Bells Line of Road

Template: Infobox several high-level roads / maintenance / AU -S

States:

New South Wales

The Bells Line of Road is a main road in the east of the Australian state of New South Wales. It connects the Hawkesbury Valley Way in Richmond with the Chifley Road in Bell in the Blue Mountains.

The road is part of the state highway 40, which connects the north-west of Sydney, with the city of Lithgow.

History

The road runs along an old trail of the Aborigines, the men in 1823 by the leaders of Darug Emery and Cogy the explorer and politician Archibald Bell was shown, Jr. ( 1804-1883 ). The expedition was accompanied by the surveyor Robert Hoddle and the new route over the Blue Mountains became known as Bells Line. Later, the path was cleared and it was so next to the Great Western Highway, a second road over the mountains, but it has been rarely used before the Second World War.

Between 1939 and 1949, the Bells Line of Road was significantly expanded in order - especially in war - to serve as an alternative to further south extending main road.

Even today, the road is still as an alternative route popular, especially with tourists.

Course

The Bells Line of Road begins in Richmond, where she served as a continuation of the Hawkesbury Valley Way (S40 ) over the Richmond Bridge, which crosses the Hawkesbury River, leads. Through the village and past Kurrajong Kurmond the road leads over the Bells Range and Kurrajong Heights. On the crest of the mountain, the Bells Line of Road crosses the places Bilpin and Berambing with their orchards.

After that, the road that leads to Mount Tomah, which is known for its botanical garden at about 1,000 m above sea level, up, past Mount Bell and Mount Charles, about the Pierces Pass and Mount Banks. 8 km from Bell branches off to the north a narrow road to the places Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine from. From the village of Bell the road is called Chifley Road ( S40).

Road conditions and speed limits

The road is steep and winding over long distances. On Bellbird Hill it rises 450 meters from the valley of the Hawkesbury River to the Bell Range. Partial 12.5 % gradient can be achieved and there are several tight turns. More steep sections are the eastern and the western approach of the Mount Tomah and Mount Bell, and The Glen west of Kurrajong Heights.

In November 2007, the Land Transport Authority announced plans to reduce the speed limit on this route. Within a week, so came on strong protest that the plans were put on hold. In October 2008, the same plans were announced again, coupled with the assertion that one would have to consult with the neighboring communities. However, a number of road users, as well as politicians of places west of the Blue Mountains who reported not to have been questioned reported. Nevertheless, the speed limit east of Bell to 80 km / h was reduced.

Highway over the Blue Mountains

For many years, called lobbyists already a "super -highway " of the Blue Mountains. They argued that the streets of Sydney are insufficiently developed in the center of the state, thus hindering economic development. For many years was the Great Western Highway as an ideal route for this highway, but studies have found that the construction of freeways on this route would be too expensive, and so the idea was dropped.

2002 procured the lobbyists AU $ 2 million for a feasibility study of a freeway along the Bells Line of Road and the other streets of the state road 40 in November 2004 gave this study demonstrates that a highway construction on this route, although technically feasible, but not economically and also a threat to the national parks in the neighborhood was.

Alternative routes

The nearest navigable route across the Blue Mountains north of Bells Line of Road is the Bylong Valley Way, which connects the Hunter Valley and the port city of Newcastle with the center of New South Wales.