South Eastern Freeway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the South Australian freeway. For the Victorian freeway formerly of the same name, see Monash Freeway.
| South Eastern Freeway | |
 |
|
| Length | 66 kilometres |
| General direction: | West-East |
| From: | Crafers, South Australia |
| To: | Murray Bridge, South Australia |
| Towns along freeway: | Bridgewater, Mt. Barker, Hahndorf, Callington |
The South Eastern Freeway is a freeway in South Australia linking Adelaide to the Princes Highway near Murray Bridge. It is a part of the National Highway network linking Adelaide to Melbourne. It is signed as National Highway M1. As the first freeway in South Australia — and still the longest — it is frequently referred to by South Australians simply as "The Freeway".
The Freeway bypasses many towns previously along the Princes Highway including
- Murray Bridge
- Monarto
- Callington
- Kanmantoo
- Nairne
- Littlehampton
- Mount Barker
- Hahndorf
- Verdun
- Bridgewater
- Aldgate
- Stirling
- Crafers
Prior to the construction of the freeway, all inbound and outbound road traffic to south-eastern South Australia and to Victoria had to travel on a two-lane highway originally built in the early part of the 20th century. This included the small townships noted above, including the semi-urban townships of Aldgate, Stirling, Crafers and Bridgewater. As Adelaide grew, this volume became substantial and generated issues of congestion and safety.
Studies began in 1962 for a freeway commencing from Crafers, that endpoint selected arguably due to the massive expenditure required to upgrade the recently-upgraded Mount Barker Road to comply with national freeway standards. Construction of the South Eastern Freeway began in 1965 with the first section commencing at Crafers, being opened to eastbound traffic in 1967. The westbound section was opened in 1969, shortly after the freeway was officially opened.
The freeway now flows directly into the Adelaide-Crafers Highway through the Heysen tunnels (bypassing Eagle on the hill), leading to Glen Osmond on the outskirts of the city.
The southeastern end of the freeway terminates near Murray Bridge, at the Swanport Bridge, a two-lane 1km long bridge over the River Murray, where it joins the Princes Highway, a dual-carriageway highway to Tailem Bend. At this point Highway 1 becomes a two-laned, two-way scenic route which passes the coastal towns of South Australia and Victoria.
The National Highway continues to Melbourne as the Dukes Highway (A8) from Tailem Bend to the Victorian border and beyond as Western Highway.
