Kuranda Range Highway
History
Construction of the present Kuranda Range road as an alternative to the Gillies Highway began in 1940. This was partly as a result of public demand for better access to the Atherton Tableland, but also due to strategic wartime use. Whereas the previous Smithfield Track went relatively straight up the spur from Avondale Creek, passing by the present location of Henry Ross Lookout, and emerged at Mountain Grove, the new road took a far more circuitous route.
The Queensland Main Roads Commission surveyed, planned and constructed the Cairns-Kuranda road. The initial survey work was undertaken by the Commission Engineer A.J. Bond in 1939 in order to determine whether a grade was feasible. Henry Ross was appointed foreman. Single and married men's quarters were also established where the Smithfield Shopping Centre now stands. About 100 men built the road, with the aid of bulldozers, jackhammers and dynamite. Although most workers had to walk up and down the range each day to their work area, temporary blacksmith's shops were set up on site to sharpen jackhammer bits. There were no fatal accidents during construction and the road was completed to the top of the range in approximately 12 months.
Henry Ross chose "The Orange Grove" as the campsite for the second stage of the road into Kuranda. At the time of construction there was a low-level bridge over the Barron River to allow access to rainforest timbers on the eastern side of the river. On completion, the gravel road was predominantly a dual carriageway, however there were parts that were of one-way standard due to their roughness. In 1944 the road was reconditioned, and the Barron River bridge and approaches widened. In the years since, the range road has been improved, widened and re-surfaced many times.
See also
References
- ^ "Cultural Heritage Assessment for the Integrated Transport Study for Kuranda Range incorporating Working Paper 4 of the Impact Assessment Study and a Supplementary Issues Study" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2018.