Old Alignments of Bruce Highway

[Aevion]

Hey all

Looking at the Bruce Highway on Google Maps, and it looks like the section near Gladstone is actually a bypass. Does anyone know if the highway did pass through Gladstone at one point?

[Rob Tilley]

According to my herald road guide yes it did 

On 5 Mar 2014, at 11:48, Aevion <vortec-...@live.com.au> wrote:

Hey all

Looking at the Bruce Highway on Google Maps, and it looks like the section near Gladstone is actually a bypass. Does anyone know if the highway did pass through Gladstone at one point?

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[Tyler Bullock]

Ooh interesting! How old is that guide? GSV doesn't cover a lot of the current highway so its hard to view the bridges along the road and at least pinpoint a rough timeline.

[Rob Tilley]

I think it's 1956

Sent from my iPhone

On 5 Mar 2014, at 23:54, Tyler Bullock <vortec-...@live.com.au> wrote:

Ooh interesting! How old is that guide? GSV doesn't cover a lot of the current highway so its hard to view the bridges along the road and at least pinpoint a rough timeline.

On 5/03/2014 1:33 PM, Rob Tilley wrote:

According to my herald road guide yes it did 

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On 5 Mar 2014, at 11:48, Aevion <vortec-...@live.com.au> wrote:

Hey all

Looking at the Bruce Highway on Google Maps, and it looks like the section near Gladstone is actually a bypass. Does anyone know if the highway did pass through Gladstone at one point?

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[Tyler Bullock]

Well I can gather a few things from the Google Maps aerial shots and some of the GSV;

- The junctions along this section are all the channelised style that was popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
- The alignment east of Dawson Highway appears to follow a much smoother alignment than the section west of Dawson Highway
- The western section has what appears to be a short bypass where it crosses the Calliope River, and an old floodway is there marked "Old Bruce Highway". The current bridge looks like a 1950s/1960s bridge from above, but the floodway could be years older and is on a much poorer alignment.

I reckon its possible there already was a road between Dawson Highway and Mount Larcom, and maybe was upgraded to form the highway, and a new alignment was constructed east of Dawson Highway to form a bypass of Gladstone. I'd pinpoint it as maybe late 1950s/early 1960s?

[Rob Tilley]

On 06/03/2014, at 6:09 PM, Tyler Bullock <vortec-...@live.com.au> wrote:

> Well I can gather a few things from the Google Maps aerial shots and some of the GSV;
>
> - The junctions along this section are all the channelised style that was popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
> - The alignment east of Dawson Highway appears to follow a much smoother alignment than the section west of Dawson Highway
> - The western section has what appears to be a short bypass where it crosses the Calliope River, and an old floodway is there marked "Old Bruce Highway". The current bridge looks like a 1950s/1960s bridge from above, but the floodway could be years older and is on a much poorer alignment.
>
> I reckon its possible there already was a road between Dawson Highway and Mount Larcom, and maybe was upgraded to form the highway, and a new alignment was constructed east of Dawson Highway to form a bypass of Gladstone. I'd pinpoint it as maybe late 1950s/early 1960s?

this one is from 1955

[Tyler Bullock]

Ooh that's interesting! Looks like an unsealed bypass of Gladstone that
was actually advertised as a shortcut. It also appears to have been
unsealed north of Calliope River. There's no NR1 shields so its hard to
tell which route the Bruce Highway followed at the time.

[Rob Tilley]

On 06/03/2014, at 7:16 PM, Tyler Bullock <vortec-...@live.com.au> wrote:

Ooh that's interesting! Looks like an unsealed bypass of Gladstone that was actually advertised as a shortcut. It also appears to have been unsealed north of Calliope River. There's no NR1 shields so its hard to tell which route the Bruce Highway followed at the time.

the racv strip map calls it the coastal highway

[Rob Tilley]

heres the scanned strip map
http://www.flickr.com/photos/118434598@N08/sets/72157641975981175/

[Mike Greenslade]

Hi Rob,

I was going to ask if you could scan the whole lot and you have! Thanks so much for posting this.

I used to collect a lot of the strip maps that the RAA (SA) compiled. They used to distribute the RACV strip maps on routes that weren't covered by the RAA, but the oldest ones I had only went back the mid/late 1980s where road conditions aren't too different nowadays. Incredible to see that these were in place way back in the 1950s.

As for the Gladstone bypass - astounding to read the road conditions on the Benaraby - Calliope section, which most definetly confirms the highway went through Gladstone. My AMPOL 1966 touring atlas of Australia shows the Bruce Hwy being on the current alignment so the change must have happened shortly after your strip maps.

Not that Ill ask for a scanning effort from yourself, but out of curiosity how many of these old series do you have?

I shall print these off and take a good look tonight.

Cheers,

Michael

[Sam Laybutt]

I also say thanks for scanning Rob!

I'm fairly certain the Bruce Highway as we know it today was declared on 1/7/1963 as part of the 'Road Plan of Queensland' - i.e. the mass declaration of highways that generally correlate to the present network.

Before 1963 there was 50-odd declared highways which had just been declared in an ad-hoc fashion over the preceding 40 years. The Bruce Highway existed, but finished a fair way south - can't recall where off the top of my head. The State Highway through the Gladstone area had a different name which I can't recall off the top of my head either. 

The road conditions for that short cut seem quite shocking compared to modern conditions but this was at a time where most highways were still unsealed and the bits that were sealed were on pretty poor alignments. The dry weather warning must mean there was a very low level crossing of one of the rivers along the way. 

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Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2014 20:02:38 -0800
From: greens...@gmail.com
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Aussie Highways] Old Alignments of Bruce Highway

[Sam Laybutt]

Sorry, to correct my previous post, this was part of the Bruce Highway pre-1963, which extended from Brisbane to near Mackay. It seems that the short cut between Benaraby and Calliope was completely reconstructed and sealed during the mid 1960s.

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From: crazykn...@hotmail.com
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [Aussie Highways] Old Alignments of Bruce Highway
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2014 12:08:36 +0800

[Tyler Bullock]

Big thanks Rob! Love this map its brilliant!

[Tyler Bullock]

The low level crossing would be the one over Calliope River. There's a large floodway across it just south of the current highway bridge. Oddly enough, GSV follows that alignment rather than the current highway, and the old road is labelled as Old Bruce Highway.

Sam, is it possible it ended near Cooroy?

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[Tyler Bullock]

Oddly enough I don't recall anything being in the DMR annual reports from that time. Not that they had much in them anyway -_-

There was a deviation completed north of Mount Larcom in December 1967, which bypassed what is now Gentle Annie Road. I'm guessing this project followed on from the Gladstone 'bypass'. One of the bridges east of Dawson Highway has also been replaced since the 1960s, as it is a late 1970s/early 1980s design.

Looking at my road dates lists, it shows there was quite a lot of work being done on the highway in the 60s and 70s! Shame they never kept it up....

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[Paul Rands]

Loved the map scans Rob. Such a vastly different route to what I am used
to :)

The road conditions addendum really helps to understand what motorists
had to contend with when driving there.

Nice to finally see the operation hours of traffic lights too. My dad
went there in the late 60s and this was still in effect then. They
flashed amber when not in use from what he tells me.

Paul Rands
paul...@gmail.com

[Rob Tilley]

I haven't got that many...........

Sent from my iPhone

[Rob Tilley]

Hers another
http://www.flickr.com/photos/118434598@N08/sets/72157641991894363/

Brisbane to Rockhampton inland route dating around 1958

[Tyler Bullock]

Calliope River Bridge was completed in 1974-1975. From the 74-75 annual report.