Alternates to the New England Highway and other Roads

[Fairlane]

Just a bit of question for any of you locals or those in the know, now the state of a few roads and whether they are a reasonable alternative for the slightly more adventorous to the good ole New England Highway on a trip up to QLD.

Mainly i was wondering on the status of Thunderbolts Way from Glouster to Uralla and the old Mount Lindsay Highway, east from Tenterfield?

What condition are they in and whats the speed limit like?

[Tote]

I travelled across the mount lindsay hwy last year and it was OK, some dirt and an interesting drive across to the back of the gold coast. About the same time as going via Casino and Ballina.
Regards,
Tote

[Bluehoon]

Pacific is the easiest and smoothest route now...

Bypass balluna by going through tevern.

It's mainly 2 lane dual carriageway now...

New england is slower alternative... going at night is best time to head up...

most of teh shortcuts and altenatives take longer now, as the pacific is becoming that good.

new coopernook bypass shaves off another 20mins....

Cheers

[Fairlane]

just the traffic thats all, i have driven the Pacific before and have done it quicker, but considering the holiday traffic and all i was considering a few alternatives to my standard run up the New England

[Bluehoon]

Originally Posted by Fairlane

just the traffic thats all, i have driven the Pacific before and have done it quicker, but considering the holiday traffic and all i was considering a few alternatives to my standard run up the New England

if you can go up over night... best time, nothing but trucks, and all they do is sit on their limits.... very tame on pacific....

overnight I have done sydney to brisbane on 8 hours, it's that good now.

[MrSparkle]

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

if you can go up over night... best time, nothing but trucks, and all they do is sit on their limits.... very tame on pacific....

overnight I have done sydney to brisbane on 8 hours, it's that good now.

Agreed 100% and I will be doing exactly this yet again this week. Have lost count of the number of times I've done the NSW/QLD/NSW run on the Pacific Hwy but if you're doing it at inhuman hours, you're guaranteed a fast and economical run, not to mention a run that will save your sanity! There is not much that is more trying in a person's life than battling the Pacific Highway holiday traffic during the day, where in the past it's taken some people 8hrs to reach Coffs Harbour! :

Hello 2am start from Sydney! py:

[Sledgehammer]

Originally Posted by MrSparkle

Agreed 100% and I will be doing exactly this yet again this week. Have lost count of the number of times I've done the NSW/QLD/NSW run on the Pacific Hwy but if you're doing it at inhuman hours, you're guaranteed a fast and economical run, not to mention a run that will save your sanity! There is not much that is more trying in a person's life than battling the Pacific Highway holiday traffic during the day, where in the past it's taken some people 8hrs to reach Coffs Harbour! :

Hello 2am start from Sydney! py:

dont forget to call when youre here.

[Sledgehammer]

Oh and you may like to bring your mpeg box as well, ive got 120mb plus of gear if you like?,.,,,,,

[Bluehoon]

be very very wary of whole sawtell, uranga coffs area... more speed cameras than gondy knows what to do with, and a very bad area...

tip, go the back road via bellingen and coramba up to grafton, shaves off another 1/2 hour.


Pacific any other time than night, forget it....

[atec77]

Originally Posted by Fairlane

Just a bit of question for any of you locals or those in the know, now the state of a few roads and whether they are a reasonable alternative for the slightly more adventorous to the good ole New England Highway on a trip up to QLD.

Mainly i was wondering on the status of Thunderbolts Way from Glouster to Uralla and the old Mount Lindsay Highway, east from Tenterfield?

What condition are they in and whats the speed limit like?

Go the coast rd , much easier and convenient unless you like scenery then go the lyons across onto the Beaudesert .

[Smoke Pursuit]

Hmm, coast is boring, go new england just watch all the coppas.

[Bill_R]

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

Pacific is the easiest and smoothest route now...

Bypass balluna by going through tevern.

Bypass Ballina by going through Teven????

That would depend on which way one is traveling.

Coming from New England via Lismore you can go straight through to Bangalow which is the "usual" way. The trip depends on traffic and can be a hassle.

Coming north from South Grafton you'd go through Ballina in preference to going up Wardell Road, through Alstonville and out through Teven.

[Bill_R]

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

if you can go up over night... best time, nothing but trucks, and all they do is sit on their limits.... very tame on pacific....

I'd regualrly time the last part of a trip from Newcastle to Far Nth Coast so I'd hit Grafton of an evening. The trucks can be quite good. Get one in front and they light up the road for you.
Sometimes you come across a car to tandem drive with - they go ahead, light the road and set the pace up for a while then you swap over.

[banarcus]

We've pretty much always travelled the New England if we are going to Brisbane or further north otherwise the Pacific if we are heading to the Gold Coast. I'll have to give this new pacific hwy a go though, its been a while for us.

[FDG 220]

Originally Posted by Bill_R

Coming north from South Grafton you'd go through Ballina in preference to going up Wardell Road, through Alstonville and out through Teven.

