Kings Highway (Australia)

Kings Highway Australian Capital Territory – New South Wales
Location Kings Hwy.svg
General information
Type	Highway
Length	141 km (88 mi)
Opened	1974
Route number(s)	x20px B52
Former route number	National Route 52 (1974 - 2013)
Major junctions
West end	Monaro Highway (B23), Fyshwick, Australian Capital Territory
	for full list see major intersections
East end	x20px Princes Highway (A1), Batemans Bay, New South Wales
Location(s)
Major settlements	Bungendore, Braidwood, Nelligen
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Road infrastructure in Canberra Highways in New South Wales

The Kings Highway is a state highway located within the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, Australia. The highway connects Canberra and Batemans Bay.

Route

West to east, it starts at the junction with the Monaro Highway on Canberra Avenue in the Australian Capital Territory crossing over the border into New South Wales near Queanbeyan, passing through Queanbeyan itself, Carwoola, briefly crossing back into the Kowen district of ACT and then back into NSW heading south-east to Batemans Bay via Bungendore, Braidwood and Nelligen.

It is signed as route B52. The Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW has come to an informal agreement with councils along the route to sign the entire route as Kings Highway, despite it having no single declared name along its route. The National Route 52 was established in 1974.

The Kings Highway links Highway 1 (known as the Princes Highway) to Canberra, and provides access for residents of Canberra to the NSW South Coast and its beaches. The highway is often busy on weekends, especially during summer. The highway also experiences a high number of car accidents, on occasions averaging around one every three days, costing the local community around the highway several million dollars a year.

The landscape is generally sheep country. The highway travels from the Southern Tablelands to the South Coast via Clyde Mountain.

Notable features and landmarks

A small rock cave at "Pooh Bear's Corner" can be found near the top of the Clyde Mountain pass. This was the location of a munitions store during the Second World War that could be detonated to stop passage from the coast to the national capital inland. Dozens of soft toys are placed in the eucalyptus trees along the stretch of road that connects Queanbeyan and Bungendore. These soft toys were placed there to mark the way to the ACT Nudist Club grounds, following repeated vandalisation and theft of signage.

History

The road through the Clyde Mountain area was surveyed by Thomas Mitchell in 1855.

A punt service across the Clyde River was begun at Nelligen in 1895 linking Batemans Bay to Braidwood. The service continued until 1964 when the Nelligen bridge was completed .

In 2006 construction commenced on Headquarters Joint Operations Command in the Kowen district of the ACT between Bungendore and Queanbeyan. The facility opened in December 2008, and sections of the highway between the HQJOC turnoff and Queanbeyan have progressively been upgraded to cater for the increased traffic.

Road usage

In 2003, approximately 3,000 vehicles a day were using the highway at Nelligen. From Braidwood (at the Shoalhaven River Bridge) there were about 4,200 cars travelling on the road. Out of Bungendore near Burbong, 5,600 cars were counted each day.

Casualty crash rates on the Kings Highway are 85% higher than the NSW average and road fatalities are 8% higher. A 2005 NRMA Motoring and Services road survey found:

• The rate of people hospitalised after crashes on the Kings Highway is well over the national average. 877 crashes were recorded on Kings Highway over a 10-year period, an average of about one crash every four days. Over this time there have been 24 fatal crashes, 355 crashes resulting in injury and 488 crashes resulting in property damage. The rate was worse than this in 2004, when there were 103 crashes resulting in six fatalities and 53 injuries.
• Crashes on the Kings Highway have cost A$42.65 million over the past three years – that’s equivalent to nearly A$39,000 every day.
• Safety: particular concerns over Clyde Mountain, and only 5% of road deemed to provide "safe" overtaking opportunities. Two blackspots (one in Eurobodalla and one in Palerang) and sixteen blacklengths (nine in Eurobodalla, six in Palerang and one in Queanbeyan City) were identified. The 40 kilometres (25 mi) section of road over the Great Dividing Range – which includes Clyde Mountain – recorded the highest number of crashes, with 22% of all incidents occurring in this area.
• The most common type of crash – 18% of all incidents – was when a vehicle leaves the road to the left on a right hand bend and crashes into a stationary object. Head-on collisions made up one in 10 of all crashes. Crashes occurred most frequently on Sundays (20%) and least frequently on Tuesdays (9%).

Major intersections and towns

Kings Highway 40px
Westbound	Distance to Canberra (km)	Distance to Batemans Bay (km)	Eastbound
End Kings Highway (Canberra Avenue) 30px continues as 'Canberra Avenue to Canberra City Centre / Belconnen / Yass	7.5	141.5	Start Kings Highway (Canberra Avenue) 30px from Canberra Avenue
To Ipswich Street
Tuggeranong, Cooma Monaro Highway
To Gungahlin, Goulburn, Sydney; Fyshwick Newcastle Street Woden, Tuggeranong Hindmarsh Drive	9	140	Fyshwick Newcastle Street Woden, Tuggeranong Hindmarsh Drive
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY STATE BORDER NEW SOUTH WALES
QUEANBEYAN-BOMBALA RAIL LINE	12	137	QUEANBEYAN-BOMBALA RAIL LINE
To 30px Cooma, Bombala Lanyon Drive	13.5	135.5	To 30px Cooma, Bombala Lanyon Drive
Queanbeyan	15.5	133.5	Queanbeyan
Sutton Yass Road	16.5	132.5	Sutton Yass Road
Captains Flat Captains Flat Road	19.5	129.5	Captains Flat Captains Flat Road
CANBERRA-SYDNEY RAIL LINE	25	124	CANBERRA-SYDNEY RAIL LINE
NEW SOUTH WALES STATE BORDER AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY STATE BORDER NEW SOUTH WALES
Tarago, Goulburn Tarago Road	40.5	108.5	Tarago, Goulburn Tarago Road
Bungendore	41	108	Bungendore
CANBERRA-SYDNEY RAIL LINE	41.2	107.8	CANBERRA-SYDNEY RAIL LINE
Tarago, Goulburn Braidwood Road	62	87	Tarago, Goulburn Braidwood Road
Nerriga, Nowra Nerriga Road	88	61	Nerriga, Nowra Nerriga Road
Braidwood	89	60	Braidwood
Nelligen	140	9	Nelligen
Start Kings Highway 30px	148	1	End Kings Highway 30px
Roundabout (clockwise from highway) Princes Highway x20px to Ulladulla, Nowra and Sydney Peninsula Drive Princes Highway x20px to Batemans Bay, Moruya and Bega

Gallery

The Kings Highway road bridge (right) at the location of the former punt service across the Clyde River at Nelligen, NSW.

• 

  Warri Bridge, which crosses the Shoalhaven River near Braidwood.

• Wallace Street Braidwood Feb 2013.jpg

  The Kings Highway at Braidwood.

• 

  Horse teams carting goods from the ship at Nellingen to Braidwood, crossing Currajong Creek, about 1902.

• 

  Climbing Clyde Mountain from the coast to Braidwood.

• Pooh's Corner 1.jpg

  Pooh's Corner.

• HumehwyNSW.JPG

  Kings Highway (formerly called Kings Way), National Route 52, links Canberrans to the coast.

See also

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in New South Wales