# Putty Road

(The) Putty Road is a 168-kilometre (104 mi)-long rural road that links the Hunter Region in New South Wales to Wilberforce, just north of Windsor on the far northwestern suburban edge of Sydney, Australia.

## Route

Putty Road commences as John Street in Singleton, running in a southerly direction as a two-lane, single carriageway road, crossing the Main Northern railway line as Putty Road and continuing south until the intersection with Mitchells Line of Road (part of Golden Highway); Putty Road and Golden Highway are concurrent for around 2 kilometres through the Mount Thorley industrial estate, before Putty Road branches south-east to run through Bulga, Milbrodale, Putty and Colo, bounded to the west and east by protected national parks – the Wollemi National Park to the west, and the Yengo National Park to the east – both part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Greater Blue Mountains Area. Putty Road eventually terminates at the intersection of King Road and Wilberforce Road in Wilberforce, 6km north of Windsor.
Putty Road is very historic, closely following the Bulga Road (named after the Bulga Creek), first explored by John Howe, Chief Constable of Windsor, being the first road to link Sydney to the Hunter Valley. It was opened in 1823 and was initially a popular cattle-duffing (an Australian term for cattle-rustling) route. The road is narrow and winding in places and very scenic, but may be hazardous during wet weather. It is popular with tourists, motorcyclists and cyclists.

## History

The passing of the Main Roads Act of 1924 through the Parliament of New South Wales provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Main Roads Board (MRB, later Transport for NSW). With the subsequent passing of the Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929 to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, the Department of Main Roads (having succeeded the MRB in 1932) declared Main Road 503 from Lower Kurrajong via Upper Colo, Putty and Bulga to Singleton on 23 August 1939; the southern end was re-aligned to run via Colo to terminate at Wilberforce on 17 January 1945; its former alignment to Lower Kurrajong was redeclared as Main Road 519. Its northern end was truncated to the intersection with Golden Highway at Mount Thorley on 22 November 1996; the western end of Main Road 128 was extended to cover its former alignment from Mount Thorley into Singleton (and continuing eastwards to East Gresford).
The passing of the Roads Act of 1993 updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Putty Road retains its declaration as Main Road 503 and part of Main Road 128.
Putty Road was allocated part of State Route 69 in 1974. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, it was removed and the route is now unallocated, apart from the short concurrency with route B84 along Golden Highway through Mount Thorley.

## Major intersections

| LGA | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
| Singleton | Singleton | 0.0 | 0.0 | Queen Street, to Gresford Road – East Gresford | Northern terminus of road |
| Singleton | Singleton | 0.0 | 0.0 | New England Highway (A15) – Muswellbrook, Tamworth, Branxton, Newcastle | Eastbound exit from New England Highway only |
| Singleton | Singleton | 0.2 | 0.12 | Newton Street (west) – Darlington Campbell Street (east) – Singleton to New England Highway (A15) – Muswellbrook, Tamworth, Branxton, Newcastle | Roundabout |
| Singleton | Singleton | 1.6 | 0.99 | Main Northern railway line | Main Northern railway line |
| Singleton | Mount Thorley | 8.8 | 5.5 | Mitchell Line of Road (Golden Highway) (B84 east) – Branxton | Eastern concurrency terminus with Golden Highway Route B84 continues east along Mitchell Line of Road |
| Singleton | Mount Thorley | 9.7 | 6.0 | Broke Road – Broke | |
| Singleton | Mount Thorley | 12.1 | 7.5 | Jerrys Plains Road (Golden Highway) (B84 north) – Warkworth Mount Thorley Road (south) – Mount Thorley | Western concurrency terminus with Golden Highway Route B84 continues north along Jersey Plains Road |
| Wollombi Brook | Wollombi Brook | 21.5 | 13.4 | Wollombi Brook Bridge | Wollombi Brook Bridge |
| Singleton | Milbrodale | 27.4 | 17.0 | Milbrodale Road – Broke | |
| Macdonald River | Macdonald River | 62.6 | 38.9 | Bridge over river (name not known) | Bridge over river (name not known) |
| Singleton | Putty | 82.5 | 51.3 | Putty Valley Road – Putty | |
| Colo River | Colo River | 150.5 | 93.5 | Bridge over river (name not known) | Bridge over river (name not known) |
| Hawkesbury | Colo | 150.7 | 93.6 | Upper Colo Road (west) – Central Colo, Upper Colo Lower Colo Road (east) – Lower Portland | |
| Hawkesbury | East Kurrajong | 159.3 | 99.0 | Bull Ridge Road – Sackville | |
| Hawkesbury | East Kurrajong | 160.4 | 99.7 | East Kurrajong Road – Kurrajong | |
| Hawkesbury | Wilberforce | 168.4 | 104.6 | King Road (east), to Sackville Road – Sackville King Street (west) – Wilberforce | |
| Hawkesbury | Wilberforce | 168.4 | 104.6 | Wilberforce Road – Windsor | Southern terminus of road |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access Route transition ||||||