Mitchell Highway

Mitchell Highway Queensland – New South Wales
270px
A typical narrow width of the Mitchell Highway in the regional New South Wales village of Nevertire
Location Mitchell Hwy.svg
General information
Type	Highway
Length	1,105 km (687 mi)
Route number(s)	A71 / AltA2 (Augathella - Charleville) A71 (Charleville - Qld/NSW Border) x20px B71 (Qld/NSW Border - Nyngan) x20px A32 (Nyngan - Bathurst)
Former route number	National Route 71 National Route 32
Major junctions
North end	Landsborough Highway Augathella, Queensland
	Warrego Highway Balonne Highway x20px Kamilaroi Highway x20px Kidman Way x20px Barrier Highway Oxley Highway x20px Newell Highway x20px Golden Highway x20px Peabody Road Escort Way x20px Mid-Western Highway
South end	x20px Great Western Highway Bathurst, New South Wales
Location(s)
Major settlements	Charleville, Cunnamulla, Bourke, Nyngan, Narromine, Dubbo, Wellington, Orange
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Queensland Highways in New South Wales

The Mitchell Highway is a state highway located in the central and south western regions of Queensland and the northern and central western regions of New South Wales in Australia. The Mitchell Highway forms part of the National Highway A32 corridor, which stretches from Sydney to Adelaide via Dubbo and Broken Hill. The Mitchell Highway also forms part of the shortest route between Sydney and Darwin, via Bourke and Mount Isa; making it an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight for regional New South Wales and Queensland.

In New South Wales, the Mitchell Highway's south-eastern terminus is at its junction with the Great Western and Mid-Western highways, and it links with the Golden, Newell, Oxley, Barrier and Kamilaroi highways. In Queensland, the Mitchell links with the Balonne and Warrego highways and its northern terminates is at its junction with the Landsborough Highway.

Initially an amalgam of trunk routes, the 1,105-kilometre (687 mi) Mitchell Highway was proclaimed a state highway in New South Wales in 1928 and named as the North Western Highway. On 9 October 1936 the name was changed to the Mitchell Highway, in honour of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Thomas Mitchell, who was Surveyor-General of New South Wales in the 1820s and explored much of inland New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

The Mitchell Highway carries the A32 shield from its eastern terminus in Bathurst to Nyngan; thereafter carrying the B71 shield north to the New South Wales and Queensland border; the A71 shield to Charleville; and then to its northern terminus with the Landsborough Highway at Augathella, the Mitchell concurrently carries the A71 and Alt A2 shields.

Route

The Mitchell Highway lies west of the Great Dividing Range and in New South Wales runs generally northwest-southeast and in Queensland, runs generally north-south in the central western and southwest past of that state.

From its northern terminus at a junction with the Landsborough Highway near Augathella, the Mitchell Highway heads south, concurrently carrying both the A71 and Alt A2 shields and continues south through Charleville where the Warrego Highway heads east, carrying the Alt 2 shield. As the A71, the Mitchell continues south through Cunnamulla, forming a junction with the Balonne Highway, and then south to the state border between Queensland and New South Wales where its highway shield changes to B71.

Approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Bourke it crosses the Darling River before heading into Bourke where it forms junctions with the Kamilaroi Highway heading east and the Kidman Way heading south. From this point the highway generally heads southeast through Nyngan where it forms a junction with the Barrier Highway. From this points until its southern terminus, the Mitchell carries the National Highway A32 shield. At Nevertire the Mitchell forms a junction with the Oxley Highway, before passing through Narromine and then heads generally east to the major rural centre of Dubbo where it meets with the Newell Highway and connects to the Golden Highway before crossing the Macquarie River and heading south towards Wellington, again crossing the Macquarie River. At Molong the Mitchell generally starts to head east towards Orange – with an alternate route diverting many heavy vehicles away from the city centre. The portion of the Mitchell Highway that passes through Orange city centre is known as Summer Street. The Mitchell Highway's southeastern terminus is at a roundabout in Bathurst, at the junction of the Mid-Western Highway to Cowra and the Great Western Highway to Sydney via the Blue Mountains.

Major intersections

State	LGA	Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Queensland	Murweh	Augathella	0	0	Landsborough Highway (National Highway A2 northwest) – Barcaldine, Longreach, Cloncurry Landsborough Highway (National Highway A2 southeast) – Morven, Roma, Dalby, Toowoomba	Route northern terminus; Northern concurrency terminus
		Charleville	78	48	Warrego Highway (National Highway Alt A2 east) – Morven, Roma, Dalby, Toowoomba	Southern concurrency terminus
	Paroo	Cunnamulla	278	173	Bulloo Development Road (west) – Lake Bindegolly National Park
			282	175	Balonne Highway (State Route 49 east) – St George, Dalby
New South Wales	New South Wales – Queensland state border		397	247	New South Wales – Queensland state border	Northbound transition as Southbound transition as x20px
	Darling River		528	328	Gateway Bridge
	Bourke	Bourke	533	331	x20px Kamilaroi Highway (State Highway B76 east) – Brewarrina, Walgett, Narrabri, Gunnedah
			534	332	x20px Kidman Way (State Highway B87 south) – Cobar, Hillston, Griffith, Jerilderie
	Bogan	Nyngan	736	457	x20px Barrier Highway (National Highway A32 west) – Cobar, Wilcannia, Broken Hill, South Australia	North-westbound transition as x20px South-eastbound transition as x20px
		Nevertire	796	495	x20px Oxley Highway (State Highway B56 east) – Warren, Coonabarabran, Tamworth, Port Macquarie Nevertire-Bogan Road (west) – Tottenham, Tullamore
	Narromine	Narromine	863	536	Peak Hill Road (south) – Peak Hill, Parkes	Roundabout
	Dubbo	Dubbo	901	560	x20px Newell Highway (National Highway A39 north) – Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Moree, Goondawindi;  – connects at Dubbo to x20px Golden Highway (B84 east) – Dunedoo, Denman, Newcastle x20px Newell Highway (National Highway A39 south) – Parkes, West Wyalong, Narrandera, Finley, and then to Victoria	Roundabout
	Macquarie River		902	560	L H Ford Bridge
	Macquarie River		951	591	Bridge over the river (unknown name) at Wellington
	Cabonne	Molong	1,018	633	x20px Peabody Road (B81 south) – to the x20px Escort Way (B81 south) – Canowindra, Cowra
	Orange	Orange	1,049	652	Northern Distributor Road (northeast)	Alternate route to bypass Orange city centre; Roundabout
			1,052	654	Escort Way (west) – Eugowra, Forbes
			1,057	657	Northern Distributor Road (northwest)	Alternate route to bypass Orange city centre
	Bathurst	Bathurst	1,105	687	x20px Great Western Highway (National Highway A32 east) – Lithgow, Katoomba, Sydney x20px Mid-Western Highway (State Highway A41 southwest) – Cowra, West Wyalong, Hay	Route south-eastern terminus; Roundabout
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Route transition

See also

• Highways in Australia
• Highways in New South Wales
• List of highways in Queensland