Warrego Highway

Warrego Highway
Queensland
Warrego Highway (green on black)
General information
Type Highway
Length 715 km (444 mi)
Route number(s) Alt A2
(Mitchell Highway - Landsborough Highway)
National Highway A2
(Landsborough Highway - Pine Mountain Road, Brassall)
M2
(Pine Mountain Road, Brassall - Ipswich Motorway)
Major junctions
NW end Mitchell Highway, Charleville, Queensland
  Landsborough Highway
Carnarvon Highway
Leichhardt Highway
Moonie Highway
Bunya Highway
Gore Highway
New England Highway
Brisbane Valley Highway
SE end Ipswich Motorway /
Cunningham Highway, Ipswich, Queensland
Location(s)
Major settlements Morven, Mitchell, Roma, Miles, Dalby, Toowoomba
Highway system
Highways in Australia
National Highway • Freeways in Australia
Highways in Queensland
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The Warrego Highway is located in southern Queensland, Australia. It connects coastal centres to the south western areas of the state, and is approximately 750 km in length. It takes its name from the Warrego River, which is the endpoint of the highway. The entire highway is part of the National Highway system linking Darwin and Brisbane: formerly National Highway 54, Queensland began to convert to the alphanumeric system much of Australia had adopted in the early-2000s and is now designated as National Highway A2.

Route description

The highway commences at the end of the M2 Ipswich Motorway, near Ipswich, and climbs the Great Dividing Range to Toowoomba. After reaching the top of the Toowoomba Range, the highway passes through the city via Cohoe, James, Tor and Bridge streets (although many smaller vehicles prefer to turnoff at the top of the range and use Margaret Street). The Warrego then crosses the Darling Downs, bypassing the town of Oakey and then passing through the towns of Dalby, Chinchilla and Miles, in the Western Downs. The highway continues through the towns of Roma and Mitchell in the Maranoa Region of South West Queensland. After Morven, the highway's thoroughfare continues down the Landsborough Highway, with the western turnoff continuing the Warrego Highway down to its terminus at Charleville.

The first section of highway between Ipswich and Toowoomba is mostly motorway grade; a four lane divided highway with motorway-style on-ramps and off-ramps. After the final set of traffic lights in Toowoomba, the highway merges from 4 to 2 lanes (however, throughout 2017-2019, the highway will be duplicated up until Oakey)[1] Then, the highway mostly continues in a straight line with minimal turns. At Dalby, the highway briefly returns to 4 lanes (with a longer stretch of the highway to be duplicated in 2017). The Warrego then continues as a rural 2 lane highway, until Charleville.

Terrain

The Warrego Highway's lowest point along its length is 3.69 m just east of where it crosses the Bremer River near Ipswich, and its highest elevation is 665 m at the top of the Great Dividing Range in Toowoomba.[2]

Speed zones

Towns along the route

Approximate road distances (in kilometres) of towns from Brisbane along the highway

From east to west, the highway passes through or close to the cities and major towns of:

History

In January 2011, the highway was extensively damaged where it crosses the Toowoomba Range. This included land slips, shoulder and embankment erosion, the erosion of drains and damaged rock fall netting.[3] The road wasn't fully repaired with all four lanes open until September 2011.[4]

Future developments

Toowoomba Second Range Crossing

The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing is a major road proposal aimed at bypassing the urban area of Toowoomba and providing a better crossing of the Great Dividing Range. The bypass will link the Warrego Highway at Helidon (in the east) with the highway at Charlton (in the west). The bypass will continue to the Gore Highway and will be 41 km in length. It is expected to be completed in late 2018.

Dalby Eastern & Western Access Upgrades

These upgrades will begin in 2017 and will fully duplicate the highway to 4 lanes, between Cecil Plains Road and Black Street. 4 new traffic signals will be added at Black Street, Jandowae Road, Orpen Street and a pedestrian signal near Owen Street.

Other items of interest

Darren Lockyer Way

On 28 September 2011 the Queensland Main Roads Minister, Craig Wallace, announced that an 85 km stretch of the Warrego Highway will be renamed Darren Lockyer Way, in honour of the retired Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australian rugby league captain. The section of road to be renamed is from Riverview to the bottom of the Toowoomba Range at Withcott. Special signage including "Welcome to Darren Lockyer Way" has been erected.[5]

The "Toll Bar"

The section of the Warrego Highway from Withcott to the top of the Toowoomba Range was first opened in January, 1855 as a toll road, named Toll Bar Road.[6] The toll collection point was marked by a bar across the road and a fence on either side. The upper section of Toll Bar Road was initially unsealed and very steep, with grades up to 14%. This road remained in use until December, 1939, when work on a new, less steep, upper section was completed. Part of the upper section is now a suburban street named Old Toll Bar Road.[7] The term "The Toll Bar" is sometimes used by locals to describe the current road, and it is also used in the mapping software distributed with Navman GPS systems.

