At the last resort - the bells line of road during the threat of invasion, 1939-1942

This article considers the redevelopment of the Bells Line of Road during World War II, a route identified as possessing definite strategic importance to the Greater Sydney region. In so doing it examines the geographical, political and social factors, both local and international, which impacted on its redevelopment. Accordingly it explores how much work was completed within this period and further evaluates whether the road, as it existed in mid-1942, would have been able to provide a meaningful and practical alternative route across the Blue Mountains if the worst-case scenario of an actual Japanese invasion had eventuated.