{{Short description|Road in Tasmania, Australia}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox Australian road | state = TAS | type = highway | road_name = Zeehan Highway | image = | caption = | length = | est = | route = {{AUshield|TAS|A10}} A10<br /><small>[[Queenstown, Tasmania|Queenstown]] — [[Zeehan, Tasmania|Zeehan]]</small><br />{{AUshield|TAS|B27}} B27<br /><small>[[Zeehan, Tasmania|Zeehan]]</small> | former = {{AUshield|S|8}} State Route 8 | direction_a = South | end_a = {{AUshield|TAS|A10}} [[Lyell Highway]]<br /><small>[[Queenstown, Tasmania|Queenstown]]</small> | direction_b = North | end_b = {{AUshield|TAS|C249}} Main Street<br />{{AUshield|TAS|B27}} Henty Road<br /><small>[[Zeehan, Tasmania|Zeehan]]</small> | through = [[Queenstown, Tasmania|Queenstown]], [[Zeehan, Tasmania|Zeehan]] | exits = * {{AUshield|TAS|B28}} Anthony Road * {{AUshield|TAS|A10}} [[Murchison Highway]] }}
The '''Zeehan Highway''' (also known as the Queenstown–Zeehan road) is a road in [[Western Tasmania]] linking [[Queenstown, Tasmania|Queenstown]] and [[Zeehan, Tasmania|Zeehan]].
The highway departs from Queenstown on higher ground at Howards Plains, where it also connects with the [[Queenstown to Strahan road]]. North of Queenstown it provides access to the [[Lake Margaret Power Station]] and [[Anthony Road]]. It crosses the Dundas, [[Henty River|Henty]], and [[Yolande River|Yolande]] rivers.
Although proposals for the road were raised as early as 1910,<ref>{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84552398 | title = Darwin Members | newspaper = Zeehan and Dundas Herald | volume = XXI | issue = 250 | location = Tasmania, Australia | date = 6 August 1910 | access-date = 15 October 2016 | page = 4 | via = National Library of Australia }}</ref> planning began in the 1930s,<ref>{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67932461 | title = Federal Grant | newspaper = The Advocate (Tasmania) | location = Tasmania, Australia | date = 18 June 1932 | access-date = 15 October 2016 | page = 8 | via = National Library of Australia }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91734808 | title = The West Coast Highway | newspaper = The Advocate (Tasmania) | location = Tasmania, Australia | date = 22 February 1935 | access-date = 14 October 2016 | page = 8 | via = National Library of Australia }}</ref> following the completion of the [[Lyell Highway]].<ref>{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68522252 | title = Queenstown–Zeehan Highway | newspaper = The Advocate (Tasmania) | location = Tasmania, Australia | date = 11 November 1937 | access-date = 14 October 2016 | page = 8 | via = National Library of Australia }}</ref>
The highway was not completed until the 1960s. Until that time the [[Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company]] transported copper from Queenstown by the [[Mount Lyell railway]] (later the [[West Coast Wilderness Railway]]) to Strahan for shipping. After completion, the highway formed part of the route used by trucks hauling copper ore from the Queenstown mine to [[Melba Flats]] between 1962 and 1994.
The Zeehan Highway also serves as an alternative route between [[Zeehan-Strahan Road|Strahan and Zeehan]] if the Zeehan to Strahan road is closed.
==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}
{{Road infrastructure in Tasmania}} {{Western Tasmania |state=autocollapse}}
[[Category:Roads in Western Tasmania]]