Stuart Highway

Stuart Highway
General information
Type
Length	2,834 km (1,761 mi)
Opened	1860
Route number(s)	Darwin - Daly Waters: 1 Daly Waters - NT/SA. Border: 87 NT/SA. Border - Port Augusta: A87 Formerly
	Arnhem Highway Kakadu Highway Victoria Highway Roper Highway Carpentaria Highway Buchanan Highway Barkly Highway Sandover Highway Plenty Highway Tanami Road Lasseter Highway File:Australian Alphanumeric State Route D95.png Oodnadatta Track Anne Beadell Highway
Location(s)
via	Katherine, Daly Waters, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy

The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. The highway is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 that extends from north to south from Darwin, Northern Territory to Port Augusta, South Australia via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs a distance of 2,834km. The highway runs through the interior of mainland Australia and thus takes a quite lengthy route. The highway is often referred to simply as The Track.

The highway is named after John McDouall Stuart, who was the first European to cross Australia from south to north. The highway generally follows the route that John McDouall Stuart took to get from north to south.

Route

Stuart Highway intersection in Berrimah, Northern Territory

Stuart Highway at Stuart Park, Northern Territory

The highway passes through the Woomera Prohibited Area

Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory section of the Stuart Highway starts from the edge of the Darwin Central Business District at Daly Street and continues as a dual-carriageway to the Arnhem Highway in Howard Springs. The highway continues 317 kilometres (197 mi) south passing the Kakadu Highway to the Victoria Highway at Katherine. The route number changes from National 1 to National 87. The highway then continues 673 kilometres (418 mi) south passing the Roper Highway, the Carpentaria Highway and the Buchanan Highway to the Barkly Highway at Tennant Creek. The highway continues 508 kilometres (316 mi) south into Alice Springs passing the Plenty Highway. It passes through the Macdonnell Ranges and finally crosses the South Australia/Northern Territory border south of Kulgera. The highway was only fully sealed in the mid-1980s as part of Australia's bicentenary roadworks programme. There are no police patrolling the majority of this remote highway and until the end of 2006 there was no speed limit outside towns and other built-up areas on the Northern Territory part. The bulk of the Northern Territory's population not living in Darwin lies along its track.

South Australia

At the Northern Territory/South Australia border the route number changes from National 87 to National A 87. The Stuart Highway passes through the Far North region and continues to Adelaide, but its proper routing is from Port Augusta. The highway passes through the Woomera Prohibited Area where travellers may not leave the road. The highway continues south-east towards Adelaide.

There is petrol and other facilities (meals, toilets etc) available at reasonable intervals (usually around 200 km (120 mi)) and more frequent rest stops. Some of the rest stops are located at scenic points with information boards, but others are little more than a picnic table and a rubbish bin in the middle of nowhere.

Speed limits

There was no absolute speed limit in the Northern Territory before 1 January 2007 but maximum speed limits are now posted on some road sections. Drivers, previously, were simply required to drive at a safe speed to suit the conditions. Thus, the Northern Territory section of the Stuart Highway had no speed limits at all. The Northern Territory traffic laws were updated from 1 January 2007 to be similar to the rest of Australia. This included placing a speed limit on all roads (130 km/h (81 mph)) on major highways such as the Stuart Highway) and significantly increasing penalties for speeding.

The South Australian Section is signposted as 110 km/h outside built-up regions, between Port Augusta and the Northern Territory border.

Cannonball Run

In 1994 the first and only Cannonball Run in Australia ran from Darwin to Yulara and back again. Based on similar events in the United States, this event ended in tragedy when an out of control Ferrari F40 crashed into a checkpoint south of Alice Springs, resulting in the death of four people including the occupants. The remainder of the race had to have a 150 km/h (93 mph) speed limit imposed to prevent further accidents, and then had regular traffic overtake the competitors.

Flying Doctors

The Royal Flying Doctor Service uses the highway as an emergency landing strip and sections of the highway are signed to that effect. These sections of highway have been specially selected and prepared for the landing of aircraft which only takes place after the piece of road has been closed by the police.

Disappearance

Stuart Highway

The highway became the centre of media attention during 2001 after the disappearance and suspected murder of English tourist, Peter Falconio while travelling on the road.

World Solar Challenge

Stuart Highway is the highway taken in the World Solar Challenge.

See also

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in Northern Territory
• List of highways in South Australia

External links

• Driving Guide by Roderick Eime
• Explorers Way Drive from Adelaide to Darwin