South Eastern Freeway

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This article is about the South Australian freeway. For the Victorian freeway formerly of the same name, see Monash Freeway.

Driving to Murray Bridge on South Eastern Freeway

South Eastern Freeway on a foggy day

The South Eastern Freeway is a freeway in South Australia linking Adelaide to the Princes Highway near Murray Bridge. It is a part of the National Highway network linking Adelaide to Melbourne. It is signed as National Highway M1. As the first freeway in South Australia — and still the longest — it is frequently referred to by South Australians simply as "The Freeway".

The Freeway bypasses many towns previously along the Princes Highway including

Prior to the construction of the freeway, all inbound and outbound road traffic to south-eastern South Australia and to Victoria had to travel on a two-lane highway originally built in the early part of the 20th century. This included the small townships noted above, including the semi-urban townships of Aldgate, Stirling, Crafers and Bridgewater. As Adelaide grew, this volume became substantial and generated issues of congestion and safety.

Studies began in 1962 for a freeway commencing from Crafers, that endpoint selected arguably due to the massive expenditure required to upgrade the recently-upgraded Mount Barker Road to comply with national freeway standards. Construction of the South Eastern Freeway began in 1965 with the first section commencing at Crafers, being opened to eastbound traffic in 1967. The westbound section was opened in 1969, shortly after the freeway was officially opened.

The freeway now flows directly into the Adelaide-Crafers Highway through the Heysen tunnels (bypassing Eagle on the hill), leading to Glen Osmond on the ouskirts of the city.

The southeastern end of the freeway terminates near Murray Bridge, at the Swanport Bridge, a two-lane 1km long bridge over the River Murray, where it joins the Princes Highway, a dual-carriageway highway to Tailem Bend. At this point Highway 1 becomes a two-laned, two-way scenic route which passes the coastal towns of South Australia and Victoria.

The National Highway continues to Melbourne as the Dukes Highway (A8) from Tailem Bend to the Victorian border and beyond as Western Highway.

The freeway originally commenced east of Eagle On The Hill, a well-known Adelaide landmark township consisting of a lookout, hotel and three petrol stations. The remaining portion of the link to metropolitain Adelaide, known as Mount Barker Road, had not been upgraded. Although a dual carriageway, its alignment followed the original Mount Barker Road, constructed in the early 1960s. This 5km section comprised hairpins, switchbacks and the notorious "Devil's Elbow" which resulted in countless overturned semi-trailers. This section of road was a blight on the freeway itself; the freeway commenced several kilometres from the city and the arterial roads leading to the freeway were a constant cause of congestion and accidents.

Several proposals to upgrade Mount Barker Road to freeway status were developed in the 1980s, but funding difficulties saw these shelved. The most favoured proposal was resurrected in 1995; funding was obtained and construction of the Adelaide-Crafers Freeway commenced in 1997. The Heysen Tunnels, named after well-known South Australian artist and benefactor Hans Heysen, were completed in 1998 and bypass the steep, twisty gradient of Mount Barker Road. The freeway extension project was a substantial undertaking for a relatively small city and State, given the extensive bypass and temporary roadworks that were required, as the upgraded freeway replaced large sections of the existing Mount Barker Road.

Road safety

Shortly after the Adelaide-Crafers Freeway opened, several incidents involving semi-trailers drew media attention to the road: particularly after a high-profile media identity was involved in a near-fatal accident with a semi-trailer. The previous Mount Barker Road was a notorious stretch but its dangers were well known; the new freeway appeared to be much safer, and indeed was - except for the major disadvantage of its constant gradient. Heavy vehicles with inadequate braking found it hard to slow down once they had exceeded a certain speed, due to the lack of varying gradients. It took some time, and the addition of several warning signs prior to the descent, for heavy vehicles to become familiar with the freeway's characteristics. To this day, semi-trailers can been seen travelling as slow as 60km/h on the down track. In 2005 changeable electronic road signs were installed every 200 metres, so that the speed limit of the road can be adjusted from Transport SA headquarters in Adelaide. This has both improved safety for commuters, and emergency service workers like the Country Fire Service.

A proposal to move a series of small huts containing road signs and traffic cones from the old Eagle on the Hill road to the new highway is being considered. As of March 2006 the fire services are being responded to motor vehicle accidents on the highway an average of once every ten days, although many more minor accidents do occur.

Presently, the freeway begins only 4km from the CBD and provides an efficient way of travelling to the Adelaide Hills and Murraylands regions.

South Eastern Freeway

Road safety

See also