Olympic Highway

Olympic Highway New South Wales
Advance directional sign in Wagga Wagga, on the Olympic Highway heading south from Cootamundra
Map of south-eastern Australia with Olympic Highway highlighted in green
General information
Type	Highway
Length	318 km (198 mi)
Route number(s)	A41 (2013-present)
Former route number	National Route 41 (1974-2013)
Major junctions
Northeast end	Mid-Western Highway Cowra, New South Wales
	Burley Griffin Way Goldfields Way Sturt Highway
Southwest end	Hume Highway Table Top, New South Wales
Location(s)
Major settlements	Young, Cootamundra, Wagga Wagga, Culcairn
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales

The Olympic Highway is a rural road in the central western and south-eastern Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. The 318-kilometre (198 mi) highway services rural communities and links the Hume Highway with the Mid-Western Highway and provides part of an alternate road link between Sydney and Albury via Bathurst and Cowra as well as servicing Wagga Wagga, linking with the Sturt Highway.^[1]

Initially a series of trunk routes, the road was named the Olympic Way on 5 July 1963, in honour of part of the path that the Olympic Torch took on its journey from Cowra to Albury for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. It was renamed as the Olympic Highway in 1996,^[1] and the route between Wagga Wagga and Cowra was used for torch relay for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Despite its name, the road is not an official highway as classified by NSW Roads & Maritime Services, yet considered a rural road.^[2]

The Olympic Highway carries the A41 shield for its entire length, the majority of which is a single carriageway and also includes wider sections within urban areas and some passing lanes. Where the road passes through suburban areas it accommodates both parking and pedestrian needs of the town shopping centre and highway through traffic. A 2-kilometre (1.2 mi) section of the highway through Wagga Wagga is a four-lane divided urban road where the highway is concurrent with the Sturt Highway.^[2]

Route[]

The highway runs generally north–south, roughly aligned to sections of the Sydney–Melbourne and the Blayney–Demondrille railway lines. The Olympic Highway approximately parallels the Hume Highway to the east and the Newell Highway to the west. The Olympic shares a short concurrency with the Sturt Highway in Wagga Wagga.^[2]

At its northern terminus in Cowra, the Olympic Highway adjoins the Mid-Western Highway that, from the northeast carries the A41 shield from Bathurst and, from the west carries the State Route B64 shield to Grenfell; and the Lachlan Valley Way that generally runs northwest–southwest between Forbes and Boorowa and beyond. The Olympic Highway heads generally south by west through Koorawatha, Young, Cootamundra, Junee, Wagga Wagga, and Culcairn towards its southern terminus via a trumpet interchange with the Hume Highway located 18 kilometres (11 mi) north of Albury at Table Top.^[1][2][3]

The only major river crossing is the Murrumbidgee River, crossed between Boorooma and Wagga via the Gobbagombalin Bridge, at 1.4 kilometres (0.87 mi) long believed to be the longest continuous-span viaduct in New South Wales, situated about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) northwest of the Wagga CBD and opened on 26 July 1997.^[4] Prior to the completion of the "Gobba" Bridge, the Olympic Highway followed a route that took it through the Wagga central business district via the Hampden Bridge, a wooden Allan Truss bridge that was opened in 1895 and eventually demolished in 2014.^[5]

Major intersections[]

LGA	Location	km[6]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Cowra	Cowra	0	0.0	Mid-Western Highway (A41 east / B64 west) – Grenfell, Forbes, Bathurst, Canowindra	Northern highway terminus, route A41 continues east along Mid-Western Highway
Hilltops	Koorawatha	25.6	15.9	Greenethorpe–Koorawatha Road (west) / Prince Street (south) – Greenethorpe
	Young	67.3	41.8	Iandra Avenue (Henry Lawson Way) – Grenfell, Forbes
		69.1	42.9	Lovell Street, to Murringo Road (east) / Boorowa Street (west) – Murringo, Boorowa	Roundabout
	Wombat	83.4	51.8	Harden–Wombat Road – Murrumburrah, Harden
Cootamundra-Gundagai	Wallendbeen	91.1	56.6	Burley Griffin Way (B94) – Harden, Yass, Temora, Griffith	Roundabout
Junee	Junee	171	106	Wantabadgery Road – Gundagai
		171.1	106.3	Broadway Street, to Junee–Coolamon Road – Coolamon, Temora	Roundabout
		172	107	Kemp Street, to Junee–Harefield Road – Harefield
	Old Junee	179	111	Goldfields Way (B85) – Temora, West Wyalong
Wagga Wagga	Wagga Wagga	206	128	Coolamon Road – Coolamon, Ardlethan	Roundabout
Murrumbidgee River		211	131	Gobbagombalin Bridge
Wagga Wagga	Wagga Wagga	213	132	Sturt Highway (A20 east) – Gundagai	Route A20 eastern concurrency terminus
		215	134	Sturt Highway (A20 west) – Narrandera	Route A20 western concurrency terminus
Lockhart	The Rock	241	150	Urana Street – Lockhart, Collingullie, Mangoplah
Greater Hume	Culcairn	288	179	Balfour Street east to Culcairn–Holbrook Road / Mellville Street south – Holbrook
		288.1	179.0	Balfour Street (west, to Culcairn Road) / Railway Parade (north) – Walbundrie	Roundabout
Gerogery		307	191	Main Street, to Gerogery Road – Jindera, Burrumbuttock
Albury	Table Top	318	198	Hume Highway (M31) – Albury, Melbourne, Gundagai	Southern highway and route A41 terminus; trumpet interchange
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

Gallery[]

• 

  Olympic Highway, Route A41, links Albury to Cowra

• 

  Sturt and Olympic Highway Intersection at Wagga Wagga

See also[]

• Highways in Australia
• Highways in New South Wales

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Olympic Highway at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 34°52′12″S 147°32′40″E / 34.87000°S 147.54444°E / -34.87000; 147.54444