Heathcote Road is a major arterial road in the south of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It runs from Newbridge Road in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

to the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

Heathcote Heathcote may refer to: Places in Australia *Heathcote, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney **Electoral district of Heathcote, a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly **Heathcote National Park ** Parish of Heathcote a parish of Cumberla ...

History

Heathcote Road was constructed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a military defence route and a way to bypass the old Illawarra Road which used the ridge lines and a causeway crossing of the

Woronora River The Woronora River is a Perennial stream, perennial river of the Sydney Basin, located in the Sutherland Shire Local government in Australia, local government area of Sydney, Greater Metropolitan Sydney, approximately south of the Sydney centr ...

between Menai and

Engadine Engadine may refer to: Places * Engadin(e), a valley region in Switzerland *Engadine, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia *Engadine, Michigan, unincorporated community in Michigan *Engadine (Candler, North Carolina) Engadine, also kno ...

. Construction began in 1940 and was completed in 1943.

Geography

Heathcote Road plays a major role in the servicing of traffic travelling between the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

and

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and also provides access to the

Holsworthy Barracks Holsworthy Barracks is an Australian Army military barracks, located in the Heathcote National Park in Holsworthy approximately from the central business district, in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The barracks is part of th ...

. Other major adjoining roads are the

M5 Motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

in Liverpool and the New Illawarra Road at

Lucas Heights Lucas Heights is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is near to the Royal National Park. Geography It is located 31 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government ...

Vegetation

As its name suggests, the road is generally surrounded by

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

, but more often dry

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

woodlands and shrublands with some mallee vegetation.

Incidents

The road has a history of accidents, due to its narrow nature, the number of blind corners and the steep gradients.

References

Streets in Sydney Heathcote, New South Wales {{Australia-road-stub

History

Geography

Vegetation

Incidents

See also

References