Kings Highway
Photo: AYArktos, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
- See King's Highway for the Jordanian region and King's Road (Finland) for the Finnish highway.
Kings Highway (numbered B52) is a major east-west highway connecting Australia's national capital, Canberra, with the small coastal city of Batemans Bay, largely passing through the Eurobodalla region of New South Wales. The highway is not particularly long, at only 140 km, but sees plenty of traffic (especially when there is warmer weather) from Canberrans heading down to the coast to do typical water activities.
Although the Kings Highway has a local name for every town it passes through, the westernmost section near Canberra is perhaps where this is the most prominent (but also unsigned), being signed and locally called Hindmarsh Ave (for the first 1 km from Monaro Hwy to the Canberra Outlet in Fyshwick) and Canberra Avenue (from Fyshwick to the NSW border – about 3 km). Neither road is signed as B52 (despite it officially continuing until Monaro Hwy). This is known to trip many people, especially when driving towards Canberra from the New South Wales side.
UnderstandThe Kings Highway is not a long highway – starting at the suburbs of Fyshwick and Symonston at a Monaro Highway (M23) exit before crossing the border into New South Wales before reaching the town of Queanbeyan.
PrepareYou'll need very little preparation before driving the Kings Highway. As long as you have a decent car, can handle windy roads and a car that handles windy roads, you should be fine.
Get inIf travelling by car (which will be the case for most travellers), see South Canberra § Get in or Queanbeyan § Get in. See Batemans Bay § Get in if you plan on driving this highway westbound.
DriveKings Highway in Kowen may be an interesting example of a major highway crossing into another jurisdiction briefly but for a considerable distance; however, the only road into HQJOC (short for the ADF's Headquarters…
Stay safeThe highway has come in the media spotlight a few times for its road safety. Most notably, the road can become very slippery during rain. Take extra precaution during the summer months and take it easy on the bends.
Go nextThe Princes Highway in both directions is very nice and scenic.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Kings Highway" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: AYArktos, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons