Length:

498 km (Yass to Coolac: 76 km)

Termini:

Northern: Narellan Rd (Metroad 9 and SR69), Campbelltown

Southern: NSW-VIC Border, Albury

Miscellaneous:

Continued as M31 in Victoria

Suburbs, Towns & Localities Along Route:

Bowning, Bookham, Berremangra and Jugiong

Former: 31 31

General Information:

The Hume Highway is one of Australia's most vital highway links. Providing access between Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's 2 largest cities. The route consisted of 100% dual carriageway road, either rural expressway or motorway standard.

In NSW, the highway in one form or another started life as the Great South Road, linking Sydney with the southern highlands and eventually beyond. The highway was named in 1928 after Hamilton Hume (1797-1873), a famous explorer in the early 19th century who, in 1824, in conjunction with William Hovell first found an overland route between Sydney and the infant colonial outpost of Port Phillip, the original name of Melbourne.

National Highway 31 was the main freight and commuter route between Sydney and Melbourne and has gone through a massive amount of transformation over the past 30 or so years, with many towns being bypassed along its route as well and gradual upgrades to motorway standards. Since the 1960s, the road has either been duplicated, where alignments allow for it, and also large deviations have also been part of the upgrade process.

The route around the Mittagong area averages around 16 000 vehicles every day, in other sections the number drops off a little or closer to Sydney increases. ¹

The route forms the Remembrance Driveway which honours war veterans.

The Jugiong Bypass, features 13 km of dual carriageways.

1914: Sydney-Melbourne road (Great South Road) is declared a main road.

1928: Sections of Great South Road renamed to Hume Highway.

1939: 95% (557 km) of the Hume Highway paved with a bituminous surface. ³

1950s: In 1952, a group of citizens met and formed a committee under Lt-General Sir Frank Berryman to create a national memorial to servicemen by using trees and shrubs as living memorials. The NSW Premier, J J Cahill, officially launched the scheme on 9 December 1953. The Remembrance Driveway project as it was called started on 5 February 1954, when trees were planted at either end of the Driveway at the War Memorial, Canberra, and in Macquarie Place, Sydney, by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. By June 1959, 10 000 trees had been planted. Since then, planting of trees in avenues or groves has continued. When the M5 Motorway replaced the Hume Highway (and also Camden Valley Way) south of Liverpool, it became the focus for planting trees and shrubs in remembrance. ²

1979: The area south of Connors Creek near Bookham was rebuilt with the earthworks being done for a second carriageway, which was built in 1994.

1983: The highway between Conroys Gap and Coolac, had most of the earlier alignment replaced.²

1994: Most of the highway route between Breadalbane, west of Goulburn, and Derringullen Creek, west of Yass, was deviated. This included a bypassing of the Cullerin Range.

2013: National Highway 31 decommissioned.

This page concentrates on the former alignment between Yass and Coolac

Yass to Coolac

Jugiong Creek:

1965 bridge over Jugiong Creek at Berremangra, December 2024.

Image © Paul Rands

Bridge Plaque:

Plaque showing build date on the bridge over Jugiong Creek at Berremangra, December 2024.

Image © Paul Rands

Coolac to Yass

Former Hume Highway Alignment:

Old Hume Highway pavement with current southbound carriageway on the left, just north of the Jugiong town centre, December 2024.

Image © Paul Rands