Midlands Highway
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The Midlands Highway is a highway in Tasmania, Australia. It is a part of the National Highway, and runs through the Midlands of the state, connects the two largest cities, Hobart and Launceston.
The first record of movement between the two centres was in 1821 when then Governor Lachlan Macquarie selected sites for towns on the highway.
The route of the highway originally passed through the localities which are now known as:
- Launceston
- Kings Meadows and other Launceston suburbs
- Breadalbane
- Perth
- Epping Forest
- Cleveland
- Conara Junction
- Campbell Town
- Ross
- Oatlands
- Tunbridge
- Woodbury
- Kempton
- Bagdad
- Mangalore
- Pontville
- Brighton
- Bridgewater, suburb of Hobart
The route from Bridgewater to Hobart city itself is known as the Brooker Highway. As part of the National Highway, there have been many on-going changes to the highway since the 1980s.
The southern outlet in Launceston was built, bypassing many Launceston suburbs, allowing motorists to travel from the Breadalbane roundabout, almost directly to the city centre, at full highway speed. Around the same time, the towns of Ross, Oatlands and Kempton were bypassed.
In 2002, a railway line underpass was constructed near Symmons Plains, south of Perth, to avoid rail crossings on the highway itself. Significant numbers of overtaking lanes have also been extended or created.
There is also a plan for re-alignment of the area immediately north of Hobart. This will involve possible bypasses of Pontville, Bagdad and Brighton. There is mounting pressure for Perth and Campbell Town to also be bypassed, but this is unlikely to occur in the near future.