New South Wales Road Photo Gallery:
National Route 32 (Great Western Highway)

The highway is signposted as National Route 32 from Lapstone in Sydney's west, to its terminus at Bathurst. If you wish to see the SR44 section of the highway, click here.

The Great Western Highway runs from Sydney to Bathurst. The Great Western Highway is regarded as one of the oldest roads in Australia. Starting as George Street in downtown Sydney, and becoming Parramatta Road, it heads west across metropolitain Sydney to Penrith, where it crosses the Nepean River. It then crosses the Blue Mountains and the Great Dividing Range to Bathurst.

The road across the Blue Mountains was built by William Cox in 1815 shortly after a viable route across the mountains was discovered. An obelisk at Macquarie Place in Sydney records the construction of the road during the rule of Governor Lachlan Macquarie.

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History:

In 1813 Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson were to successfully cross the Blue Mountains by following the ridgeline separating the Grose and Cox Rivers. In November 1813, Governor Macquarie dispatched Surveyor George William Evans to confirm the crossing, and using Lawson’s notes and directions, Evans’ party was able to reach further west to arrive at what is now Bathurst.

On July 12 1814, the Sydney Gazette announced: It being the Intention of His Excellency the Governor to send in the course of a few Days a Working Party, of thirty Men, under the Protection of a Guard of eight Soldiers, to commence the Construction of a Cart Road from ‘Emu Plains’ (hitherto erroneously called ‘Emu Island’) situate on the left Bank of the Nepean River, across the Blue Mountains to the extensive Tract of Champagne Country lately explored by Mr Evans…

Magistrate William Cox was given the task of overseeing the construction of the new road, which the Governor’s office described as ‘an object of the first Importance to the future Prosperity of the Colony’ (Sydney Gazette, July 12 1814). By January 1815, the 12 foot wide, 160km long convict built road was complete. In April and May 1815, Governor and Mrs Macquarie undertook a ‘Tour to the Newly Discovered Country’ along Cox’s road and selected the site for the town of Bathurst. Continuous improvements were made to the Cox’s Road (Cox’s Causeway) during the 1820’s and 1830’s, especially under the direction of the Surveyor General Thomas Mitchell. The challenging topography of the Blue Mountains demanded ambitious engineering responses, and by the late 1830’s Cox’s rough track had been transformed into the Great Western Road with bridges, retaining walls and huge cuttings blast out of the mountains by convict labour.

• 1813: explorers Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson successfully crossed the Blue Mountains by following the ridgeline separating the Grose and Cox Rivers.
• 1820-30s: highway route moved to northern side of railway in the Leura area.
• 1930s: Between Marrangaroo Creek and the state forest west of Wallerawang, the highway was reconstructed in reinforced concrete as an unemployment relief project.
• 1950s: the ‘Forty Bends’, where the Highway runs along the foot of Hassans Walls approaching Lithgow, were eased.
• 1957: a short deviation immediately west of Linden eliminated two narrow overpasses of the railway, both of which had right angle bend approaches from both directions.
• 1960s: the highway was deviated to bypass Springwood shopping centre, eliminating two narrow underpasses of the railway. These remain in use for local traffic. East of Wentworth Falls, near Kings Tableland Road, a 600 m long section of the highway was deviated to remove a series of closely-spaced sharp curves. At Yetholme, the Highway was almost entirely reconstructed and widened to three lanes for most of its length.
• 1980s: A short length of abandoned railway formation was used to ease a curve on the Highway 3 km west of Katoomba, near the Explorers Tree. Deviation of the Highway between Sinclair Crescent and Myall Avenue Leura, leaving a one kilometre long section of disused Highway pavement along the southern edge of the Digger Cooper Reserve.
• 1985: construction of the Katoomba Bypass which eliminated the historic No 10 level crossing at Katoomba.
• 1990s: minor deviations of the Highway were undertaken in conjunction with widening through the Lithgow suburbs of South Littleton and Bowenfels. Between Marrangaroo Creek and the state forest west of Wallerawang, most of the highway's 1930s concrete section was removed when the highway was deviated and duplicated in the 1990s. Further west, the highway has been almost entirely rerouted.
• 1994: the highway was terminated at Emu Plains with the closure of the Knapsack Gully Viaduct. An extension to the M4 motorway at Emu Plains was constructed which rejoined with the highway at Lapstone. The upper portion of the Great Western Highway from Russell Street is now only used by residents and cars coming from Blaxland via Mitchells Pass.
• July 2000: Four lanes and pedestrian bridge at Warrimoo railway station.
• December 2003: realignment at Medlow Bath.
• August 2004: Removal of the sharp bend at ‘Shell Corner' and upgrade to 4 lanes at Katoomba.
• June 2001: Four lanes and pedestrian bridge at Faulconbridge railway station.
• June 2002: Soldiers Pinch realignment and deviation completed.
• August 2003: Upgrade from two lanes to four-lane divided carriageway at Linden. Three new bridges, including bridge for Tollgate Drive and pedestrian signals at Linden railway station.
• June 2005: Falls Road to West Street at Wentworth Falls upgraded to a four-lane divided carriageway. Access improved at three intersections. Wider road shoulders for bus set-down and pick-up. New cycle lanes. Tableland Road to Station Street upgraded to four lanes. Improved road safety and cycle facilities.
• November 2006: Woodford to Hazelbrook: four lanes, divided carriageway and intersection improvements

Length (Total):	1562 km
Length (Great Western Hwy):	203 km
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Information gathered from Sam Laybutt, Michael Greenslade, Wikipedia and Roads and Traffic Authority.

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