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The Snowy Mountains Highway is a highway in New South Wales, Australia. Its two sections connect the New South Wales South Coast to the Monaro region, as well as the Monaro to the South West Slopes via the Snowy Mountains. The higher altitude regions of this road are subject to snow over the winter months, and the road also provides access to many parts of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

History
The Snowy Mountains Highway was listed as a State Highway by the New South Wales Main Roads Board (MRB) in their 1928 annual report. The following year, the MRB's heirarchical system which supported this listing was proclaimed with the passing Main Roads (Amendment) Act, April 1929. The highway was classified as State Highway 4, and originally known as the Monaro Highway, and ran from, via , , , and various other towns and villages, to. Driving in Kosciuszko National Park, Australia.jpg

In 1933, the Department of Main Roads (DMR), which had succeeded the MRB previous year, proclaimed the portion of the Snowy Mountains Highway between Wagga Wagga and the Hume Highway at Lower Tarcutta to be part of the Sturt Highway, with the Snowy Mountains Highway terminating at its own junction with the Hume Highway instead.

When the Snowy Mountains Scheme commenced in 1949, the road began to increase in importance, and roadworks to increase the standard of the road were undertaken, often paid for by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority.

In 1955, it was decided that what was still then known as the Monaro Highway, would be renamed as the Snowy Mountains Highway. This was done as only a relatively small portion of the road was actually within the Monaro region. As part of the changes the section of road between and  was reclassified as part of State Highway 19, which at that time ran from Canberra, to the Victorian border west of. The various roads classified as State Highway 19, were then named as the Monaro Highway in 1958. In contrast with the Snowy Mountains Highway, the entire length of that highway is within the Monaro region.

Over the years further changes have occurred, the eastern section of the highway no longer runs west to Nimittabel, instead meeting the Monaro Highway to the south, with the old section renamed as Old Bega Road. Similarly the section from Bega to Tathra was renamed as Tathra Road and the Snowy Mountains Highway now terminates where it meets the Princes Highway. The western section has also seen some major changes with the highway being realigned to avoid Lake Eucumbene near due to the construction of Eucumbene Dam in the 1950s. Similarly realignment was required to avoid the Jounama Pondage and Blowering Reservoir near due to the construction of Jounama and Blowering Dams in the 1960s.

Route Description
The Snowy Mountains Highway begins at a T-intersection with the Princes Highway at, north of , and heads roughly west through hilly terrain, the terrain smoothes eventually and the road crosses the Bemboka River at Morans Crossing. A short distance further, the road passes through, taking on the name Loftus Street within the urban area. West of Bemboka, the road follows the southern bank of the Bemboka River, before crossing the Nunnock River near its confluence with the Bemboka River at the base of the Great Dividing Range escarpment. Up until this point the immediate landscape surrounding the road has so far consisted of farmland. From the base of the range the road enters South East Forest National Park and climbs from about 250 m above sea leve, to over 1100 m, following a steep and windy alignment up the range. At the top of the range the road then enters Glenbog State Forest before once again traversing farmland for a short distance until the highway meets the Monaro Highway at, south of. This intersection is a T-intersection, through traffic continues north on the Monaro Highway, while traffic heading to the south from either direction must turn.

The western section begins at the Bombala and Sharp Street roundabout in. Upon leaving Cooma, the road heads west via farmland to the village of, where the road meets a T-intersetion, with through traffic taking Kosciuszko Road southwest towards , and the highway turning to continue on its westerly heading. The roadway makes its way through undulating terrain for some distance before it passes through, and the on into Kosciuszko National Park. The road winds through mountainous terrain as it climbs towards the abandoned mining settlement of, situated at am altitude of around 1400 m. The landscape become open grassland at this point and remains relatively flat as the road continues gently up an alpine valley created by the Eucumbene River and its numerous tributaries. The road then descends into a similar valley created the Murrumbidgee River as it passes by the access roads for Yarrangobilly Caves. The highway then veers northwest back into forested terrain, it continues along the same rough heading through hilly terrain for some distance before a mountainous descent from 900 m to 400 m, near the town of, which is located a few kilometres west of the highway. Continuing on, the roadway passes by Jounama Dam and then roughly parallels the eastern side of Blowering Reservoir (created by Blowering Dam further downstream), before leaving the National Park descending into farmland on the Tumut Plains, roughly 300 m above sea level.

From here the highway then crosses the Tumut River and heads into the town of itself, taking on the names Blowering Street, Fitzroy Street, and Adelong Street within the urban area. West of Tumut the road crosses a large valley created by Gilmore Creek and Deep Creek, before a small climb through Adelong Gap into the town of, taking on the names Tumut Street, Inglis Street, and Lynch Street within the urban area. Past Adelong the road continues northeast through undulating terrain before crossing Hillas Creek and then following it for the last few kilometres until the Snowy Mountains Highway's western terminus at the Hume Highway, roughly halfway between and.

High altitude sections subject to snow and ice have yellow lane markings and red reflector posts (which are sometimes double or triple height), in contrast to the white lines and posts generally seen elsewhere around Australia. Snow chains are recommended to be carried for all two-wheel drive vehicles on this highway within Kosciuszko National Park during the winter months.



Shielding
Shielding was first introduced in Australia in late 1954, and over the following decades it was progressively rolled out to the various highways around the nation, under a nationwide route numbering scheme.

Previous to the NSW conversion to alphanumeric routes in 2013, the highway bore the National Route 18 shield along its entire length. In addition to this, the section of the Monaro Highway between Cooma and Steeple Flat also bore the National Route 18 shield in addition to the National Route 23 shielding used along the remainder of its length; this kind of arrangement is known as a duplex or concurrency. This allowed one route to cover the highway from end to end.

The Snowy Mountains Highway was allocated the alphanumeric route B72 as part of New South Wales' 2013 conversion. The route duplex along the Monaro Highway remains intact with B72 used in addition to B23 between Cooma and Steeple Flat.

Western Section
Notes
 * Distances listed include intervening roadway between the eastern and western sections. Total length without including this roadway is 287 km
 * Minor junctions are not listed.