a disastrous flood in 1852 destroyed the town and drowned 89 people. The town was then relocated to its present position. A grade-separated interchange was completed at the intersection of the Highway and West Street in December 2006. Tumblong The route of the highway between Tumblong and Tarcutta is the third route of the highway in this location. The original route led west from Tumblong along the Murrumbidgee River, before turning south over difficult country, crossing what is now the Sturt Highway and rejoining the current route of the highway as Lower Tarcutta Road. This was replaced in December 1938 by the first Tumblong deviation, to the east of the current route. The main features of this section of the highway were a deep, narrow cutting and the reinforced concrete bowstring arch bridge over Hillas Creek. This bridge has been preserved as it is one of only two bridges in New South Wales built to this design, and is visible on the western side of the highway close to the interchange with the Snowy Mountains Highway. The second and current deviation opened to traffic on 21 November 1983. Approximately southwest of Gundagai is the interchange with Sturt Highway, which leads to Wagga Wagga, Mildura and Adelaide. Tarcutta Tarcutta is located almost exactly halfway between Sydney and Melbourne and has been a popular stopover and change-over point for truck drivers making their way between the two cities. There is a memorial to truck drivers who have died on the local stretch of Hume Highway. It was near Tarcutta that the final section of Hume Highway was sealed in 1940. Construction began on a bypass of Tarcutta in 2010. The bypass, which passes west of the town, was opened to traffic on 15 November 2011. As improvements to the Hume Highway have reduced travelling time between Sydney and Melbourne to about nine hours driving time in good conditions, the town's importance to the average motorist has diminished. Holbrook Holbrook was called Germanton until anti-German sentiment during World War I led to the town and the shire being renamed in honour of the wartime submarine captain, Lt Holbrook who was awarded the Victoria Cross. From 1995, a feature of the town has been a partial reconstruction of HMAS Otway, an Oberon class submarine. This landmark was in recognition of the town's namesake's connections with submarines. Holbrook had the only set of traffic signals