Track
The first section of the New England Highway west from Hexham to Maitland is dual carriageway, with the towns en route to Maitland bypassed. This section is partially grade separated, and carries heavy amounts of local traffic, with a large proportion of the traffic being trucks. In Maitland the highway continues via a dual carriageway CBD bypass to Telarah, from which point it reverts to single carriageway. Beyond Maitland, the only sections of dual carriageway are through Belford Forest west of Branxton (1998), the 1966 deviation necessitated by the creation of Lake Liddell near Muswellbrook, the crossing of the Liverpool Range at Nowlands Gap immediately north of Murrurundi (stage 1 1994, stage 2 1997), through South Tamworth, and the ascent of the Moonbi Range between Tamworth and Bendemeer (1982).
As far as Muswellbrook the highway carries heavy industrial traffic associated with the extensive coal mining in the Hunter Valley. Duplication of the highway and bypasses of towns as far as Muswellbrook is proposed by the Roads and Traffic Authority, but no funding has yet been allocated for these proposals, and the only bypass for which an alignment has been adopted is that of Muswellbrook. Beyond Muswellbrook traffic volumes do not justify dual carriageways on most sections of the highway. The main substandard sections of the highway are generally in the upper Hunter Valley around Parkville, Wingen and Blandford. Once the highway climbs the Liverpool Range to the Northern Tablelands, most sections provide excellent driving.
In recent years the main upgrading activities in the Highway have been the deviation and duplication through Belford Forest, deviation and duplication over the Liverpool Range immediately north of Murrurundi, the Tamworth CBD bypass (an upgrading of an existing road), the Bendemeer bypass, the Armidale bypass, and deviations at Black Mountain and the Devils Pinch north of Armidale.
Long lengths of the New England Highway are subject to severe frost and snowfall, with the 350 km section from the Moonbi Ranges to Stanthorpe located at high altitudes. The highest point on the Highway is where it crosses the Ben Lomond Range halfway between Armidale and Glen Innes.
Speed cameras have been installed on the New England Highway at:
- Lochinvar – between Robert Road and Station Lane
- Scone – between Eveleigh Circuit and Forbes Street
- Blandford – between Hayles Street and Mills Street
- Murrurundi – between Bernard Street and Adelaide Street
- Ben Lomond – between Ross Road and Ben Lomond Road
- Wallabadah – between Gaspard Road and Lowestoft Road
- Kootingal – between Gill Street and Yarrol Road
- Tilbuster – between Sunnyside Road and Tilbuster Ponds Bridge
- Llangothlin – between Ben Lomond Road and Everetts Road
- Tenterfield – between Duncan Street and George Street.
Read more about this topic: New England Highway
Famous quotes containing the word track:
“Water. Its sunny track in the plain; its splashing in the garden canal, the sound it makes when in its course it meets the mane of the grass; the diluted reflection of the sky together with the fleeting sight of the reeds; the Negresses fill their dripping gourds and their red clay containers; the song of the washerwomen; the gorged fields the tall crops ripening.”
—Jacques Roumain (1907–1945)
“If you are ambitious of climbing up to the difficult, and in a manner inaccessible, summit of the Temple of Fame, your surest way is to leave on one hand the narrow path of Poetry, and follow the narrower track of Knight-Errantry, which in a trice may raise you to an imperial throne.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)