Major intersections

LGALocationkmmiDestinationsNotes
IpswichRiverview00.0 Ipswich Motorway (National Route M2) - east – Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast
Cunningham Highway (National Highway A15) - west - Dinmore		South-eastern end of Warrego Highway (State Route M2 / National Highway A2)
Karalee / Chuwar /
North Tivoli boundary		6.33.9 Mount Crosby Road (State Route 37) - north - Mount Crosby
south - Tivoli		Modified diamond interchange.
Part of Chuwar is in the Brisbane LGA.
Brassal / Muirlea boundary12.98.0 Fernvale Road (State Route 38) - south - Brassall
Pine Mountain Road - north - Pine Mountain		Modified diamond interchange.
The road changes to National Highway A2 from this point.
Blacksoil / Ironbark /
Karrabin boundary		15.49.6 Brisbane Valley Highway (National Route A17) - north - Fernvale
Wulkuraka Connection Road - south - Wulkuraka		Modified diamond interchange.
LockyerGatton55.934.7 Eastern Drive (State Route 80) - south-west - Gatton
Gatton Esk Road - north - Esk		Modified diamond interchange.
ToowoombaToowoomba94.658.8 New England Highway (State Route A3) - north - North Toowoomba
Hume Street - south - Centenary Heights		Eastern concurrency terminus with New England Highway.
95.159.1 New England Highway (State Route A3) - south - South Toowoomba
Ruthven Street - north - North Toowoomba		Western concurrency terminus with New England Highway.
Newtown / Harristown boundary97.360.5 Gore Highway (National Highway A39) - south - South Toowoomba
Anzac Avenue - north - Newtown
Oakey123.977.0 Oakey Pittsworth Road (State Route 68) - north-east - Oakey
Western DownsDalby175.9109.3 Dalby Cecil Plains Road (State Route 82) - south - Cecil PlainsEastern concurrency terminus with State Route 82.
179.3111.4 Bunya Highway (State Route 49) - north-east - Bell
Condamine Street - south-west - Dalby		Eastern concurrency terminus with State Route 49.
179.8111.7 Moonie Highway (State Route 49) - south-west - Moonie
Nicholson Street - north-east - Dalby		Western concurrency terminus with State Route 49.
180.5112.2 Jandowae Road (State Route 82) - north - JandowaeWestern concurrency terminus with State Route 82.
Miles305.5189.8 Leichhardt Highway (State Route A5) - south - CondamineEastern concurrency terminus with Leichhardt Highway.
306.7190.6 Leichhardt Highway (State Route A5) - north - WandoanWestern concurrency terminus with Leichhardt Highway.
MaranoaRoma440.7273.8 Carnarvon Highway (State Route A55) - south - SuratEastern concurrency terminus with Carnarvon Highway.
446.7277.6 Carnarvon Highway (State Route A55) - north - InjuneWestern concurrency terminus with Carnarvon Highway.
MurwehMorven627.7390.0 Landsborough Highway (National Highway A2) - north-west - AugathellaThe road changes to Alternate National Highway A2 from this point.
National Highway A2 continues as Landsborough Highway.
Charleville714.5444.0 Mitchell Highway (State Route A71) - north - Augathella
south - Cunnamulla		North-western end of Warrego Highway.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Warrego Highway Upgrade Program: Toowoomba to Oakey Duplication Stage 2 (Leeson Road to Kingsthorpe)". Queensland Government - Department of Transport and Main Roads. Queensland Government. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  2. ↑ "Map of Warrego Highway in Queensland". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  3. ↑ "Reconstruction at Toowoomba Range crossing, Warrego Highway". Queensland Reconstruction Authority. Queensland Government. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "Toowoomba Range lanes reopen as part of Operation Queenslander". Media Statement. Queensland Government. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  5. ↑ Robyn Ironside (28 September 2011). "Stretch of Warrego Highway named after Darren Lockyer". The Courier Mail.
  6. ↑ Paul Rands. "Road Photos & Information: Queensland". Gateway Motorway, Logan Motorway, Ipswich Motorway, Warrego Highway, Landsborough Highway and Barkly Highway (M2/A2) - Toowoomba to Chinchilla. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  7. ↑ "The Old Toll Bar". Geocaching Australia. Retrieved 30 December 2011.

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