Hervey Range Developmental Road (alternate spellings: "Herveys", "Hervey's") is a continuous road route in the

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

and

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

local government areas of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is designated as State Route 72. It is a state-controlled regional road (number 83A).

Route description

The road commences as Hervey Range Road (State Route 72) at an intersection with Garbutt–Upper Ross Road (Thuringowa Drive / Riverway Drive) and Ross River Road (see below), on a mid-point of and . State Route 72 continues east on Ross River Road. The road proceeds west through Thuringowa Central, passing between Kirwan and , and crossing the

Bohle River The Bohle River is a river in North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The headwaters of the river rise in the Hervey Range south of and flows north along the coastal plain west of Lake Ross and then north, parallel with Ross River ...

as it enters . Here it runs under the

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Natio ...

at an incomplete

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade separation, grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. ...

. From the start to this point the road has a four-lane divided carriageway, which reverts to two lanes undivided just west of the Bruce Highway. Continuing west the road passes between and , and then crosses the Alice River, a tributary of the Black River, and follows the boundary between the localities of and . After crossing Scrubby Creek and Canal Creek, passing the exit to Black River Road to the north-east, entering Hervey Range, and crossing Log Creek, the road turns south-east. It runs parallel to the Black River as it approaches the ascent of the Hervey Range. At the peak of the range, following a circuitous climb, it passes through the southern tip of , enters the Charters Towers Region and then continues to the south-east, still in the locality of Hervey Range. On entering the locality of the road turns to the west. It continues west, passing the exit to Dotswood Road to the south and crossing several creeks and the Star River before reaching the

Burdekin River The Burdekin River is a river in North and Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the northern slopes of Boulder Mountain at Valley of Lagoons, part of the western slope of the Seaview Range, and flows into the Coral Sea at Upsta ...

, which it crosses into the locality of . After turning south-west it reaches an intersection with the

Gregory Highway The Gregory Highway is a state highway in Queensland, Australia that serves the major coal-mining centres of Central Queensland. The highway was named after Augustus Gregory, an early explorer. Route description The highway runs southward fro ...

, where it ends. About of this road has a gradient greater than 5%, of which is between 10 and 15%, and is greater than 15%. The highest point on the road is and the lowest is . The road is fully sealed. For communities along the

Gulf Developmental Road Gulf Developmental Road is an Australian highway linking the Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and Normanton, Queensland, Normanton regions in northern Queensland, Australia. It is the only sealed (Asphalt concrete, asphalt) road linking these two reg ...

, this road is part of the shortest route to east coast centres from Townsville to .

Road widening

A project to widen more than of this road, at a cost of $8.9 million, was to be completed late in 2021.

Ross River Road

Ross River Road is a state-controlled district road (number 612). It starts at an intersection with Townsville Connection Road (Bowen Road / Charters Towers Road) (State Route 17) in . It runs west as State Route 72, crossing Douglas-Garbutt Road (Nathan Street), for to , where it ends at an intersection with Garbutt–Upper Ross Road (Thuringowa Drive / Riverway Drive), while State Route 72 continues west on Hervey Range Road. The road's only major intersection is with Douglas–Garbutt Road.

History

The original Hervey Range Road, now known as Page Road, was a steep and difficult track. It was constructed in 1865, and was then the only way to travel from Townsville to the west. Gold was discovered in in 1871.Charters Towers Story
. Citigold Corporation. January 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2016. In the period 1872 to 1899 the population grew to about 25,000. The

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

opened in 1882, effectively replacing a two-day coach ride from Townsville for new arrivals. The current Hervey's Range Road (as it was then called) was opened in April, 1933.

Major intersections

All distances are from Google Maps.

References