The Lyell Highway (Route A10) is a highway in Tasmania, running from

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

to Queenstown. It is the one of two transport routes that passes through the

West Coast Range The West Coast Range is a mountain range located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The range lies to the west and north of the main parts of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. The range has had a significant nu ...

, the other being the

Anthony Road The Anthony Road (Route B28) is a major B Route in Western Tasmania, running from the Murchison Highway (A10) at Tullah to the Zeehan Highway (A10) north of Queenstown. It is, with the Lyell Highway, one of only two roads that run within o ...

Name

The name is derived from Mount Lyell, the mountain peak where copper was found in the late 19th century; the

Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was a Tasmanian mining company formed on 29 March 1893, most commonly referred to as ''Mount Lyell''. Mount Lyell was the dominant copper mining company of the West Coast from 1893 to 1994, and was based in ...

was the predominant business in Queenstown for almost 100 years.

Hobart to Central Highlands section

Starting at Granton it winds along the southern side of the Derwent River in a generally north westerly direction to New Norfolk. This section has in the past been susceptible to flooding. At New Norfolk it crosses the Derwent River and winds its way through hilly terrain to

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

. Just prior to Hamilton is the turnoff to

Bothwell Bothwell is a conservation village in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, east-south-east of Glasgow city centre. Description and history An ancien ...

via a sealed route that passes Arthurs Lake and ultimately goes on to Launceston.

Central Highlands section

After Hamilton, the small town of

Ouse Ouse may refer to: Places Rivers in England * River Ouse, Yorkshire * River Ouse, Sussex * River Great Ouse, Northamptonshire and East Anglia ** River Little Ouse, a tributary of the River Great Ouse Other places * Ouse, Tasmania, a town in Aus ...

is the only other population centre on the highway until the former

Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

town of Wayatinah. When the highway was first constructed, it made use of existing tracks and roads in the Victoria Valley area, directly north of Ouse, leaving the Ouse and Derwent River valleys and climbing the hilly country through the towns of Osterley, Victoria Valley and Dee before rejoining the present highway near Brontë. This route closely skirts Dee Lagoon, and runs close to several other lakes, particularly Lake Echo. The now-bypassed road is narrow, and unsealed. When the hydro-electric system was expanding and their works were under construction at Tarraleah, the highway was re-aligned to follow the Derwent River until it passed Tarraleah to provide better access to the area for construction vehicles. The Ouse-Tarraleah section was opened to traffic in August 1940 even though construction work had not finished. After Tarraleah the road climbs steeply out of the Nive River gorge until it re-joins the original route near Brontë. At Brontë the

Marlborough Highway The Marlborough Highway is a minor highway in Tasmania. It links the Lyell Highway to the Lake Highway and cuts short the otherwise very long journey from the West Coast to the Central Highlands. The road leaves the Lyell Highway near Bronte ...

(B11) turns off the main road and leads to the Great Lake, where it joins the Lakes Highway and eventually runs to Deloraine. A common short-cut is the "14-Mile Road" (C601), a gravel road which cuts across the Nive Plains just after Tarraleah, by-passing the steep Tarraleah Gorge section, re-joining the highway several kilometres past Brontë. It is not a safe alternative as it is a narrow, unsealed road, and can be frequented by log-trucks. In wintry conditions the whole of the Central Highlands section is susceptible to

black ice Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, is a thin coating of glaze ice on a surface, especially on streets. The ice itself is not black, but visually transparent, allowing the often black road below to be seen through it. The typically low level ...

, and it can be exceptionally bad in the heavily forested section west of Ouse, but it can be encountered all the way to the west coast. Snow is usually encountered in the Derwent Bridge area during most winters and may force closure of the road occasionally for several days. This applies to both the newer Tarraleah section and the older Osterley-Lake Echo-Dee section. As the highway enters Derwent Bridge it strikes a midpoint between

Lake St Clair Lake St. Clair (french: Lac Sainte-Claire) is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day ...

to the north, and Lake King William to the south.

West Coast section

This section is usually known as that west of Derwent Bridge or Mount King William. It runs through the

Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers is a national park in Tasmania, 117 km west of Hobart. It is named after the two main river systems lying within the bounds of the park - the Franklin River and the Gordon River. Location The Franklin-Gordon Wi ...

, and through the

before reaching Queenstown. There has also been a state reserve along the highway. The highway did not reach Queenstown until November 1932, and was not properly surfaced for some time after that, and frequently blocked. During construction in the late 1920s and early 1930s it was called the ''West Coast Road''. Due to its altitude, the section of the highway over the plateau between Derwent Bridge and Mount King William is often closed during winter due to ice and snow. It can also be affected by rockfalls. With the damming of the King River and the creation of

Lake Burbury Lake Burbury is a man-made water reservoir created by the Crotty Dam inundating the upper King River valley that lies east of the West Coast Range. Discharge from the reservoir feeds the John Butters Hydroelectric Power Station, owned and op ...

, the highway was re-routed to a narrow point where the Bradshaw bridge could be constructed across the lake.

Notes

References

* * Whitham, Charles. ''Western Tasmania: A Land of Riches and Beauty.''

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20060821115426/http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wha/wherein/detail.html Map of World Heritage Area {{CentralHighlandsTasmania , state=autocollapse Highways in Tasmania Central Highlands (Tasmania) Roads in Western Tasmania