways, which link Canberra to the Hume Highway. The coastal Highway 1 route is not part of the National Highway network other than the section between Sydney and Newcastle.

To supplement the national route number system, a state route number system was introduced from 1971 onwards, covering urban arterial routes and rural non-highway arterial routes. The five-sided national route number shield (black on white on state-funded highways and gold on green on nationally-funded highways) was chosen as it is the same shape as the Australian national coat of arms. The white on blue state route shields replicate those first used in Victoria and later used in most other states.

In most cases where freeways have been built to replace lengths of highways as the main route, the superseded lengths of the highwys have been renumbered as state routes eg Pacific Hwy Wahroonga-Ourimbah renumbered from national route 1 to state route 83 and Warnervale-Hexham from national route 1 to state route 111, Princes Hwy Bulli Tops-Yallah from national route 1 to state route 60, Great Western Highway Strathfield-Lapstone from national route 32 to state route 44.

Most NSW highways are two-lane, undivided roadways, with relatively few lengths of dual carriageway. Only relatively short lengths of the dual carriageway are true freeways with restricted access points and grade-separated interchanges. Most of the NSW section (and all the Victorian section) of the Hume Highway is dual carriageway, and large lengths of the Pacific Highway between Hexham and Port Macquarie and between Byron Bay and the Gold Coast are dual carriageway, with major additional duplication projects between Karuah and Bulahdelah, Bundacree and Possum Brush (near Nabiac), Bonville and Ballina at design finalisation and impact assessment stage.

New South Wales is slowly preparing to introduce an alpha-numeric route code system - new signs are being fitted with such route numbers with a coverplate carrying the existing route number being fitted over the top. It has not been announced when this system will be introduced.

• Alpine Way (no route no.)
• Appin Road (state route 69)
• Barrier Highway (national route 32)
• Barton Highway (national route 25)
• Bathurst-Ilford Road (main road 54, no route no.)
• Bell's Line of Road (part of state route 40)
• Bruxner Highway (national route 44)
• Bucketts Way
• Burley Griffin Way (state route B94)
• Bylong Valley Way (part of main road 208/main road 215, no route no.)
• Castlereagh Highway (national route 55/state route A55)
• Central Coast Highway
• Cobb Highway (part of national route 75/state route B75)
• Escort Way (state route 90)
• Federal Highway (part of national route 23)
• Fossickers Way (state route 95)
• Golden Highway (state route 84)
• Goulburn-Oberon Road (main road 256)
• Great Western Highway (part of national route 32/state route A32/state route 44/metroad 4/state route 31/formerly part of metroad 5)
• Gwydir Highway (national route 38)
• Henry Lawson Way
• Hume Highway (national route 31/state route A31/state route 31)
• Illawarra Highway (national route 48)
• Irrigation Way (state route 80)
• Kamilaroi Highway (national route 37/state route B76)
• Kidman Way (state route 87)
• Kings Highway (national route 52)
• Lachlan Valley Way (state route 81)
• Mid-Western Highway (national route 24/state routes A41/B64)
• Mitchell Highway (part of national routes 32 and 71/state routes A32/71)
• Monaro Highway (part of national route 23)
• Mount Lindesay Highway (national route 13)
• Newell Highway (part of national route 39/state route A39)
• New England Highway (national route 15/state route A15)
• O'Connell Road (main road 253)
• Olympic Highway (national route 41)
• Oxley Highway (national route 34)
• Pacific Highway (part of national route 1/state route A1)
• Picton Road (state route 88)
• Princes Highway (part of national route 1/metroad 1/state route 60/tourist drive 10a)
• Putty Road (part of state route 69)
• Riverina Highway (national route 58)
• Silver City Highway (part of national route 79/state route B79)
• Snowy Mountains Highway (national route 18/state route B72)
• Sturt Highway (national route 20)
• Summerland Way (state route 91)
• Sydney-Newcastle Freeway (part of national route 1)
• Thunderbolts Way
• Waterfall Way (state route 78)
• Wombeyan Caves Road (main road 258)

See also: Highways in Australia for highways in other states