Peak Downs Highway

Peak Downs Highway Queensland
Peak Downs Highway depicted in green on black.
Type	Highway
Length	283 km (176 mi)
Route number(s)	State Route 70
West end	Gregory Highway / Gregory Developmental Road, Clermont, Queensland
East end	Bruce Highway, Mackay, Queensland
Major settlements	Moranbah, Nebo, Eton
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Queensland

The Peak Downs Highway links the towns of Mackay and Clermont in the Australian state of Queensland. It represents the main link between Queensland's Whitsunday Coast and the Central West region of the state. The highway runs for a total length of 266 kilometres (165 mi), before joining the Gregory Highway (Highway A7, formerly Highway 55) south to Clermont. Major settlements served by this route include Mackay, Walkerston, Nebo, Moranbah (10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the highway, but the largest town along the route) and Clermont.

The highway is notorious for the extremely dangerous conditions caused by its service as a primary access route for workers, fuel, machinery and other supplies to the coal mines of the Bowen Basin. The narrow two-lane highway is often congested with oversize loads (e.g. mining haul-trucks, dozers and excavators, tyres and buckets) and road trains, which presents a significant hazard and frustration to fatigued long-haul commuters (Drive-in, Drive-out mine workers) on the road.

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