New England Highway

New England Highway is an 883-kilometre (549 mi) long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland, at its northern end to Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales, at its southern end. It is part of Australia's National Highway system, and forms part of the inland route between Brisbane and Sydney.

The Queensland segment of the New England Highway is a state-controlled road, subdivided into three sections for administrative and funding purposes. One of the three sections (number 22C) is part of the National Highway, while sections 22A and 22B are strategic roads. The sections are:

State-controlled roads that intersect with the highway are listed in the main article.

At its northern end New England Highway connects to D'Aguilar Highway, and at its southern end it connects to Pacific Highway. It traverses the Darling Downs, New England, and Hunter Valley 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.

In 2013–14, the New England and Cunningham Highways combined (known as the Sydney–Brisbane inland route) had an average annual daily traffic count of just over 13,000 vehicles, which is approximately half that seen on the coastal route (i.e., the Pacific Highway and Pacific Motorway). Heavy vehicles account for approximately 13% of the traffic seen on the route.

As of November 2018, fixed speed cameras were located at Ben Lomond (between Ross Road and Ben Lomond Road), Blandford (between Hayles Street and Mills Street) and Tenterfield (between Duncan Street and George Street). Average speed enforcement (point-to-point) cameras target heavy vehicles between Singleton and Muswellbrook.

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-General John Oxley in 1818 and botanist Allan Cunningham in 1827 and 1829.^{[citation needed]} 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 bushranger Captain Thunderbolt known to be active in the area.