Landsborough Highway: Difference between revisions

Landsborough Highway Queensland
Landsborough Highway (green on black)
General information
Type	Highway
Length	1,049 km (652 mi)
Route number(s)	National Highway A2
Former route number	National Highway 66 National Highway 71 National Highway A2
Major junctions
SE end	Warrego Highway, (State Highway A2), Morven, Queensland
	Mitchell Highway (State Highway A71) Capricorn Highway (State Highway A4) Kennedy Developmental Road (State Route 62) Flinders Highway (State Highway A6)
NW end	Barkly Highway, (National Highway A2), Cloncurry, Queensland
Location(s)
Major settlements	Augathella, Blackall, Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Queensland

Landsborough Highway is a highway in western Queensland, Australia, running in the northwest–southeast direction from Morven to Cloncurry. The Landsborough Highway runs through vast tracts of land that was once occupied by William Landsborough, an Australian explorer of the 19th century. It is also the central part of the tourist route known as the Matilda Way after the popular Australian song Waltzing Matilda, which extends from Bourke in central northern New South Wales to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The entire highway is an important part of the National Highway system linking Darwin and Brisbane: formerly National Route 66 (Cloncurry to Barcaldine) and National Route 71 (Barcaldine to Augathella), Queensland began to convert to the alphanumeric system much of Australia had adopted in the early-2000s and is now designated as National Route A2. Its importance also stems from the fact that it is the only sealed link between Flinders Highway and Capricorn Highway apart from Gregory Development Road between Emerald and Charters Towers.

The highway services an important sheep and cattle grazing region, tourist traffic and local properties. The highway is fully sealed but with many sections of substandard width and quality. It is also flood-prone with lengthy closures during floods.

Northern Australia Roads Program upgrade

The Northern Australia Roads Program announced in 2016 included the following project for the Landsborough Highway.

Pavement widening and strengthening

The project for pavement widening and strengthening between Longreach and Winton (Package 1) was completed in early 2020 at a total cost of $27 million.

Roads of strategic importance upgrade

The Roads of Strategic Importance initiative, last updated in March 2022, included the following project for the Landsborough Highway.

Corridor upgrade

A lead project to upgrade the Mount Isa to Rockhampton corridor, including sections of the Landsborough and Capricorn Highways and surrounding state and council roads, at an estimated cost of $237.5 million, was in the planning and scoping stage. Works are expected to include progressive sealing, lane duplications and crossing upgrades.

Other upgrades

Pavement strengthening and widening

A project to strengthen and widen pavement 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of Winton, at a cost of $4 million, was completed in June 2021.

A project to strengthen and widen pavement 23 kilometres (14 mi) north-west of Winton, at a cost of $6 million, was completed in December 2021.

Towns

Towns along the highway are listed below:

• Augathella
• Tambo
• Blackall
• Barcaldine
• Longreach
• Winton
• Kynuna
• McKinlay
• Cloncurry

Major intersections

LGA	Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Murweh	Morven	0	0.0	Warrego Highway (State Route A2) – east – Morven / Mitchell / Warrego Highway (Alternate State Route A2) – west – Charleville	Southern end of Landsborough Highway (National Route A2)
	Augathella	83.2	51.7	Mitchell Highway (State Route A71 / Alternate State Route A2) – south–west – Charleville
Barcaldine	Barcaldine	413.2	256.8	Capricorn Highway (State Route A4) – east – Emerald
Longreach	Longreach	521.2	323.9	Thomson Developmental Road (See Notes column) – south – Windorah	Thomson Developmental Road is part of a former proposed National Route 79 from Melbourne to Longreach. This route is now signed as M79/A79 from Melbourne to Mildura, then B79 to Broken Hill, beyond which there is no signed number.
Winton	Winton	699.2	434.5	Kennedy Developmental Road (State Route 62) – north – Hughenden	Eastern concurrency terminus with Kennedy Developmental Road
	Corfield	705.1	438.1	Kennedy Developmental Road (State Route 62) – west – Boulia	Western concurrency terminus with Kennedy Developmental Road
McKinlay	Kynuna	859.1	533.8	Julia Creek Kynuna Road (State Route 84) – north – Julia Creek
Cloncurry	Cloncurry	1,033.1	641.9	Flinders Highway (State Route A6) – west – Cloncurry / east – Julia Creek	Eastern concurrency terminus with Flinders Highway
		1,048.9	651.8	Barkly Highway (National Route A2) – west – Mount Isa / Burke Developmental Road (State Route 83) – north – Normanton	Western concurrency terminus with Flinders Highway. Northern end of Landsborough Highway.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

See also

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in Queensland