The Flinders Highway is a highway that crosses

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 ...

east to west, from

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

on the Pacific coast to

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. It is informally known by local people as The Curry. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known as the ''Friendl ...

. The road continues as the

Barkly Highway The Barkly Highway is a national highway in Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia. It is the only sealed road between Queensland and the Northern Territory. The highway is named after the Barkly Tableland, which in turn was named b ...

from Cloncurry to the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

border at Camooweal and beyond. The Flinders Highway passes a number of small

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

towns and typical outback landscape predominates towards the inland. It was known as National Route 78 before Queensland began to convert to the alphanumeric system being adopted in Australia and is now designated as A6. The highway is also known as Overlanders Way. Its entire length is part of the National Land Transport Network (formerly Auslink).

State-controlled road

Flinders Highway is a state-controlled national road. It is defined in five sections, as follows: * Number 14A, Townsville to Charters Towers. * Number 14B, Charters Towers to Hughenden. * Number 14C, Hughenden to Richmond. * Number 14D, Richmond to Julia Creek. * Number 14E, Julia Creek to Cloncurry.

History

As at 1957, only the Townsville to Charters Towers section was

sealed Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal (em ...

. The rest of the highway was progressively sealed with the last section completed in November 1976. In the 1980s, the second stage of the Ross River Dam necessitated a deviation of the Flinders Highway and Mount Isa railway line (which previously ran straight north-south) to be further east. This was completed by 1986 and resulted in the closure of Toonpan and Barringha railway stations on the removed route; they were not re-established on new route.

Northern Australia Roads Program upgrades

The

Northern Australia Roads Program Northern Australia Roads Program is a suite of projects designed to deliver upgrades to high priority roads in northern Australia. In 2016 the Australian Government announced 19 projects to be funded under this program, and in 2020 another was add ...

announced in 2016 included two projects for the Flinders Highway.

Pavement strengthening

The project for pavement strengthening and rehabilitation between Townsville and Torrens Creek was expected to finish in late 2021 at a total cost of $22.2 million.

Replacement of culverts

The project for replacement of culverts between Charters Towers and Richmond was completed in late 2018 at a total cost of $15.1 million.

Roads of Strategic Importance upgrades

The

Roads of Strategic Importance Roads of Strategic Importance (ROSI) is a $5.8 billion initiative of the Australian Government designed to help connect regional businesses to local and international markets, and to better connect regional communities. The source for this article ...

initiative, last updated in March 2022, includes the following projects for the Flinders Highway.

Corridor upgrade

A lead project to upgrade the Queensland section of the Tennant Creek to Townsville corridor, including sections of the Barkly and Flinders Highways, the

Kennedy Developmental Road The Kennedy Highway is a highway in northern Queensland, Australia. It runs as National Route 1 for approximately 243 km from Smithfield, Queensland, Smithfield, on the northern outskirts of Cairns, to the Gulf Developmental Road in the vic ...

and surrounding state and council roads, at an estimated cost of $250 million, was in the planning stage in 2020.

Overtaking lanes

A project to construct overtaking lanes between Townsville and Charters Towers at a cost of $33.4 million is planned to be completed by mid-2023. This project is targeted for "early works" by the Queensland Government, and has been split into two packages.

Pavement strengthening and widening

A project to strengthen and widen the pavement at Scrubby Creek, between Julia Creek and Cloncurry, at a cost of $32.6 million is due for completion in early 2024. This project is targeted for "early works" by the Queensland Government.

Wide centre line treatment

A project to deliver wide centre lines on a section of road between Townsville and Charters Towers at a cost of $9.7 million was due for completion in early 2022. This project was targeted for "early works" by the Queensland Government, and was split into two packages.

Other upgrades

Construct acceleration lane

A project to construct an acceleration lane at Woodstock, at a cost of $5 million, was completed in December 2020.

Towns

Charters Towers

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

, 133 km to the south west from Townsville. A former gold rush town with a population of 30 000 in 1890. At that time it was known as "The World" because it seemed to be the centre of everything. Presently it is a centre for cattle grazing, with gold mining continuing to be an important industry. Much of the elegant gold rush architecture of the nineteenth century remains in place and is a tourist attraction.

Pentland

Pentland is located between

and Hughenden. Pentland is about away from the town of Hughenden and from the North Queensland city of

. Hughenden has about 2000 people and Charters Towers has about 9000. Pentland's population is estimated to be 250 people.

Hughenden

Located 243 km further on, Hughenden, the administrative centre of Flinders shire is in the heart of sheep and cattle country.

Richmond

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, a former gold rush town located 112 km further west. Currently a pastoral centre.

Julia Creek

Julia Creek, 147 km further west, another pastoral settlement

Cloncurry

, former copper-mining town located 139 km west from Julia Creek. The first regular

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

flights started between here and Charleville in 1922 and

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an Aeromedical retrieval, aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgen ...

service started here in 1928. Nowadays it is an important road and rail junction. Flinders Highway ends here.

Major intersections

Intersecting state-controlled roads

In addition to the Bruce, Landsborough and Barkly Highways, and the Gregory, Kennedy, Wills and Burke Developmental Roads, the following state-controlled roads, from east to west, intersect with the Flinders Highway: * Townsville Port Road * Townsville Connection Road * Woodstock–Giru Road * Burdekin Falls Dam Road * Aramac–Torrens Creek Road * Hughenden–Muttaburra Road * Richmond–Winton Road * Julia Creek–Kynuna Road

Julia Creek–Kynuna Road

Julia Creek–Kynuna Road is a state-controlled district road (number 5807), rated as a local road of regional significance (LRRS). It runs from the Flinders Highway in to the Landsborough Highway in , a distance of . It does not intersect with any other state-controlled roads.

References

External links

Overlander's Highway
A driving guide by Roderick Eime {{Road infrastructure in Queensland Highways in Queensland North West Queensland