Cobb Highway

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Cobb Highway

Proposed to replace ^[1]
General direction	North-South
From	Barrier Highway, Wilcannia, New South Wales
via	Ivanhoe, Booligal, Hay, Deniliquin
To	Northern Highway, Moama, NSW / Echuca, Victoria (NSW/Vic Border)
Major Junctions	Lachlan Valley Way Mid-Western Highway Sturt Highway Riverina Highway

The Cobb Highway is a State highway in western New South Wales, Australia. From north to south the Cobb Highway begins at its junction with the Barrier Highway near Wilcannia and runs south through the townships of Ivanhoe, Booligal, Hay and Deniliquin. It ends at Moama where the highway crosses the New South Wales/Victoria border at the Murray River and continues south through Victoria as the Northern Highway.

The Cobb Highway was named after Cobb and Co, a company which ran a network of stagecoaches in inland Australia in the latter half of the 19th century and early in the 20th century. The highway follows an old coach route through the Riverina, connecting the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Lachlan Rivers, and across the intervening plains to the Darling River at Wilcannia. The Cobb Highway is sealed as far north as 10km north of Ivanhoe It is one of the most remote and could be one of the least-used of the highways of New South Wales.

The highway travels through diverse changes in scenery, from the Murray River, enclosed farming land in the Riverina, to open grazing land and semi-desert towards the middle and northern sections. The speed limit is posted at 100km/h except from three sections where the limit is 110km/h, being: 50km north of Deniliquin until Hay, Hay until a few kilometeres north of Booligal and the final 110km/h zone being from Mossgiel to Ivanhoe.

1 History
2 The Long Paddock project
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

In the 1930s the road now known as the Cobb Highway was proclaimed as part of State Highway 21, which also included the road north through Wilcannia, White Cliffs and Tibooburra to Warri Gate at the Queensland border.

Highway 21 was truncated 18 kilometres south of Wilcannia on 9 February 1945 when the Silver City Highway was proclaimed. The Cobb Highway received its name in 1947 in commemoration of the Cobb & Co. coach company.

In 1954, with the institution of the National Route system, the Cobb Highway in NSW and the Northern Highway in Victoria were designated to be National Route 75.

In May 1969 a bridge over the Edward River at Deniliquin was constructed (replacing a timber bridge built in 1895). In June 1973 a bridge over Murrumbidgee River at Hay was built (replacing the 1874 opening bridge).^[2]

[edit] The Long Paddock project

The Cobb Highway is the focus of a major tourism initiative entitled 'The Long Paddock', developed by the shires along the route (Murrya, Deniliquin, Conargo, Hay and Central Darling). The Long Paddock project aims to create sustainable communities along the Cobb Highway through the development of a dynamic cultural heritage touring route. The project uses the consistent theme of transportation, involving elements of history, creative interpretation and local environment, to link the communities along the highway.^[3]