Kennedy Highway
| Kennedy Highway Kennedy Developmental Road Queensland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Kennedy Hwy (yellow on black), Kennedy Developmental (green on black) | |
| General information | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 1,179.8 km (733 mi) |
| Route number(s) |
 National Route 1 (Smithfield - Forty Mile Scrub)  State Route 62 (Forty Mile Scrub - Bouila) |
| Major junctions | |
| NE end |
 Captain Cook Highway, Smithfield, Queensland |
 Mulligan Highway Malanda-Atherton Road Gulf Developmental Road Gregory Developmental Road Flinders Highway Landsborough Highway | |
| SW end | Diamantina Developmental Road, Boulia, Queensland |
| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Mareeba, Ravenshoe, Hughenden, Winton |
| Highway system | |
|
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Queensland | |
The Kennedy Highway is a highway in northern Queensland, Australia. It runs as National Route 1 for approximately 243 km from Smithfield, on the northern outskirts of Cairns, to the Gulf Developmental Road in the vicinity of Forty Mile Scrub and Undara Volcanic national parks (about 40 kilometres south of Mount Garnet).[1] South of this junction, the road continues as the Kennedy Developmental Road (State Highway 62) to Boulia about 936 kilometres away, via Hughenden. West of the junction National Route 1 continues as the Gulf Developmental Road to Normanton.
From Smithfield, the highway climbs up into the Atherton Tableland before heading in a general south-westerly direction to the aforementioned junction. The highway is mostly two-lanes. Major towns on, or just off, the Kennedy Highway include Smithfield, Kuranda, Mareeba, Atherton, Ravenshoe and Mount Garnet. Past Mount Garnet, the Kennedy Highway has several long sections of single lane bitumen.
Two northern councils are proposing development of the road which would allow for the transport of products from Far North Queensland to markets in New South Wales and Victoria considerably quicker than via existing coastal routes which have rougher terrain and are sometimes impassable due to floods.[2]
Major intersections
| LGA | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cairns | Smithfield | 0 | 0 | Captain Cook Highway (44) north - Port Douglas / south (1) Cairns | North-eastern end of Kennedy Highway (National Route 1) From here to Kuranda the road is more commonly known as Kuranda Range road. |
| Barron River | 12.6 | 7.8 | Bridge at Kuranda | ||
| Barron River | 47.3 | 29.4 | Bridge at Mareeba | ||
| Mareeba | Mareeba | 48.1 | 29.9 | Mareeba Connection Road - North - Mareeba | |
| 48.9 | 30.4 | Mulligan Highway (81) - North - Mareeba and Mount Molloy | |||
| Tablelands | Atherton | 80.3 | 49.9 |  Atherton-Herberton Road (52) - south - Herberton | Western concurrency terminus with State Route 52 |
| 81.0 | 50.3 | Gillies Highway (52) (via Louise Street) - north, then east - Yungaburra | Eastern concurrency terminus with State Roure 52 | ||
| 83.9 | 52.1 | Malanda-Atherton Road (25) - east - Malanda | |||
| Barron River | 90.1 | 56.0 | Bridge at Wongabel | ||
| Tablelands | Wondecla / Evelyn boundary | 108.4 | 67.4 | Longlands Gap-Herberton Road (52) - west - Herberton | |
| Evelyn | 117.2 | 72.8 |  East Evelyn Road (24) - east - Millaa Millaa | ||
| Wild River, which becomes Herbert River just downstream (south) of this point | 154.9 | 96.3 | Bridge at Millstream / Innot Hot Springs boundary | ||
| Tablelands | Minnamoolka | 243.5 | 151.3 | Gulf Developmental Road (1) - west - Georgetown | Kennedy Highway continues south as Kennedy Developmental Road (State Route 62) |
| Etheridge | Conjuboy | 338.4 | 210.3 | Gregory Developmental Road (63) - south-east - Charters Towers | From here to Hughenden the road is more commonly known by its former name, the Hann Highway |
| Flinders River | 603.7 | 375.1 | Bridge at Hughenden | ||
| Flinders | Hughenden | 604.1 | 375.4 | Flinders Highway (A6) - south, then east - Charters Towers / west - Richmond | Eastern concurrency terminus with Flinders Highway |
| 604.4 | 375.6 | Flinders Highway (A6) - west - Richmond | Western concurrency terminus with Flinders Highway. Kennedy Developmental Road continues south-west via Resolution Street. | ||
| Winton | Winton | 819.7 | 509.3 |  Landsborough Highway (A2) - south-east - Longreach / north-west - Cloncurry | Eastern concurrency terminus with Landsborough Highway. Kennedy Developmental Road enters Winton as Manuka Street. |
| Corfield | 825.6 | 513.0 | Landsborough Highway (A2) - north-west - Cloncurry | Western concurrency terminus with Landsborough Highway | |
| Boulia | Boulia | 1179.8 | 733.1 |  Diamantina Developmental Road (83) - north-west - Dajarra and Mount Isa / south-west - Birdsville | Western end of Kennedy Developmental Road (State Route 62) |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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Gallery
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Kennedy Development Road viewed from Cornpore Lookout between Middleton and Boulia
See also
References
- ↑ Hema, Maps (2007). Australia Road and 4WD Atlas (Map). Eight Mile Plains Queensland: Hema Maps. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-1-86500-456-3.
- ↑ Sam Davis (2 August 2012). "Queensland roads holding back nation's fresh fruit". ABC Far North Queensland (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 21 September 2012.
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