At its southern end the New England Highway connects to the Pacific Highway and at its northern end it connects to the D'Aguilar Highway. It traverses the Hunter Valley, New England, and the Southern and Darling Downs regions. During the winter months, some parts of the New England Highway are subject to frost and snowfall, with the 350 km section from the Moonbi Ranges to Stanthorpe located at high altitudes.
Traffic volume
In 2013-14, the New England Highway and Cunningham Highway combined had an average annual daily traffic count of just over 13,000 vehicles, which is approximately half that seen on the coastal route. Heavy vehicles account for approximately 13% of the traffic seen on the route.
The New England Highway has its origins in the track which developed north from Newcastle to reach the prime wool growing areas of the New England region which Europeans settled following expeditions by NSW Surveyor-GeneralJohn Oxley in 1818 and botanist Allan Cunningham in 1827 and 1829. The rough track, navigable only by horse or bullock dray, crossed the Liverpool Range, went through Tamworth and ended at Tenterfield. The track became known as the Great Northern Road. During the 1860s, several robberies occurred along the road, with infamous bushrangerCaptain Thunderbolt known to be active in the area. When the NSW main road system was reorganised in August 1928, the Great Northern Road was gazetted as part of state highway 9 and renamed the Great Northern Highway. At proclamation, the Great Northern Highway was described as stretching from North Sydney to the Queensland border at Mount Lindesay, via Newcastle, Maitland, Tamworth, Armidale, Tenterfield and Woodenbong. The route became known as the New England Highway in early-1933 by combining the Great Northern Highway and the Brisbane-Mount Lindesay-Warwick Highway into a single uniformly-named road from Hexham to Brisbane. In 1936 the road was described by contemporary observers as being in good condition, with spectacular scenery and excellent accommodation en route. In 1954 the New England Highway was re-routed through Warwick along the route that was then known as the Lockyer-Darling Downs Highway. Against the wishes of the Beaudesert Shire Council and the Woodenbong Chamber of Commerce, the former New England Highway through Beaudesert was renamed the Mount Lindesay Highway. In the 1970s, the Queensland Main Roads Department rerouted the designation of the New England Highway north of Warwick to follow the former Lockyer-Darling Downs Highway so that it terminated in Toowoomba. The section of the highway between Brisbane and Warwick was renamed as part of the Cunningham Highway, which until that time had extended only westward from Warwick to Goondiwindi. between Branxton and Singleton at the intersection of New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way, Uralla, NSW|alt=Statue of Captain Thunderbolt at the intersection of New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way, Uralla, NSW
Highway improvements
As of October 2018, completed, current or proposed improvements on the New England Highway include:
