Barkly Highway –Queensland | |
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Barkly Highway in Queensland | |
General information | |
Type | Highway |
Length | 754 km (469 mi) |
Route number(s) |
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Former route number | National Highway 66 (Entire route) National Highway A2 (NT/Qld Border – Cloncurry) |
Major junctions | |
West end | Stuart Highway, Tennant Creek, Northern Territory |
| |
East end | Landsborough Highway, Cloncurry, Queensland, duplexed with Flinders Highway |
Location(s) | |
Major settlements | Camooweal, Mount Isa |
Highway system | |
The Barkly Highway is a national highway in Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia. [1] It is the only sealed road between Queensland and the Northern Territory. [2] [3] The highway is named after the Barkly Tableland, which in turn was named by explorer William Landsborough in December 1861 after Henry Barkly, the then Governor of Victoria. [4]
The highway runs between Cloncurry via Mount Isa and Camooweal to the Stuart Highway north of Tennant Creek, at the junction known as the "Threeways". [5] The entire highway is part of the National Highway system: in the Northern Territory it is assigned National Route 66; the Queensland portion is designated as National Route A2.
The Northern Territory section has a speed limit of 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph) along most of its length. [6]
As the only sealed road linking Queensland and the Northern Territory, it is the main transport route between them, consequently many road trains use it.
An upgrade of the Queensland section of the highway between Mount Isa and Camooweal was completed in 2008 and despite floods of 2009, 2010 and 2011, the Queensland sections of road are in good condition (as of 2015).
The Northern Australia Roads Program announced in 2016 included the following project for the Barkly Highway.
The project for intersection upgrades in Mount Isa urban area was completed in mid 2019 at a total cost of $8.3 million. [7]
Given the economic importance of transport on this route, a longstanding problem was the flooding of the Georgina River immediately west of Camooweal in Queensland. As the water levels in the Georgina River vary enormously from being completely dry to flooding, the Barkly Highway bridge over the Georgina River was often unusable for many days due to flooding, with road trains and other heavy vehicles having to wait weeks before it was safe to cross. To alleviate these problems, the Georgina River Bridge was officially opened on 20 December 2002 by Senator Ron Boswell and Steve Breadhauer, Minister for Transport in the Queensland Government. It replaced the previous bridge which was approximately 50 metres (160 ft) south, and is both higher and longer so traffic on the highway can continue to cross during floods. The bridge is 417 metres (1,368 ft) long and is accompanied by a 5.6-kilometre (3.5 mi) highway deviation west from Camooweal. The bridge uses an unusual curved design to avoid placing pylons into the river bed which is culturally significant to the local Dugalunji people, who call the new bridge Ilaga Thuwani meaning The Camping Ground of the Rainbow Serpent . [3] [8] [9] [10]
State | LGA | Location | km [11] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Northern Territory | Barkly | Warumungu | 0 | 0.0 | Stuart Highway (National Highway 87) – north – Daly Waters south – Alice Springs | Barkly Highway western terminus – continues east as National Highway 66 |
Tablelands | 186 | 116 | Tablelands Highway (State Route 11) – north – Cape Crawford | |||
Northern Territory – Queensland state border | 433 | 269 | Northern Territory – Queensland state border | Barkly Highway continues east as National Highway A2 | ||
Queensland | Georgina River | 445 | 277 | Georgina River Bridge (Ilaga Thuwani Bridge) | ||
Mount Isa | Camooweal | 446 | 277 | Camooweal Urandangie Road – south – Urandangi | ||
448 | 278 | Gregory Downs Camooweal Road – north–east – Gregory, Burketown | ||||
Mount Isa | 635 | 395 | Boulia Mount Isa Highway (Diamantina Developmental Road) (National Route 83) – south – Dajarra, Boulia | Barkly Highway continues east as National Highway A2 duplexed with National Route 83. Western concurrency terminus with National Route 83. | ||
Leichhardt River | 635 | 395 | Sir James Foots Bridge | |||
Cloncurry | Cloncurry | 754 | 469 | Burke Developmental Road (National Route 83) – north – Normanton Flinders Highway (Queensland Highway A6), duplexed with Landsborough Highway (National Highway A2) – Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Mckinlay | Eastern end of Barkly Highway. Eastern concurrency terminus with National Route 83. | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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Camooweal Caves is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 15 km southeast of Camooweal and 1720 km northwest of Brisbane.
Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. It is informally known by local people as The Curry. In the 2021 census, the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 3,167 people.
