The Gregory Highway is a state

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

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 ...

, Australia that serves the major

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

-mining centres of Central Queensland. The highway was named after Augustus Gregory, an early explorer.

Route description

The highway runs southward from Quartz Blow Creek, a point west of Mount Surprise on the Gulf Developmental Road, via Charters Towers, to Springsure, over away. The northern section of is designated by the state government as the Gregory Developmental Road. The shorter southern section between Clermont and Springsure () is designated the Gregory Highway. As of 2015, the first between the Gulf Developmental Road via Einasleigh to the Lynd Junction are unsealed and may be corrugated. The next section to Charters Towers has been upgraded from single lane to mostly dual-laned

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. The road is used by many road trains. File:Gregory Highway, QLD, Australia.jpeg, High quality road section File:Gregory Highway 2, QLD, Australia.jpeg, Example of poorer quality road section

Northern Australia Beef Roads upgrades

The Northern Australia Beef Roads Program announced in 2016 included the following project for the Gregory Developmental Road.

Road widening

The project to widen the road south of Charters Towers is expected to be completed in early 2023 at a total cost of $5.79 million.

Roads of Strategic Importance upgrades

The Roads of Strategic Importance initiative, last updated in March 2022, includes the following projects for the Gregory Highway.

Corridor upgrade

A lead project to upgrade the Townsville to Roma corridor, including sections of the Carnarvon, Dawson and Gregory Highways and surrounding state and council roads, at an estimated cost of $125 million, commenced construction of some work projects in 2020. Planning continues for other projects.

Intersection upgrade Capricorn Highway

A project to upgrade the intersection with the Capricorn Highway in at a cost of $7.9 million is scheduled for completion in mid-2023. This project was targeted for "early works" by the Queensland Government.

Pavement strengthening and widening

A project to strengthen and widen sections of pavement on the Gregory Developmental Road between Charters Towers and The Lynd at a cost of $15.3 million is planned to be completed in mid-2023. This project is targeted for "early works" by the Queensland Government.

Other upgrades

A project to widen and strengthen of pavement between Marble Creek and Christmas Creek, at a cost of $45.41 million, was due to be completed in late 2023. A project to upgrade a culvert near Porphyry Road, at a cost of $5,1 million, was due to be completed in late 2023.

Proposals

The Queensland Inland Freight Route is a proposal to upgrade the existing highways from Charters Towers to . This would involve significant upgrades to the Gregory Highway between Charters Towers and Springsure.

List of towns along the Gregory Developmental Road/Highway

* Mount Surprise * Einasleigh * Charters Towers * Belyando * Clermont * Capella *

Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York ...

* Springsure

Major intersections

References

{{Road infrastructure in Queensland Highways in Queensland