Big River Way

The Big River Way is a road in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales that connects the Pacific Highway to the city of Grafton. It runs along a former section of the Pacific Highway that was bypassed by a newer alignment in 2020.

Big River Way New South Wales
South end North end
Coordinates	29.7935°S 153.0240°E (South end) 29.4710°S 153.2057°E (North end)
General information
Type	Road
Length	55 km (34 mi)[1]
Gazetted	29 May 2020[2]
Maintained by	Transport for NSW
Route number(s)	(B91) Glenugie to Grafton (B76) Grafton to Tyndale No shield Tyndale to Maclean
Former route number	(A1) (2013–2020) (National Route 1) (until 2013) Entire route
Major junctions
South end	Pacific Highway Glenugie, New South Wales
	Gwydir Highway Summerland Way
North end	Pacific Highway Maclean, New South Wales
Location(s)
Region	Northern Rivers
LGA(s)	Clarence Valley Council
Major suburbs	South Grafton, Grafton, Ulmarra
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales

Route description

The Big River Way branches from the Pacific Highway at Glenugie and follows the former Pacific Highway alignment to Maclean, which runs along the Clarence River and South Arm. The road passes through the city of Grafton, New South Wales and the town of Tyndale.

The section between Glenugie and Grafton is signposted as B91, the route number for Summerland Way, and the section between Grafton and Tyndale is signposted B76, the route number for Gwydir Highway.[3]

History

Many sections of the Pacific Highway had been bypassed since 1996 as part of the Pacific Highway Upgrade. The section between Glenugie and Maclean was due to be bypassed by a new alignment in 2020. The existing alignment was proposed to be renamed when the new alignment opens, with community consultation undertaken in 2019 to obtain suggestions and feedback from the community. Originally, the route names of Gwydir Highway and Summerland Way were to be extended along the road alignment towards Tyndale and Glenugie respectively. However, this was not supported by the community and so a local name was to be given instead.[4] The route numbers of Gwydir Highway and Summerland Way, the B76 and B91, would still be extended along the road alignment. In December 2019, Clarence Valley Council voted to endorse Big River Way as the new name for submission to the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales (GNB),[5] and in February 2020, the new name was approved by the GNB.[6][7]

The new alignment of the highway between Tyndale and Maclean opened on 1 April 2020.[8] On a temporary basis, the northern end of the old Pacific Highway only connected to Cameron Street, with a left-in left-out temporary access to the newly-aligned Pacific Highway located to the south.[9] On 19 May 2020, the new alignment between Glenugie and Tyndale opened and bypassed Grafton.[10][11] The old alignment was the site of the Grafton bus crash in October 1989 when a semi-trailer and a bus collided head-on, resulting in the deaths of 21 people.[12]

A week later, on 26 May 2020, the old Pacific Highway at Grafton was realigned onto a new link road intersecting perpendicular to Iolanthe Street (Summerland Way), as part of the New Grafton Bridge project. The previous alignment of the old Pacific Highway was reduced to northbound only.[13] Three days later, on 29 May 2020, the old alignment of Pacific Highway between Glenugie and Maclean was officially renamed and gazetted as Big River Way.[2]

In June 2020, Transport for NSW began to propose safety improvement upgrades on the Big River Way between Glenugie and Tyndale.[14][15]

In August 2020, the Maclean Interchange fully opened and the Big River Way connected to a new roundabout with connections to Cameron Street and direct on-ramp and off-ramps to Pacific Highway.[16] The temporary access to Pacific Highway to the south was also closed.[17]

Major junction list

LGA	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Clarence Valley	Glenugie	0	0.0	Pacific Highway (south) – Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Sydney
		1.3	0.81	Eight Mile Lane – Sandy Crossing, Wooli	To Pacific Highway (north) (Tweed Heads, Gold Coast, Brisbane)
	South Grafton	13.3	8.3	Charles Street (Gwydir Highway) – Glen Innes, Walgett	Roundabout
		13.6	8.5	Iolanthe Street (Summerland Way) - Grafton, New Grafton Bridge, Casino, Woodenbong	Roundabout Big River Way continues to the east
	Tyndale	41.6	25.8	Pacific Highway (south) – Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Sydney
		43.4	27.0	Pacific Highway (north) – Tweed Heads, Gold Coast, Brisbane	Big River Way continues to the north No access between Pacific Highway and Big River Way (north)
	Maclean	55.0	34.2	Pacific Highway (north) – Tweed Heads, Gold Coast, Brisbane Pacific Highway (south) – Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Sydney Cameron Street – Maclean Goodwood Street – Townsend, Brooms Head	Maclean Interchange Roundabout
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access

See also

• Macleay Valley Way - bypassed section of Pacific Highway and the site of the Kempsey bus crash
• Giinagay Way - bypassed section of Pacific Highway at Nambucca Heads and Urunga

References

1. Google (7 December 2020). "Big River Way, Glenugie NSW 2460 to Maclean, New South Wales 2463" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
2. "Clarence Valley Council - Roads Act 1993 - Naming of Roads (107)" (PDF). Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 29 May 2020. p. 2165. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
3. "New Grafton Bridge - Proposed directional signage plan - Stage 3 - Project completion (Target Date - June 2020)" (PDF). Transport for NSW - Roads and Maritime. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
4. "Ordinary Council Meeting - Minutes - 26 November 2019 - Item 6a.19.031". Clarence Valley Council. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
5. "New name for old highway". Clarence Valley Independent. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
6. "Pacific Hwy renamed between Glenugie and Maclean". Transport for NSW - Roads and Maritime. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
7. "Part of Pacific Highway to be renamed following construction". Roads and Infrastructure. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
8. "Safer journeys between Tyndale and Maclean". Mirage News. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
9. "Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade - Tyndale to Maclean - Project update" (PDF). Pacific Highway Upgrade. Transport for NSW. March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
10. "New Highway Upgrade Open". Big Rigs. Archived from the original on 27 May 2020.
11. "Pacific Highway from Glenugie to Tyndale open". Echo Netdaily. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
12. "Grafton bus crash section of Pacific Highway replaced more than 30 years later". ABC News. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
13. "Traffic changes in South Grafton from Tuesday 26 May 2020" (PDF). Transport for NSW - Roads and Maritime. May 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
14. "Proposed safety improvements along Big River Way between Glenugie and Tyndale" (PDF). Transport for NSW - Roads and Maritime. June 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
15. "Have your say on shaping Big River way". Transport for NSW - Roads and Maritime. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
16. "Maclean Interchange opens to traffic". Transport for NSW - Roads and Maritime. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
17. "Permanent traffc changes Maclean interchange and Pacifc Motorway, Maclean" (PDF). Transport for NSW - Pacific Highway Upgrade. July 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.