Camooweal is an outback town and locality in the City of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with the Northern Territory. In the 2021 census, the locality of Camooweal had a population of 236 people.
The Flinders Highway is a highway that crosses Queensland east to west, from Townsville on the Pacific coast to Cloncurry. The road continues as the Barkly Highway from Cloncurry to the Northern Territory border at Camooweal and beyond. The Flinders Highway passes a number of small outback towns and typical outback landscape predominates towards the inland. It was known as National Route 78 before Queensland began to convert to the alphanumeric system being adopted in Australia and is now designated as A6. The highway is also known as Overlanders Way. Its entire length is part of the National Land Transport Network.
Landsborough Highway is a highway in western Queensland, Australia, running in the northwest–southeast direction from Morven to Cloncurry. The Landsborough Highway runs through vast tracts of land that was once occupied by William Landsborough, an Australian explorer of the 19th century. It is also the central part of the tourist route known as the Matilda Way after the popular Australian song Waltzing Matilda, which extends from Bourke in central northern New South Wales to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The City of Mount Isa is a local government area in north west Queensland. The City covers the urban locality of Mount Isa, the administrative centre, and surrounding area, sharing a boundary with the Northern Territory to the west.
Dajarra is a rural town and a locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Dajarra had a population of 186 people.
The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Georgina flows in extremely wet years into Lake Eyre.
The Plenty Highway is a 498-kilometre (309 mi) outback mostly unsealed road in the Northern Territory of Australia between the Stuart Highway and north-western Queensland.
Alpurrurulam, from the original Aboriginal name Ilperrelhelame, also known as Lake Nash, is a locality in the Northern Territory of Australia located in the territory's east about 1,206 kilometres (749 mi) south-east of the territory capital of Darwin and about 570.1 kilometres (354.2 mi) east of the municipal seat of Tennant Creek and about 17 kilometres (11 mi) from the border with the state of Queensland. The town is at the end of the Sandover Highway, which floods each year during the wet season and cuts all road access to the community.
The Gulf Country or North West Queensland is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also called the Gulf Savannah. The Gulf Country is crossed by the Savannah Way highway.
Dajarra and Selwyn Branch Railways were lines in north-west Queensland, Australia. Along with the Mount Cuthbert and Dobbyn Branch Railways, they were essentially built to tap large deposits of copper discovered in the Cloncurry region.
The Donohue Highway is a 249 km (155 mi) mostly unpaved outback track that leads through the northern foothills of the Simpson Desert in Queensland to Tobermorey Homestead, Northern Territory near the Northern Territory/Queensland border in Australia.
The Great Northern Railway is a 1067 mm gauge railway line in Queensland, Australia. The line stretches nearly 1,000 kilometres linking the port city of Townsville, Australia to the mining town of Mount Isa in north-west Queensland. Along with a passenger service called the Inlander, it is a major freight route connecting the Mount Isa Mines to the Port of Townsville. In 2010, the line moved 5.8 million tonnes of cargo, and this is expected to increase significantly in coming years.
Duchess is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Duchess had a population of 53 people.
Tree of Knowledge is a heritage-listed tree on the Barkly Highway, Camooweal, City of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 8 September 2005.
Community Hall is a heritage-listed former town hall at Barkly Highway, Camooweal, City of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Rooney Brothers and built from 1922 to 1923 by Hogarth & Hammond. It is also known as Barkly Tablelands Shire Hall. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
The Overlanders Way is an Australian road route from Townsville in Queensland to Tennant Creek, Northern Territory. It has been designated by the Queensland Government as a State Strategic Touring Route.
Barkly is an outback locality in the City of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with Northern Territory. In the 2021 census, Barkly had a population of 25 people.
Cloncurry–Dajarra Road is a continuous 169 kilometres (105 mi) road route in the Cloncurry local government area of Queensland, Australia. It is a state-controlled district road rated as a local road of regional significance (LRRS). It is a north-east to south-west link between the Barkly Highway and the Diamantina Developmental Road, servicing a number of cattle grazing and production areas in northern Queensland.
Barkly Highway.—The main road stretching from the Northern Territory Queensland Border in the vicinity of Camooweal in a westerly direction to join the Stuart Highway at a point about 15 miles north of Tennant Creek.
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ignored (help)Roswitha Soechtig: OVERLAND-BIKING AUSTRALIA auf roter Erde, 2021, ISBN 978–3–7534–1275–7, S. 251–256, German and English.
Media related to Barkly Highway at Wikimedia Commons