Number 8 tank. Number 8 tank is still used by travellers and marks a point from Geraldton, from Carnarvon. Western Australia's Nomenclature Advisory Committee proposed in October 1940 that a highway name be used to describe the main route from Midland to Geraldton, and extending to areas further north. The suggested name was Great Northern Highway, following on from the naming of the Great Eastern and Great Southern highways. By July 1941, the committee's proposal had expanded to three highway names for the roads in the state's northern areas: Great Northern Highway for the Midland Junction to Wyndham road, Geraldton Highway for Walebing–Mingenew–Geraldton route, and North West Coastal Highway for "the road from Geraldton to De Grey, via Northampton, Galena, Carnarvon, Boolaganoo, Winning Pool, Giralia, Yanrey, Onslow, Peedamullah, Mardie, Karratha, Roebourne, Whim Creek, Mundabullangana and Port Hedland". The proposal was well received by the local municipal councils and road boards. The name North West Coastal Highway was gazetted on 21 April 1944, under section 10 of the Land Act, 1933–1939. However, the highway was mostly a series of tracks through remote pastoral areas, with the sealed road ending just past Northampton, approximately north of Geraldton. Driving was difficult and hazardous all year round. The road was very dusty in the dry season, and some sections of the road were effectively impassable sand, while other sections contained limestone outcrops that damaged tyres. During the wet season, when rivers flooded, sections of road were essentially bogs, or worse still, were completely washed away. Economic growth and development in Western Australia's northern regions in the 1940s prompted the state to quadruple road funding between 1946 and 1952. Two "gangs" of workers were allocated to a length of North West Coastal Highway. Given the vast distance the highway travelled, and destructive cyclones in the Pilbara and Gascoyne that could destroy multiple weeks worth of work, the overall improvement was relatively insignificant. Over time, though, the road was improved. Sealing In the late 1950s a significant project was undertaken to seal the highway between Geraldton and Carnarvon. The sealed road had progressed northwards in the preceding years, but only by approximately each year. The rate of work increased rapidly, and by 1960, a stretch extending south from Carnarvon had been sealed. By the middle of that year, the sealing reached beyond Geraldton and came south of Carnarvon, with a gap. The project was completed in