Wilmington–Ucolta Road

Wilmington–Ucolta Road is a 100 kilometre major road connecting Port Augusta to Peterborough and beyond to Broken Hill, in South Australia. This name covers many consecutive streets and is not widely known to most drivers except, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the names of its constituent parts: Willowie Road, Petersburg Road, and its concurrency along RM Williams Way. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion, as well to avoid confusion between declarations.

Wilmington–Ucolta Road Willowie Road, Petersburg Road South Australia
Heading east out of Peterborough
West end East end
Coordinates	32°39′58″S 138°06′41″E / 32.666041°S 138.111388°E / -32.666041; 138.111388 (West end) 32°57′27″S 138°58′48″E / 32.957477°S 138.980041°E / -32.957477; 138.980041 (East end)
General information
Type	Road
Length	99.7 km (62 mi)^[1]
Route number(s)	B56 (1998–present) (Wilmington–Peterborough) B79 (1998–present) (Peterborough–Ucolta) Concurrencies: RM Williams Way (Orroroo–Black Rock)
Former route number	National Route 56 (1955–1998)
Major junctions
West end	Main North Road Wilmington, South Australia
	RM Williams Way Beniah Road
East end	Barrier Highway Ucolta, South Australia
Location(s)
Region	Yorke and Mid North^[2]
Major suburbs	Willowie, Orroroo, Peterborough

It forms a route connecting the Augusta and Barrier Highways through the Flinders Ranges, and forms the most direct path between Port Augusta in South Australia (and following destinations like Alice Springs, Darwin, Kalgoorlie, and Perth) and Dubbo (and following destinations like Moree, Tamworth, Orange, and Newcastle), and hence provides the most direct link between Port Augusta and Sydney.

Route

Willowie Road starts just outside Wilmington, off Horrocks Highway and progresses east along the northern stretches of the Clare Valley, and also through the Flinders Ranges. It passes through Orroroo, where it changes name to RM Williams Way, to Black Rock, where it changes name to Petersburg Road and continues through Peterborough to the small town of Ucolta, just off the intersection with the Barrier Highway.

Major intersections

LGA^[3]	Location^[1]^[4]	km^[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Mount Remarkable	Wilmington	0.0	0.0	Horrocks Highway (B56 north/B82 north, south) – Winninowie, Quorn, Gladstone	Western terminus of Willowie Road, route B56 continues north along Horrocks Highway through Wilmington
	Willowie	20.3	12.6	Booleroo Road – Booleroo Centre
Orroroo Carrieton	Orroroo	49.2	30.6	RM Williams Way (B80 north) – Hawker	Concurrency with route B80
	Black Rock	61.1	38.0	RM Williams Way (B80 south) – Jamestown, Spalding
Peterborough	Peterborough	84.8	52.7	Beniah Road (B79 west) – Mannanarie, Gladstone	Eastern terminus of route B56, route B79 continues east along Petersburg Road
		85.8	53.3	Cleary Road – Terowie
	Ucolta	99.7	62.0	Barrier Highway (A32) – Giles Corner, Burra, Broken Hill	Eastern terminus of Petersburg Road and route B79
Concurrency terminus       Route transition

See also

  Australian roads portal

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in South Australia

References

1. Google (30 May 2022). "Wilmington-Ucolta Road" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
2. "Location SA Map viewer with regional layers". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
3. "Location SA Map viewer with LGA layers". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
4. "Location SA Map viewer with suburb layers". Government of South Australia. Retrieved 16 June 2022.

External links

  Media related to Wilmington–Ucolta Road at Wikimedia Commons