Great Northern Highway
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Great Northern Highway is a generally north-south Western Australian highway which links the state's capital Perth with its most northern port, Wyndham. It is 3204 km in length, with 3144 km being National Highway. It is constructed as a sealed, predominantly 2-lane single carriageway (excluding a number of single lane bridges in the Kimberley).
This highway is the longest intrastate highway in Australia and also the longest Australian highway in absolute terms. In parts, it is among the remotest sealed roads in the world. Some sections are several hundred kilometres in length without so much as a roadhouse! Economically, it is a vital link as it provides access to the resource rich regions of the Pilbara and Kimberley. In these areas, the key industries of mining, pastoral stations and tourism are all dependent on the highway.
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[edit] History
Prior to the 1960s, with the exception of several better quality sections in the wheatbelt area, Great Northern Highway was mostly a series of tracks linking Perth to remote pastoral areas. However, several events occurred in the 1950s that moved the highway forwards. The federal government Beef roads scheme encouraged road building in the Kimberley, which meant trucks were able to transport cattle to port, as against the historical but slow cattle droves. In the Kimberley, a sealed single lane link between Broome and Derby was completed in the 1960s, as were a number of access roads to the port of Wyndham.
Meanwhile, iron ore was discovered in the Pilbara. Here, major improvements to the highway commenced in the 1960s and continued in the 1970s - the section between Meekatharra and Newman opened in 1978, having been upgraded and sealed to two lanes wide. Also in 1978, the road between Halls Creek and Wyndham was upgraded and sealed to two lanes wide, and was followed not long after in 1981 by the widened and sealed 476 km between Port Hedland and Broome.
Work accelerated in the 1980s as part of the Australian Bicentenary roadworks program. In 1986, the widended and sealed section between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek was opened after 5 years of work. This marked the completion of sealing the Highway 1 route around Australia, a route which included the already completed North West Coastal Highway/Brand Highway link (the coastal route) between Perth and Port Hedland. Between Newman and Port Hedland the Great Northern Highway was changed in the 1980s to a new route running to the west of the original. It had previously passed through Nullagine and Marble Bar. The new Newman-Port Hedland link was finished in 1989. This marked the completion of sealing the Great Northern Highway (the inland route), and also completion of the federally funded National Highway around Australia.
[edit] Tourism
The section of highway immediately north of Perth runs along the eastern Swan Valley, which attracts large numbers of visitors to its numerous wineries, microbreweries and restaurants. Further north are the gorges and related areas around Karijini National Park and the inland Pilbara mines, which are of interest to some, but the the alternative North West Coastal Highway between Perth and Port Hedland offers access to the Indian Ocean and its many natural attractions and is hence favoured by tourists.
In the Kimberley, the highway provides access to many off-highway natural attractions such as Purnululu National Park (the Bungle Bungles), Wolfe Creek Crater, the Gibb River Road and Broome, as well as being the part of the route into and out of the Northern Territory. Best seen between April and October when the weather is cooler, these attractions draw in local, interstate and overseas tourists, of which a large number use four wheel drives towing caravans.
[edit] Hazards
The Great Northern Highway presents several major hazards to travellers, both seasoned and new. Stray cattle and other grazing animals are particularly dangerous and prevalent in the Kimberley and Pilbara. Kangaroos and wedge-tailed eagles, although smaller, are also very dangerous, with wedge-tailed eagles particularly immobile after gorging on other roadkill. Driving at night is best avoided; being equipped with a good frontal roo bar and driving spotlights can help slightly, but is still very dangerous.
Flooding is another major hazard, as the Kimberley and Pilbara receive periods of torrential rainfall between November and May. The 'dry causeway' Willare Crossing of the Fitzroy River is designed to withstand enormous floods. However, in the early 1980s, seasonal flooding washed away major sections of the 'causeway' several times. To alleviate the problem, 2 new bridges were built in 1985 to enable more water to flow through the crossing without overtopping the 'causeway'. Then, less than 6 months later, Cyclone Hector (the 'wrecktor') produced 70% more water than the crossing was designed to handle, and washed away 4 or 5 km of the newly rebuilt section and left one of the bridges without its abutments. It was again rebuilt, and although it has overtopped since, it has not again washed away as disastrously as in 1986.
At other locations, it is not unusual for the road to be underneath metres of water. However as little as 100 mm of water is sufficient to cause a major accident if driven into at high speed. The golden rule is that if it can't be walked across safely, it can't be driven across safely.
[edit] Towns
Towns, settlements and significant roadhouses on and slightly off this highway include:
- New Norcia
- Dalwallinu
- Wubin
- Paynes Find
- Mount Magnet
- Meekatharra
- Kumarina
- Newman
- Auski Roadhouse
- Port Hedland
- Pardoo Roadhouse
- Sandfire Roadhouse
- Roebuck Roadhouse
- Broome
- Willare Bridge Roadhouse
- Derby
- Fitzroy Crossing
- Halls Creek
- Warmun
- Wyndham
- Kununurra
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Edmonds, Leigh (1997). The vital link: a history of Main Roads Western Austrlaia 1926-1996. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-875560-87-4.
 Freeways and highways in Perth, Western Australia |
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| Freeways: | Graham Farmer Freeway · Kwinana Freeway · Mitchell Freeway |
| Highways: | Albany Highway · Brookton Highway · Canning Highway · Great Eastern Highway (Bypass) · Great Northern Highway · Leach Highway · Reid Highway · Roe Highway · South Western Highway · Stirling Highway · Tonkin Highway · West Coast Highway |
