The A34 is a route designation of a major metropolitan arterial route through suburban Sydney, linking Hume Highway at  and Princes Highway at , running parallel to the tolled M5 Motorway. This name covers a few consecutive roads and is widely known to most drivers, but the entire allocation is also known – and signposted – by the names of its constituent parts: Macquarie Street, Terminus Street, Newbridge Road, Milperra Road, (New) Canterbury Road, Stanmore Road and Enmore Road.

Route
The A34 commences at the intersection with Hume Highway and Hoxton Park Road in  and heads in an easterly direction as Macquarie Street as a four-lane, single-carriageway road, turning into Terminus Street very shortly afterwards. It changes name to Newbridge Road and crosses the Georges River for the first time, intersecting with Heathcote Road shortly afterwards, and widening to a six-lane, dual-carriageway road. It continues east through Moorebank, crosses the Georges River again and meets Henry Lawson Drive at Milperra. It changes name to Milperra Road and continues in an easterly direction until it reaches The River Road in , where it changes name again to Canterbury Road, meeting King Georges Road at Roselands. At Hurlstone Park, the route splits off east to become New Canterbury Road. It changes name to Stanmore Road at the intersection of Crystal and Shaw Streets at , and intersecs with and changes name to Enmore Road at the intersection with Edgeware Road in , before eventually terminating at the intersection with King Street in .

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 (later the Department of Main Roads, and eventually Transport for NSW). Main Road No. 167 was declared on 8 August 1928, from the intersection with King Street in Newtown, along Enmore and Stanmore Roads, New Canterbury Road and Canterbury Road to the intersection with Chapel Road in Bankstown; with the passing of the Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929 to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, this was amended to Main Road 167 on 8 April 1929.

Main Road 512 was declared between Heathcote Road and Hume Highway in Liverpool on 15 November 1939 (and continuing southeast along Heathcote Road via Lucas Heights to Princes Highway at Heathcote); the western end of Main Road 167 was later extended along Milperra and Newbridge Roads to meet Main Road 512 (Heathcote Road) at Moorebank on 20 March 1940.

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, the A34 retains its declaration as Main Road 167 (from Moorebank to Newtown), and part of Main Road 512 (Liverpool to Moorebank).

The route was allocated State Route 54 in 1974, from Liverpool to Newtown. In 1993, its eastern end was extended along King Street and City Road to the intersection with Broadway at Chippendale (replacing State Route 66, itself having replaced National Route 1 the previous year when the opening of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel had it re-aligned). With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, State Route 54 was truncated back to its original eastern terminus at King Street in Newtown and replaced by route A34, with the former extension replaced by route A36 as part of Princes Highway.

Major intersections

See also

References

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