[1] The road from Emu Ford to Bathurst, a distance of 163.3 kilometres (101.5 mi) was completed in only six months during 1814 and 1815 by a working party composed mostly of convicts.

Governor Lachlan Macquarie decided to have a carriage road constructed across the Blue Mountains, to the country which had been "newly discovered" by Europeans in 1813.

Confronted with rocky platforms and sharp drops, Cox had his men clear the flattest parts, removing an "immense quantity of rock" where necessary, and usually marking out the line with shallow chiselled gutters and utilising the rock platform as a pavement; where the road ran over the shallow soils, it was often marked out by rows or low walls of rough, broken stone.

The actual building of the road involved the definition of a trafficable route which was then cleared of vegetation (trees being cut-off below ground level but rarely "grubbed out"), boulders and rocky outcrops.

The journal indicates that three areas in particular required extensive cutting through rocky outcrops; at Linden to Woodford, Wentworth Falls and the descent at Mount York.

In 1831, when Surveyor W. R. Govett drew his "Trace of Blue Mountains Road and Range from Springwood to near Pembrokes hut" the new line near Twenty Mile Hollow was marked.

[1] A deep railway cutting was made alongside the Appian Way Precinct of Cox's Road it the 1860s, and this was re-used for the Great Western Highway realignment in the 1990s.

[1] The section of road evident to the west of The Appian Way at Woodford, curves gently, enclosed by two deep cuttings for the railway and highway.

[1] As the road proceeds west, the slight embankment is supported by a low and rough rubble retaining wall (Type 1b) of 1–2 courses and up to 45 centimetres (18 in) high.

[4] There is also a series of other mounds of earth and stones approximately 2 metres in diameter closer to the edge of the road - these are possibly spoil heaps, either from early efforts to fill the rock-shelves or from later railway era works.

The successful construction of the road was symbolic of the conquest of the natural barrier created by the Blue Mountains, and represented Governor Macquarie's vision for the ongoing development of the colony beyond Sydney and its immediate surrounds.

Cox's Road enabled the later opening of the hinterland beyond the Blue Mountains for subsequent settlement, pastoral and agricultural expansion, which then escalated the dispossession of Aboriginal peoples from their lands.

[1] Cox's Road and Early Deviations - Woodford, Appian Way Precinct was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 March 2015 having satisfied the following criteria.

The road symbolises the occupation of the country and Governor Macquarie's aspirations for the eventual opening of the interior to European settlement after the discovery of the Western plains by G W Evans in 1814.

In this respect the 1814-1815 Cox's Road has considerable symbolic significance as an official public work which laid the foundations for future development.

The crossing of the Blue Mountains, the surveying of a route to Bathurst and the building of Cox's Road were significant events in the period of Macquarie's governorship.

[1] William Cox's achievement using a small group of convict men in a short period of time and with no loss of life caused by road-making or other substantial difficulties, was reflective of his reputation as a more humane employer and magistrate than many of his contemporaries.

The leadership qualities, vision and skill he showed constructing the road would also be evident in later government contracts won by Cox for other public works.

[1] The Appian Way Precinct of Cox's Road provides an excellent and self-contained example of the type of work done on the stoney Woodford ridge.

This precinct neatly encapsulates several key features of early road building, including cuttings, sheet stone pavements, low rock walling, and a very small and primitive culvert.