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Northern Expressway

Fatchen Northern Expressway

South Australia
Northern Expressway; Fatchen Northern Expressway; South Australia
	The Northern Expressway looking north, halfway along the expressway
Coordinates	34°35′38″S 138°43′48″E / 34.593842°S 138.730013°E (Northeast end); 34°42′18″S 138°34′22″E / 34.705113°S 138.572754°E (Southwest end);
General information
Type	Freeway
Length	20.9 km (13 mi)
Opened	13 September 2010
Route number(s)	M2 (2016–present)
Former; route number	National Highway M20 (2010–2016)
Major junctions
Northeast end	Sturt Highway; Gawler, Adelaide
	Two Wells Road; Port Wakefield Road;
Southwest end	Northern Connector; Waterloo Corner, Adelaide
Location(s)
Region	Northern Adelaide, Barossa Light and Lower North
Major suburbs / towns	Angle Vale, Penfield
Highway system
	Highways in Australia; National Highway • Freeways in Australia; Highways in South Australia; ; ;

Northern Expressway, also known as the Fatchen Northern Expressway,^[3]^[4] is a 21 kilometre long controlled-access highway in Adelaide, South Australia. Since March 2020, the North–South Motorway continues west of Port Wakefield Highway and intersects the Port River Expressway to reach the harbour at Port Adelaide. These are the northernmost two parts of the North–South Corridor.

Cycling is not permitted on the Expressway. The Stuart O'Grady Bikeway is a sealed shared cycling and walking path adjacent to the eastern side of the expressway. The northern end connects to the on-ramp from Two Wells Road to the Gawler Bypass Road, and the southern end is adjacent to Port Wakefield Road at Mill Road.

Route

Northern Expressway starts at the grade-separated interchange with the Sturt Highway in Gawler. It heads southwest, just beyond the northern fringes of suburban Adelaide, to the Port Wakefield Highway at Waterloo Corner. The road has been built to a four-lane standard and provides a faster route between northern Adelaide and Gawler, relieving pressure mostly from Main North Road and other roads through Adelaide's northeastern suburbs. It allows freight vehicles to avoid residential areas and go straight to Port Wakefield Road.

History

The largest road project undertaken in South Australia in at least sixty years, the expressway was delivered at a cost of approximately A$564 million jointly funded by the South Australian and Commonwealth Governments. The Design and Construct contract was awarded to the Fulton Hogan York Joint Venture, a partnership between trans-Tasman contractor Fulton Hogan and South Australian based York Civil.^[5]

The design joint venture, managed by Fulton Hogan York Joint Venture, consisted of Maunsell, SMEC and Dare Sutton Clark. The work included an 8 km upgrade of the existing Port Wakefield Road. Part of the cost was covered by the AusLink national transport funding.^[6]

Construction began in 2008. The road opened in September 2010.^[7]

The interchanges/bridges along the expressway were all named after famous battles in which Australian forces fought, such as Long Tan, Kokoda, Tobruk, Kapyong and Hamel.

In November 2013, one year after the death of prominent South Australian author and journalist Max Fatchen, the Northern Expressway was given the dual name "Fatchen Northern Expressway" in his honour.^[3]^[4]

In December 2019, a bushfire started on the Northern Expressway at Angle Vale. This affected people in Hillier, Munno Para Downs, Kudla, Munno Para West and Gawler.

In February 2020, the on ramp from northbound on Port Wakefield Road was permanently closed. Three weeks later, the Northern Connector project was opened, continuing the freeway south from the Northern Expressway as the North–South Motorway.

Exit list

Junction diagram

Max Fatchen Expressway

					Gawler Bypass
Gawler Bypass
					Gawler West Interchange

Two Wells Road					Two Wells Road
					Long Tan Interchange
Gawler River					Gawler River

					Kapyong Interchange
Angle Vale Road					Angle Vale Road


					Kokoda Interchange
Curtis Road					Curtis Road


					Womma Road
Heaslip Road					Heaslip Road
					Tobruk Interchange

Penfield Road					Penfield Road
					Hamel Interchange

					Adelaide-Port Augusta railway

					Port Wakefield Road

LGA^[8]	Location^[1]^[9]	km^[1]	mi	Name	Destinations	Notes
Light	Ward Belt–Reid–Buchfelde tripoint	0.0	0.0		Sturt Highway (A20) – Nuriootpa, Renmark, Mildura	Northeastern terminus of expressway and route M2
Light	Buchfelde–Gawler River boundary	4.1	2.5	Long Tan	Two Wells Road (B77) – Two Wells, Gawler	Southwest-bound entrance and northeast-bound exit only
Gawler River		5.1	3.2	Bridge over the river (bridge name unknown)
Playford	Hillier–Munno Para Downs–Angle Vale tripoint	7.5	4.7	Kapyong	Angle Vale Road – Angle Vale, Virginia, Evanston
	Munno Para West–Andrews Farm–Angle Vale–MacDonald Park quadripoint	10.8	6.7	Kokoda	Curtis Road – Andrews Farm, Angle Vale
	Penfield Gardens–MacDonald Park–Penfield tripoint	15.1	9.4	Tobruk	Heaslip Road – Edinburgh, RAAF Base Edinburgh
	Penfield Gardens–Penfield boundary	17.3	10.7	Hamel	Penfield Road – Virginia	Southwest bound entrance and northeast bound exit only
	Penfield–Waterloo Corner–Virginia–Penfield Gardens quadripoint	18.8	11.7	Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line
	Waterloo Corner–Virginia boundary	20.9	13.0		Port Wakefield Road (A1 south) – Burton, Adelaide	No entrance from or exit to Port Wakefield Road northbound
	Waterloo Corner–Virginia boundary	20.9	13.0		Northern Connector (M2 southwest) – Bolivar, Wingfield	Southwestern terminus of expressway, route M2 continues southwest along Northern Connector
Incomplete access Route transition