Traffic Traffic jams are not a problem on the Eyre Highway, a motorway Connecting West and South Australia.
This highway crosses the Nullarbor Plain and is named after English land explorer Edward John Eyre – the first European known to have crossed the plain by land between 1840 and 1841.
Eyre Highway stretches 1,634 kilometers from the town of Norseman to Port Augusta.
Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, this highway boasts the longest straight stretch in the country, lasting 90 miles without a single bend.
What this highway cannot claim, however, is that it is regularly overrun by cars, thanks in part to its linear characteristics.
The landscape crossed by this enormous highway is not among Australia's most exciting, as admitted by the same explorer for whom it is named.
After his visit to Nullarbor he described the plain as a 'hideous anomaly, a blot on the face of nature. The kind of place that gives you bad dreams'.
The area is largely arid, flat and virtually without trees, making the view monotonous along the way.
It is home to kangaroos, as signs dotted along the highway warn of possible animal crossings including venomous snakes, dingoes and local bearded dragons.
The Eyre Highway is important because it is part of the highway network connecting Perth to Adelaide and can be a risky feat for motorists for several reasons.
Given the nature of the area it crosses, the highway is not populated with many fuel and rest areas. As a result, it is littered with road signs warning motorists how many hundreds of kilometers away the next station will be, and advising them to refuel whenever they have the chance so as not to be stranded under the scorching sun.
The long, straight stretch makes for a monotonous drive, which can make drivers dangerously drowsy.
Furthermore, given the remoteness of the area, motorists cannot count on having an internet connection for the entire route. It is therefore advisable to travel this route with up-to-date paper maps.