History and Road Network

Shire Roads (Local Roads) and Bridges

History and Road Network

The Kidman Way is named in honour of Sir Sidney Kidman, who was an Australian cattle king who owned a large number of cattle stations along its way.

Cobar Shire is the second largest shire in New South Wales and is in the Western Region. It is bounded to the North by Bourke Shire, in the South by Carrathool Shire, the west by Central Darling Shire and the East by Bogan and Lachlan shires and is over 44,000 square kilometres.

The Cobar Shire Council is responsible for the maintenance of all sealed and unsealed roads within the shire which includes highways, regional and rural roads.

State Highways

In the Cobar Shire Council the two highways that pass through are the Barrier and the Kidman. These two road networks gather a total of 471.84km which is sealed road. The Barrier Highway begins at Nygnan and goes west through Cobar Shire and heads towards Broken Hill and Beyond. The Kidman Way starts south of Griffith and continues north to Bourke.

Rest Areas

There are seven main rest areas within our shire all strategically placed to eliminate driver fatigue. We encourage all our road users to stop at these well serviced rest areas and take a much needed break from our vast roads.

Our rest areas include:

Florida Rest Area which is located 45km east of Cobar on the Barrier Highway. The Florida Rest Area has a serviced hybrid toilet, water tanks and covered tables and chairs.
Cornish Rest Area which is located at the eastern edge of Cobar on the Barrier Highway. It is set with the backdrop of the big Cobar sign on the ‘Slag Dump”. Cornish Rest Area has serviced toilets as well as tables and chairs.
Heavy Vehicle Inspection Bay and Rest Area is located at the western side of Cobar on the Barrier Highway. It is also has serviced toilets.
The Meadow Glen Rest Area is located 65km west of Cobar on the Barrier Highway. The Meadow Glen Rest Area has a serviced hybrid toilet, water tanks and tables and chairs.
Bulla Park Rest Area is also located on the Barrier Highway, slightly further west at 110km from Cobar. Bulla Park Rest Area has covered tables and chairs aswell as water tanks.
Gilgunnia Rest Area is located 110km south of Cobar on the Kidman Way. Gilgunnia Rest Area has serviced toilet, table and chairs and water tanks.
Lilyvale Rest Area is located 95km west of Cobar on the Barrier Highway. Lilyvale Rest Area has serviced toilets, covered table and chairs and water tanks.

All of our rest areas are clean, tidy and have plenty of room with lovely shaded areas.

Regional Roads

Regional Roads works as collector roads to move traffic to major roads from local roads. Cobar Shire Council is responsible for 13 Regional Roads (sealed and unsealed) which total to 620kms. Approximately 300kms of this is sealed with 320 being unsealed constructed of natural material and gravel sheeting.

Shire Roads (Local Roads) and Bridges

Shire Roads are roads that function as feeders to Regional roads. The shire has 46 shire roads totalling 1630kms. Approximately 170kms are sealed and the remainder are either natural or gravelled. There are 5 bridges that are within the Cobar Shire which it is responsible for with an additional 2 being on the boundary and maintained by surrounding shires.

Town and Village Streets

These roads make up the Cobar township and Shire Villages which include Nymagee, Euabalong, Euabalong West, Mt Hope and Canbelego. The sealed roads comprise approximately 61.6kms (sealed) and various unsealed roads. Roughly half of these streets have kerb and gutter which were predominately installed around the 1920s. Similar to other country towns Cobar streets act as gutters which can cause significant flooding in the town streets. This is something motorists should be mindful during wet weather.

Airport and Rail

In the Shire there are approximately 5 airstrips that the shire is responsible for. The Cobar airstrip is sealed – 1.7km and the rest are unsealed – 6.2km. The main use of the Cobar air service is to transport travellers to Sydney. The other airstrips are used by private or emergency services. Cobar has a freight rail link to Dubbo. At present this does not cater for tourists or travellers and is only used for hauling ore, concentrate and agricultural products.