Springbrook Road, Heritage-listed road in Gold Coast City, Australia.
Springbrook Road is a heritage-listed route in Queensland that winds through mountainous terrain with historic stone water troughs and curved timber bridges along its path. It now operates as State Route 99, connecting communities and providing access to natural springs and several scenic viewpoint areas.
This road was built between 1925 and 1928 as a toll route to support development in the Springbrook region. The infrastructure investment enabled settlements to grow and economic activities to flourish in previously isolated areas.
The road's name 'Toll Road' comes from the charge collected at a gate at the base of Wunburra Range, nine pence each way in the 1930s and one shilling in the 1940s. Mrs Leu, widow of a construction worker, was gatekeeper, on call 24 hours a day for 30 shillings a week, and would not let vehicles pass if the down-traffic time had just lapsed. The toll was removed on 30 November 1945.
The road has been closed from Little Nerang Dam since Cyclone Debbie, with repairs expected to finish before 2019; check current conditions before setting out. The route runs from Mudgeeraba up to Springbrook, and the section from Mudgeeraba to the Pine Creek Road intersection is Gold Coast–Springbrook Road (number 104), continuing as Springbrook Road (number 2015).
The surveyed gradient of 1 in 12, dropping to 1 in 10 in places, far exceeded the 1 in 18 then considered Queensland's limit for road building, and the road is believed to be the first in the state built successfully at such a steep grade. Surveyors had to cut toeholds into the hillsides to carry their instruments from one position to the next.
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