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Moss Vale Road, Nowra Road, Illawarra Highway, Argyle Street, Funston Street, Station Street, Mittagong Road, Bowral Road & Old Hume Highway (State Route 79) (Decommissioned)

Statistics:

• Length: 73 km
• Northern Terminus: Hume Highway (NH31) at Aylmerton
• Southern Terminus: Princes Highway (NR1) and Cambewarra Road at Bomaderry
• Suburbs, Towns & Localities Along The Route: Bomaderry, Cambewarra, Beaumont, Kangaroo Valley, Barrengarry, Fitzroy Falls, Moss Vale, Burradoo, Bowral, Mittagong, Braemar and Aylmerton

Route Numbering:

• Former: 
• Multiplexes: 
• Decommissioned: 2013
• Road Authority Internal Classification: MR261 (Moss Vale Road and Nowra Road to the Sheepwash Road junction at Fitzroy Falls), HW25 (Illawarra Hwy from the unclassified section of Nowra Rd to Moss Vale) and MR260 (Moss Vale to Aylmerton) 1

General Information:

State Route 79 is an important connector route linking the NSW Southern Highlands with the Shoalhaven Coast.

The route is a single carriageway with 1 lane in each direction for most of it's length, with the exception of the Old Hume Highway segment. Sections of the route are steep and windy as the route traverses the steep coastal escarpment. The route features several mountain passes including Cambewarra Mountain and Barrengarry Mountain.

Another feature of the route is Hampden Bridge at Kangaroo Valley, which is a suspension bridge built between 1895 and 1898. The bridge is the second major suspension bridge in NSW, and now the only surviving timber decked vehicular suspension bridge constructed in the nineteenth century. The bridge has the Kangaroo River running beneath it. The main span length is 77 metres, sandstone tower height of 16.8 metres and height above water also of 16.8 metres. The main cables of the bridge consist on each side of fourteen 36mm diameter wire ropes, each with a specified tensile strength of 79.6 tonnes. The bridge is signposted for a maximum truck load of 42.5 tonnes, with no more than one truck to be on the bridge at a time, and is lanemarked to only provide a single lane. Hampden Bridge was built to replace the timber truss bridge of 1875 to 1879, which was in a state of decay by 1893. 2

Multiplexes along the route include:

• National Route 48 for 4 km at Moss Vale
• Tourist Drive 7 for 14 km, from Princes Hwy (NR1) at Bomaderry to Berry Mtn Rd (TD7) at Kangaroo Valley
• Tourist Drive 8 for 33 km, from Princes Hwy (NR1) at Bomaderry to Myra Vale Rd (TD8) at Fitzroy Falls
• Tourist Drive 14 for 19 km from Illawarra Hwy (NR48) and Suttor Rd at Moss Vale to Hume Hwy (NH31) at Aylmerton
• Tourist Drive 15 for 19 km, from Myra Vale Rd (TD8) at Fitzroy Falls to Illawarra Hwy (NR48) and Suttor Rd at Moss Vale

History:

• 1875: Timber truss bridge constructed over Kangaroo River at Kangaroo Valley 2
• 1895: Construction begins on current Hampden Bridge over Kangaroo River at Kangaroo Valley 2
• 1898: Hampden bridge opens to traffic 2
• 1959: An experiment using advisory speed signs on curves on what is now the Old Hume Highway (and Remembrance Drive) between Camden and Berrima was successful and was extended to other roads
• 1992: Mittagong Bypass opens to traffic and the old route becomes Old Hume Highway
• 2003: Completion of works to widen curves on Cambewarra Mountain 3

1 Roads and Traffic Authority, Schedule of Classified Roads (and unclassified Regional Roads), 25 February 2008
2 Roads and Traffic Authority, Heritage & Conservation Register, Hampden Bridge
3 Roads and Traffic Authority, Road activity update – Southern NSW, January 2003

Last updated: 17-Dec-2019 0:55

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