Grand Junction Road, Adelaide

Port Road

Grand Junction Road is the longest east-west thoroughfare in the Adelaide metropolitan area, and is located approximately 9 kilometres north of the city centre.^[1] Travelling from the Port Adelaide region, it is mostly a double lane sealed road (becoming a single lane road past Tolley Road intersection at Hope Valley, South Australia) running 21 kilometres to the base of the Adelaide Hills. The western terminus is at the intersection of Old Port Road, 300 metres east of a causeway, which separates the Port River from West Lakes. The 2.4 kilometre section of road that continues west of Old Port Road to Semaphore South is named Bower Road. The eastern terminus of Grand Junction Road is in the suburb of Hope Valley, at the intersection of Hancock Road and Lower North East Road, just before the latter proceeds into the Adelaide Hills, past Anstey Hill Recreation Park and on towards the towns of Houghton and Inglewood.

The road was originally known as Junction Road, acquiring its current name from a small settlement that contained a school and an inn and was known as the Grand Junction from at least 1850. The settlement lay at the intersection of the main roads to Adelaide, Port Adelaide and the northern towns of the Adelaide plains.^[2]

Major intersections

There are a number of major intersections along Grand Junction Road, the largest being the original Grand Junction at Gepps Cross, where Main North Road and Port Wakefield Road meet at a five way crossing. Main North Road joins from the south and continues on to the north-east, towards Parafield, Elizabeth and Gawler, while Port Wakefield Road begins at this location, travelling due north to the northern Adelaide Plains and 90 kilometres to the town of Port Wakefield.

• Begin at junction with Lower North East Road : Vista
  • North East Road : Holden Hill
  • Hampstead Road / Briens Road: Northfield - Route Changed to
  • Port Wakefield Road / Main North Road  : Gepps Cross
  • Cavan Road : Kilburn
  • South Road  : Regency Park - Route Changed to
  • Hanson Road: Mansfield Park - Northbound to
  • Port Road : Alberton
  • Terminates at intersection with Old Port Road: Queenstown
• Continues as Bower Road.

The road is also officially part of the National Highway system, and therefore attracts a shield and federal funding. The National Highway runs south (from Port Augusta) off the Salisbury Highway/South Road connector intersection, heads east along Grand Junction Road through Gepps Cross (where it meets another National Highway, Main North Road (A20), north-east to Sydney), to the Hampstead Road intersection a few kilometres away where it turns south (to Melbourne). Grand Junction Road continues on without the National shield.

Railway crossings

Due to the configuration of the Adelaide railway system north of the CBD, there are a number of current and former railway crossings over Grand Junction Road. These include:

• The bridge over the Adelaide to Outer Harbor railway line at Alberton
• A level crossing over the Dry Creek to Port Adelaide railway line, at Rosewater
• A dismantled level crossing in the proximity of Glenroy Street and Eastern Parade, at Pennington and Ottoway (On the former Finsbury railway line)
• The bridge over the Adelaide to Gawler and ARTC Mainline to Port Augusta at Kilburn and Wingfield
• The Adelaide O-Bahn underpass at Holden Hill (Dedicated Busway)

Educational institutions

Adjoining institutions

A number of schools and other education institutions front on to Grand Junction Road. These include:

• Enfield High School at Enfield
• Gepps Cross Girls School, Gepps Cross
• St. Pauls College, Gilles Plains
• Tauondi College at Port Adelaide, opposite Alberton
• Torrens Valley Christian School at Hope Valley

Non-adjoining institutions

There are also schools which are located within a few streets of Grand Junction Road, in adjacent suburbs:

• Cedar College on Fosters Road, Northgate
• Gepps Cross Special School and Gepps Cross Primary School, both in the suburb of Blair Athol
• Heritage College, Oakden
• Kilburn Primary School, Kilburn
• Mansfield Park Primary School, Mansfield Park
• Modbury High School, Modbury
• Modbury Primary School, Hope Valley
• Northfield Primary School, Northfield
• Pennington Primary School, Pennington
• Mount Carmel College, Rosewater
• Torrens Valley TAFE and Wandana Primary School, both in Gilles Plains

It also passes Yatala Labour Prison, the Adelaide Pre-Release Centre and the Adelaide Women's Prison at Northfield.

Gallery

References