The Old Hume Highway, an urban and rural road, may be described as any part of an earlier route of the Hume Highway, which traverses Victoria and New South Wales between the cities of Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. In some places, the highway has been deviated several times since the first rough track was made between Sydney and Melbourne in November 1842.
History
Since the time of the first track, the route of what is now the Hume Highway has been the main road link between the Australia's two largest cities – Sydney and Melbourne. Since February 1960 a freeway standard of road has been developed along this route. Where the alignment of the original road is reasonably flat and straight it has been duplicated and retained for traffic in one direction. In some locations the original road has been replaced by a dual carriageway road right beside the original road. In other locations the new road deviates from the original by many kilometres.
In both Victoria and New South Wales since 2013, 100% of the Hume Highway has been upgraded to at least dual carriageway standard and is called the Hume Freeway. In both metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne, the road reverts to the Hume Highway and takes on the conditions of an urban highway.
Many of the superseded sections of the Hume Highway are of historical interest as they provide insights into the small historical towns which have since been bypassed. In the past when the highway passed through these towns, many were thriving centres. Many of the superseded sections of the highway still form the main access roads into and through these towns. One section of the Old Hume Highway, called the Yass Valley Way, travels through Yass in southern New South Wales.
Razorback Blockade
On 2nd April 1979 5 truck drivers met at Razorback Mountain Pass and blocked the Hume Highway in protest against road taxes and other issues that were crippling the instate truck drivers. Razorback Mountain pass is section of Hume north of Picton, New South Wales. This site was the focal point of the protests in NSW though other blockades taking place in NSW as were blockades in Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland.
Queensland, South Australian, and Victorian governments negotiated in good faith and resolve their blockades. In NSW the blockade until Wednesday 11th. The drivers voted to accept a compromised set of conditions, though no trucks would move until the NSW Premier Neville Wran made a written statement announcing an agreement which had been a key sticking point to negotiations there. Just after lunch news reached Razorback Mountain that the Premier had announced on the John Laws program the agreement.