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Photo Gallery
Queensland Road Photo Gallery:
National Route 1 (Captain Cook Highway)
Captain Cook Highway is a short highway that starts in Cairns and ends in Daintree, via the Daintree-Mossman Road, more than 150km away, however only a small section is National Route 1, eventually it becomes State Route 44.
Captain Cook Highway is used by many tourists to travel to Port Douglas north of Cairns. It's a vital link between two tourist locations. The highway travels along the coast of tropical seaside rainforest heading towards Port Douglas and Daintree. Some 20 km of the total 75 km hug the shoreline providing spectacular ocean views.
The highway can be divided into three sections;each reflecting a separate era in the development of the area north of Cairns. Cairns to Buchans Point is a major arterial serving the rapidly expanding Marlin Coast and intersects the Kennedy Highway at Smithfield. The countryside is relatively flat and, until recently, was predominantly cane fields. Buchans Point to Craiglea (Mowbray River) traverses the ruaaed coastline and is the "tourist" compoent of the road. This section attracts the greatest interest from tourists and perhaps some of the greatest distractions for the motorist. Craiglea to Mossman connects the rapidly developing Port Douglas area to the administrative centre of Douglas Shire in Mossman. Again the countryside is generally flat, with well established cane fields.
The standard of the road has certainly improved from the earlv davs when it was only a rough track connecting Cairns to the isolated communities of Port Douglas and Mossman.
Early Construction
1930-1934
The Cook Highway (gazetted as Cook State
Highway No. 11) now included the whole of the
Cairns-Port Douglas Road together with the
Port Douglas-Mossman Road and, from Mossman, continued on to the Daintree
landing ground. The road from Mossman to
Daintree was being built as quickly as possible
and was practically completed by June 1931.
Meanwhile, in 1931, construction on the
Cairns-Port Douglas Road started near
Double Island (Buchans Point) using day
labour, with many men being recruited from
the unemployed.
By June 1932, a contract had
been let for six miles of road starting at the Port
Douglas end. Five bridges with a total length of
285 feet were constructed or were in the
process of construction, between the end of
the contract and Cairns. During this time, it was
recognised that the road would be a great
attraction to the winter tourist visiting North
Queensland and would do much towards the
development bf North Queensland.
Work continued through 1933 with contractor,
Tanner and Kenny working from the Port
Douglas end and day labour from the Cairns
end. The environment was considered, with
coconuts and other tropical trees being planted
adiacent to the road. Bridaes over Turtle Creek.
Hartleys Creek and over the South Mossman
River were completed. A new bridge over the
Barron River at Stratford (Contractor W. Kelly)
was well in hand and, when completed, would
shorten the Cook Highway as well as improve
access to the Barron Delta.
On 17 December 1933, the Cook Highway was officially opened at Hartleys Creek by the
then Minister for Public Works, the Honorable
H.I. Bruce. However, the cost of the road's
construction had been high and, as it was to be
used extensively by tourist traffic, arrangements
were made for the institution of a toll. The
proceeds from the toll were to go towards the
cost of road's maintenance.
Improvements 1935-1958
Gradually, improvements were undertaken.
However, it was realised that the road would
need a bitumen surface to make it dust free
and therefore enhance its tourist potential.
A timber bridge over Thomatis Creek was
completed by June 1937. Thomatis Creek was
formed when the Barron River broke its banks
in the flood of 1932. This link provided a shorter
route for the Cook Highway across the Barron
Delta from Stratford to Smithfield.
Bitumen surfacing commenced at the Cairns
end in 1938 and, except for a short length at
Craiglea, was fully sealed to Mossman by the
end of 1940. Higher level bridges were also
completed over Cassowary Creek and the
Mossman River.
During 1940, Cairns Shire was replaced by
Mulgrave Shire and work was undertaken on
what was to be the Kennedy Highway which
intersects the Cook Highway at Smithfield.
Soon after the end of World War II, the last
remaining unsealed section of the highway
was sealed at Craiglea. The toll was abolished,
having raised a gross revenue of $12 755
during 12 years.
For the next 10 years(1946-1956), the majority
of works concentrated on improvements to the
road's width. The gazetted length of the
highway still extended to Daintree. Traffic
volumes on the highway were steadily
increasing to between 300 and 500 vehicles
per day.
From 1956 to 1958, much controversy raged in
Douglas Shire and Cook Shire over extending
the Cook Highway to Cooktown.
Further Developments
1958-1987
1958 saw an important development for the
Cook Highway with the commencement of sugar transport from Mossman to Cairns
by road.
With the highway now carrying additional
commercial traffic, maintenance needs on the
road increased. The Mowbray River Bridge
was redecked in 1959 and major widening
works to provide 18 feet of bitumen seal
between Yule Point and Buchans Point were
completed in 1961.
The new road plan for Queensland was
gazetted in 1964 and the Cook Highway was
renumbered as Highway No. 20.
Between 1965 and 1977, a number of timber
bridges were replaced with concrete bridges
(Hartleys Creek 1966, Saltwater Creek in
Cairns 1966 and Deep Creek 1971) and major
widening works were undertaken to provide a
safer two-lane bitumen seal between Cairns
and Mossman.
Emphasis on the highway then concentrated
on the Cairns end with increasing traffic
volumes demanding a road of higher flood
immunity and better alignment. The new
higher level bridge over the Barron River
(current bridge) was officially opened by the,
then Minister for Local Government and Man
Roads, (the Honorable R.J. Hinze, M.L.A.) on
16 December 1977. The associated four lanes
on a new alignment past the airport between
Saltwater Creek and Arnold Street was
completed in 1980. Improvements to the
highway across the Barron Delta were
highlighted by new bridges over Avondale
Creek in l981 and Thornatis Creek in 1983.
In August 1982, a plaque honouring the man
behind the Cook Highway, Mr R.D. Rex, was
unveiled at the Rex Lookout on White Cliff
Point.
By the end of 1987, work had commenced on
extending the four lanes north from Cairns to
the Holloways Beach intersection. This
was
completed in 1988.
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| Sources: Wikipedia, Main Roads QLD "The Captain Cook Highway - 1788-1988" |
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