New South Wales Road Photo Gallery: National Route 1 (Pacific Highway) (Karuah Bypass Construction)

New South Wales

Photo Gallery

New South Wales Road Photo Gallery:
National Route 1 (Pacific Highway) (Karuah Bypass Construction)

The Pacific Highway, one of Australia’s busiest and most important road links, passes through the heart of residential, farming and retail areas of many towns along the New South Wales coast between Hexham, northwest of the industrial city of Newcastle, to the NSW-QLD Border at Tweed Heads, about 90 minutes south of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland.

The route's southern terminus is located at the junction of the Pacific Highway (SR111) and the New England Highway (NH1) at Hexham, 16 km northwest of Newcastle, which is north of Sydney. The northern terminus is at the New South Wales / Queensland border, just west of the town centre of Tweed Heads. The route itself is a mix of freeway, arterial and rural highway standards. The highway has been progressively upgraded over the years, however since the late 1980s, an accelerated upgrade program has been undertaken. Despite the acceleration program, only approximately 40% of the highway is of dual carriageway.

This section concentrates solely on the construction works of the Karuah Bypass. The photos were taken on an authorised group visit on May 22nd, 2004. The bypass itself opened on 19 September 2004.

Before its opening, at peak travel periods, such as school holidays, the township of Karuah often became a bottleneck, as many motorists made their way to the north coast.

Development and planning took four years to complete, and construction commenced in June 2002 with a cost of $117 million. The route consists of almost 10km of dual carriageway some 3km upstream of the Karuah township and features:

Interchanges at the western and eastern ends to provide access to and from the Karuah township.
The bypass has two northbound and two southbound lanes.
It is designed to allow vehicles to travel at 110km/h.
To reduce the impact on local fauna, 32 fauna underpasses and overpasses were built.

Length (NR1):	679 km
Length (Karuah Bypass):	10 km
Internal RTA Classification:	State Highway 10
Route Number:
Forthcoming Alphanumeric:
Information courtesy of the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority

Southern Overpass
Looking at the overpass that connects the southern end of Karuah to the by-pass. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Paving Machine on Karuah By-Pass
These paving machines are both roll and vibrate to give an even smoother road surface. This is on the Southbound (Sydney) carriageway before the Horse Island Southern bridge on the Karuah By-pass. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Northbound on the by-pass
Northbound on the Karuah By-Pass. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Karuah By-Pass South
This is Southern section of the new Pacific Highway at Karuah under construction. Taken about 500 metres North of the Swan Bay Road overpass. On the left you can see the chainmail wildlife fencing, plus posts for the wire rope safety fence. Deviations in the safety fence posts indicate breakdown bays. Lane setup is 2 lanes with a 2 metre left shoulder, 2 3.5 metre wide lanes, then a 1 metre shoulder on the right of each carriageway.

Image © Paul Rands

Karuah By-Pass Concrete Plant
Shows the concrete plant used during the Karuah By-Pass construction. This is taken just before the bridge to Horse Island. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Karuah By-Pass Concrete Plant
Shows the concrete plant used during the Karuah By-Pass construction.

This is taken just before the bridge to Horse Island.. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Typical Cutting
Typical southern end of by-pass rock cutting. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Karuah River from Horse Island Bridge
Looking east towards Karuah from the bridges. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Town of Karuah from By-Pass
This is the town of Karuah from the Northern Horse Island Bridge. When the Karuah By-pass opens, only high vehicles will see this view. In the photo you can see the original Pacific Highway bridge built in the 1950s. It's quite narrow and is located at the end of a hard sweeping bend on the Northern end of it. The bridge replaced a punt that used to take traffic over the river. Horse Island used to be and island where locals kept horses in the early 20th century.

Image © Paul Rands

Karuah By-Pass Bridge
Looking north over the Karuah River Bridge. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Karuah By-Pass Bridge
Looking north over the Karuah River Bridge. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Bridge Join
Now covered by jersey barriers, this was the gap between each of the bridge carriageways. May 2004.

Image © Paul Rands

Jersey Barrier Construction
Image shows machine used for making jersery barriers, this particular view is on the bridge over the Karuah River. May 2004.

Construction Crane
Crane used on the northern shore of the Karuah River to contruct various parts of the roadway. May 2004.

Nortbound on Karuah By-Pass
North shore of the Karuah River showing the by-pass as it heads north to join the exiting highway. May 2004.

Karuah Bypass Bridge Separation
Shows gap between the bridges as they cross the river. May 2004.

Inside the bridge
Inside the carriageway of the southbound bridge on the Karuah By-Pass. May 2004.

Horse Island Bridge (North) Karuah By-Pass
This is the Northern Horse Island bridge over the Karuah River and wetlands under construction in 2004 on the Karuah By-Pass.

View of bridge at base
Looking up from Horse Island to the Karuah By-Pass. May 2004.

Northbound View of bridge
Looking up from Horse Island to the Karuah By-Pass. May 2004.