Warrego Highway


The Warrego Highway is located in southern Queensland, Australia. It connects coastal centres to the south western areas of the state, and is approximately 715 km in length. It takes its name from the Warrego River, which is the endpoint of the highway. The entire highway is part of the National Highway system linking Darwin and Brisbane: formerly National Highway 54, Queensland began to convert to the alphanumeric system much of Australia had adopted in the early-2000s and is now designated as National Highway A2.

Route description

The highway commences at the end of the M2 Ipswich Motorway, near Ipswich, and climbs the Great Dividing Range to Toowoomba. After reaching the top of the Toowoomba Range, the highway passes through the city via Cohoe, James, Tor and Bridge streets. The Warrego then crosses the Darling Downs, bypassing the town of Oakey and then passing through the towns of Dalby, Chinchilla and Miles, in the Western Downs. The highway continues through the towns of Roma and Mitchell in the Maranoa Region of South West Queensland. After Morven, the highway's thoroughfare continues down the Landsborough Highway, with the western turnoff continuing the Warrego Highway down to its terminus at Charleville.
The first section of highway between Ipswich and Toowoomba is mostly motorway grade; a four lane divided highway with motorway-style on-ramps and off-ramps. After the final set of traffic lights in Toowoomba, the highway merges from 4 to 2 lanes Then, the highway mostly continues in a straight line with minimal turns. At Dalby, the highway briefly returns to 4 lanes. The Warrego then continues as a rural 2 lane highway, until Charleville.

Terrain

The Warrego Highway's lowest point along its length is 3.69 m just east of where it crosses the Bremer River near Ipswich, and its highest elevation is 665 m at the top of the Great Dividing Range in Toowoomba.

Speed zones

From east to west, the highway passes through or close to the cities and major towns of:

History

In January 2011, the highway was extensively damaged where it crosses the Toowoomba Range. This included land slips, shoulder and embankment erosion, the erosion of drains and damaged rock fall netting. The road wasn't fully repaired with all four lanes open until September 2011.

Future developments

Toowoomba Second Range Crossing

The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing is a major road upgrade that bypasses the urban area of Toowoomba and provides a better crossing of the Great Dividing Range. The bypass links the Warrego Highway at Helidon Spa with the highway at Charlton. The bypass continues to the Gore Highway and is 41 km in length. It was completed in September 2019.

Dalby Eastern & Western Access Upgrades

These upgrades will begin in 2017 and will fully duplicate the highway to 4 lanes, between Cecil Plains Road and Black Street. 4 new traffic signals will be added at Black Street, Jandowae Road, Orpen Street and a pedestrian signal near Owen Street.

Other items of interest

Darren Lockyer Way

On 28 September 2011 the Queensland Main Roads Minister, Craig Wallace, announced that an 85 km stretch of the Warrego Highway was to be renamed Darren Lockyer Way, in honour of the retired Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australian rugby league captain. The section of road renamed is from Riverview to the bottom of the Toowoomba Range at Withcott. Special signage including "Welcome to Darren Lockyer Way" has been erected.

The "Toll Bar"

The section of the Warrego Highway from Withcott to the top of the Toowoomba Range was first opened in January, 1855 as a toll road, named Toll Bar Road. The toll collection point was marked by a bar across the road and a fence on either side. The upper section of Toll Bar Road was initially unsealed and very steep, with grades up to 14%. This road remained in use until December, 1939, when work on a new, less steep, upper section was completed. Part of the upper section is now a suburban street named Old Toll Bar Road. The term "The Toll Bar" is sometimes used by locals to describe the current road, and it is also used in the mapping software distributed with Navman GPS systems.

Major intersections