[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, he generally 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.

Cox's 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.

[1] Cox wrote describing the Linden - Woodford area as follows:[1][3][4][5] Sunday, 11 September: Went 3 miles forward to examine the road with Mr Hobby and Lewis.

From the bridge [at Linden] it continues rocky over two or three small passes to Caley's pile; from thence at least two miles further, the mountain is nearly a solid rock.

[1] By 1817, (and for two decades after) the Linden to Woodford section was according to botanist, Allan Cunningham, "the most rugged and oppressive stage of the whole journey on account of the sandstone rocks on which the road is formed".

[1][6] Even if it was initially partly filled or shaped, much of the original surface of the road weathered away quickly, as by 1819 it was reported that the stumps of the trees which had been left within the roadway were becoming exposed.

Numerous accounts of subsequent journeys over the Cox's Road in the "Twenty Mile Hollow" area (between Linden and Woodford) describe the difficult passage over the slippery sandstone surface and the uncomfortable jolting over the stepped rock platforms.

It also appears that some minor secondary routes and deviations from the main track were also developed from an early period in order to avoid some of the more difficult descents.

When Mrs Louisa Meredith travelled through the area in 1839 she still endured the jolting and bumping over the "jumpers", the rock steps of Cox's Road and she wrote also that 'The track we are now traversing usually winds "terrace-wise along the side of a steep mountain, and is barely wide enough anywhere to allow of two vehicles passing each other".

They relate historically, physically, and visually to the undisturbed bush landscape to the east and to the various later transport and settlement developments to the west.

From the apex of the ridge near the Woodford Trig Station, there are extensive views on both sides of the road which conform with those described by early travellers giving a sense of the experience of travel along the early 19th-century road even though parts of the surrounding area have been gradually developed with infrastructure such as sewerage pumping stations, pipelines and electricity power poles.

[1] Once the modern roughly formed vehicular access track leads off Hepburn Road at Linden, the remains of the Cox's Road evident consist primarily of a series of intermittent kerb-lines or low side-cuttings, some with shallow gutters or drains, which have been cut into the surface of the exposed sandstone rock platforms of the ridge.

Karskens (1988) has commented that the very low kerbs would "serve little practical purpose except as slight drainage, but they marked the edge of the road for the guidance of travellers in these wild, barren and isolated expanses."

[1] In the vicinity of the Woodford Trig station in addition to the line of the 1814 road, there are a number of other early tracks including a loop to the east.

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.

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 place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

From the apex of the ridge near the Woodford Trig Station there are extensive views on both sides of the road which conform with those described by early travellers giving a sense of the experience of travel along the early nineteenth century road even though parts of the surrounding area have been gradually developed with infrastructure such as sewerage pumping stations, pipelines and electricity power poles.

[1] This Wikipedia article was originally based on Cox's Road and Early Deviations - Woodford, Old Bathurst Road Precinct, entry number 01954 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.