The Captain Cook Highway is a short, regional highway in

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 ...

that originates in

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

and terminates in Mossman, where it joins Mossman-Daintree Road, continuing to Daintree. It is a state-controlled regional road (number 20A). The highway is used to connect the CBD of Cairns to the Northern Beaches, a collection of suburbs that comprise the northern section of Cairns. It is also used by many tourists travelling to the town of Port Douglas, north of Cairns. Apart from being a link between two tourist locations, the Captain Cook Highway is a scenic highway that winds alongside the coast of the tropical seaside rainforest heading towards Port Douglas and Daintree National Park.

Route description

The Captain Cook Highway commences at the northern end of the Bruce Highway (Mulgrave Road), in the Cairns CBD. It runs through the CBD and the suburbs of Cairns North and Aeroglen as Sheridan Street, with a speed limit of 60km/h. In this section, it intersects with Airport Drive, providing a connection to Cairns Airport. After the intersection with Aeroglen Drive, the northerly and southerly directions of the highway become separated by a median and the speed limit increases to 80km/h. It runs as National Route 1 north past the suburbs of Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, and Yorkeys Knob, until it reaches the intersection of the Cairns Western Arterial Road towards the Redlynch Valley. As of 25 November 2021, the highway branches off from this intersection onto the Smithfield Bypass (now renamed Kudakai Crossland Connection); a two-lane highway which follows a path to the east of the Smithfield business centre. This was constructed at a cost of $164 million. The original route continues north to the intersection of the Kennedy Highway in Smithfield, next to the Smithfield Shopping Centre. From this intersection, the highway continues north to the intersection of McGregor road, next to James Cook University, where it joins with the Smithfield Bypass. The two routes recombine and continue north as State Route 44 past the suburbs of Trinity Park, Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove, and Ellis Beach. It then continues along the coast through Wangetti, Craiglie and Killaloe, then west between Bonnie Doon in the north and Cassowary and Shannonvale in the south, where it passes the exit to Mossman-Mount Molloy Road (State Route 44) to the south, before turning north-west to its terminus in Mossman.

History

A coastal highway connecting Cairns to Port Douglas was first proposed in 1918. Construction of the original route began in 1931, and the highway was officially opened on 17 December 1933. It originally opened as a toll road. Its original route north of Cairns passed through Stratford and crossed the Barron River over the Kamerunga Lower Bridge, as the planned bridge at Stratford was beset by delays. The wooden highway bridge at Stratford was opened to traffic while still incomplete via temporary spans after an unnamed cyclone caused flooding that swept away parts of the unfinished bridge in 1934. The highway was originally unsealed, and sealing works took place through 1938–1940, with the last section sealed in 1945. The highway's toll was abolished in 1946. In 1977, construction of a new

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

crossing over the Barron River at Stratford took place. The bridge officially opened on 16 December 1977. The bridge was named the William Walter Mason Bridge on 12 August 1978. The bridge and highway were duplicated at Stratford in 1988. The highway was closed in December 2023 after heavy rain linked to

Cyclone Jasper Severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper was the wettest tropical cyclone in Australian history, surpassing Cyclone Peter, Peter of 1979. The third disturbance of the 2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season and the first named storm and severe tropical cy ...

caused landslips, debris and significant damage north of Palm Cove to Port Douglas. Reopening occurred on the 20 January 2024.

Upgrades

Upgrade planning

A project to analyse options for upgrading a section of road from Poolwood Road roundabout to Endeavour Road, at a cost of $620,000, was to be completed by mid-2021.

Upgrade construction

A project to upgrade the road between Cairns and Smithfield, at a cost of $359 million, was expected to commence construction in June 2022.

Mossman–Mount Molloy Road

Mossman–Mount Molloy Road is a state-controlled district road (number 653). It starts at an intersection with Captain Cook Highway (State Route 44) at the Bonnie Doon, Cassowary, Shannonvale tripoint. It runs south as State Route 44, for to , where it ends at an intersection with Mulligan Highway. The road has no major intersections.

Major intersections

Gallery

File:Captain Cook Highway passing through Ellis Beach, 2018.jpg, Captain Cook Highway, Ellis Beach, 2018 File:Ocean view, Captain Cook Highway, 2015 (02).JPG, Captain Cook Highway, Wangetti, 2015 File:Captain Cook Highway, Craiglie, 2015.JPG, Captain Cook Highway, Craiglie, 2015 File:Captain Cook Highway, Mossman, 2015.JPG, Captain Cook Highway at Mossman, 2015

References

External links

{{Road infrastructure in Queensland Cairns, Queensland Highways in Queensland Far North Queensland Highway 1 (Australia)