I ended up turning off at Grafton and going up through Casino, Lismore then to Bangalow

Traffic was that bad on Pacific i decided enough was enough and took this alternate route

Apparently i heard Ballina was a parking lot with all the Xmas traffic so i'm glad i took this route on Saturday

[Pedro]

[QUOTE=Bill_R]Bypass Ballina by going through Teven????QUOTE]


Bluehoon is refering to a turn off past the Alstonville road that cuts across via Teven and rejoins the P. Hwy north of Ballina.

[HOON69]

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

if you can go up over night... best time, nothing but trucks, and all they do is sit on their limits.... very tame on pacific....

overnight I have done sydney to brisbane on 8 hours, it's that good now.

i do brisbane to canberra 3-5 times a year
quickest i have done the 1300k's is 11 hours

so is this at the "legal" speed limit of mostly 110 in qld and 110-100-80 zones etc on the same stretch of hwy?

the back road os worst then the front road

back road has cameras and imho more police
lot of single lanes bits etc roads vay from very smooth to a tad bumpy in places
but is a better drive

the only thing going for the front road is
close to facilities mostly cheaper fuel etc (unless you stop at the servo just on the border which is always the cheapest i have found)and you normally see the police/cameras etc a mile away ;) oh and its quicker then the back road ;)

[Bill_R]

[QUOTE=Pedro]

Originally Posted by Bill_R

Bypass Ballina by going through Teven????QUOTE]


Bluehoon is refering to a turn off past the Alstonville road that cuts across via Teven and rejoins the P. Hwy north of Ballina.

Yeah, I gotcha. Ballina isn't so bad to me. I used to take the New England from Grafton through to Lismore until I found the Pacific from Sth Grafton and through Ballina ok. I like the weave along Wardell road straight to Alstonville but, to bypass Ballina if doing the Pacific, you could take the Bruxner just before Ballina and turn down Teven road.

The worst part about any trip north from Bangalow up is the roadworks to bypass Brunswick Heads. They seem to be taking forever. Regardless of traffic you can really bottle up there. One of the new bridges opened two weeks ago so it might be a little better or a little worse. I think there's a way around it if you go New England then Lismore - Bangalow - my sister takes a turn somewhere around Clunes and (I think) joins north of that.

How long has the Ballina bypass been talked about?

Two pet hates are the speed cameras going down the hill just before the Byron turnoff and the speed camera at Clunes on the Lismore to Banglow road.

[Bluehoon]

Ballina bypass is a long way off. Biggest problem is finding stable soil and avoiding too many hills.

Coffs Harbour is a long way off, as the problem there is too far out past city, its huge costs with hills as well. Coffs also has the "not in my back yard" syndrome....

Yes, past bruxner highway turn off, turn left onto tevern road, over the bridge and up the hill, then turn right and rejoin pacific north of ballina. can cut off over 45 mins in peak....

My grandparents live up there....

Another shortcut, if not going back way to grafton (massive time saver), as you come over the hill into grafton there is a right hand turn lane, turn right and follow the road, it runs around the hills across grafton, bring you out north of grafton and wipes off another 15 mins... Can't use this if using the backway but....

Cheers

[Fairlane]

Another shortcut, if not going back way to grafton (massive time saver), as you come over the hill into grafton there is a right hand turn lane, turn right and follow the road, it runs around the hills across grafton, bring you out north of grafton and wipes off another 15 mins... Can't use this if using the backway but....

yeah thats a great one Bluehoon used it a few times, looks like i might well take the Pacific then, im acutally going to the Sunshine Coast and the cross town trek across Brissie from the Ipswich Motorway kills a lot of time, wheres on the Pac its just a straight run onto the Gateway. Coffs is a killer on the Pac, but hey i think ill go it anyway, the new england tends to lose a lot of its shine in the Hunter Valley (thats why i was asking about thunderbolts way)

*oh yeah, im seeing as that ill be on my own, im not really game enough to risk a night time run

[MrSparkle]

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

Another shortcut, if not going back way to grafton (massive time saver), as you come over the hill into grafton there is a right hand turn lane, turn right and follow the road, it runs around the hills across grafton, bring you out north of grafton and wipes off another 15 mins... Can't use this if using the backway but....

Cheers

Centenary Drive. I swear by it, and for some reason, it always reminds me of "Ridge Racer" :

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=14...75703&t=h&om=1

[Bill_R]

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

Another shortcut, if not going back way to grafton (massive time saver), as you come over the hill into grafton there is a right hand turn lane, turn right and follow the road, it runs around the hills across grafton, bring you out north of grafton and wipes off another 15 mins... Can't use this if using the backway but....

Cheers

I've used that Sth Grafton bypass (pacific hwy doesn't go through Grafton itself).
It used to crack me up. I'd allow cars to pass me then take that shortcut and crack up when they'd catch up and probably wonder how I got in front.