THE SPEED is increasing on more than 400 kilometres worth of road safety upgrades in regional SA this month, with works under way on the state and federal government COVID stimulus and road safety packages.
Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister Michael McCormack said 15 separate projects, collectively worth more than $100 million, were starting across regional SA throughout April.
"These projects span the vast majority of the state, with works kicking off on the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas, the state's Far North, Mid North, Limestone Coast and Kangaroo Island," he said.
"The majority of these projects have been fast-tracked thanks to the recently announced $104.6 million first tranche of the Road Safety Program for SA, which is jointly funded by the Australian and South Australian Governments on an 80:20 basis."
SA's Infrastructure and Transport Minister Corey Wingard said the projects involved a range of upgrades and were targeted at high-priority locations.
"The Road Safety Program funding is being tipped into shovel-ready projects to get the best bang for buck," he said.
"For example, it's assisting with new road widening and shoulder sealing works on the Barrier Highway, on the southern approach to Mount Bryan and northern approach to Hallett, as well as asphalt rehabilitation works that have been under way between the two townships since March 2021.
"In addition to the Road Safety Program works, the $62.5m new Barrier Highway works are being delivered as part of the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative, which is aimed at improving access requirements for higher productivity vehicles.
"We also have a wide array of works kicking off across the Yorke Peninsula in April, including on the Copper Coast Highway, Spencer Highway, Yorke Highway, Minlaton Road, Maitland Road and Upper Yorke Road."
Road Safety and Freight Transport Assistant Minister Scott Buchholz said these works were funded under both the $52m Regional Road Network Package and $104.6m first tranche of the Road Safety Program.
"These projects are a great opportunity to make our roads safer, create jobs and keep the economy firing after a hard year," he said.
"The 'use it or lose it' provisions require states and territories to use their notionally allocated funds within a timeframe, or the funds can be reallocated to projects in other jurisdictions."
Works getting under way throughout April include:
- Yorke Peninsula improvements:
- Spencer Highway/Yorke Highway and Minlaton Road /Maitland Road: 79 kilometres combined of shoulder sealing, pavement rehabilitation, audio tactile line marking.
- Upper Yorke Road: 14km combined of shoulder sealing, lane widening, audio tactile line marking, and resurfacing works.
- Copper Coast Highway: 8km combined of essential road resurfacing and asphalt rehabilitation.
- Spencer Highway/Yorke Highway and Minlaton Road /Maitland Road: 79 kilometres combined of shoulder sealing, pavement rehabilitation, audio tactile line marking.
- Upper Yorke Road: 14km combined of shoulder sealing, lane widening, audio tactile line marking, and resurfacing works.
- Copper Coast Highway: 8km combined of essential road resurfacing and asphalt rehabilitation.
- Eyre Highway: 65km of shoulder sealing, lane widening and guidepost installation
- Tod Highway: 44km of shoulder sealing, lane widening and guidepost installation.
- Birdseye Highway: 40km of shoulder sealing, lane widening and guidepost installation
- Stuart Highway: 40km of road rehabilitation and resurfacing works.
- Ngarkat Highway: 21km of pavement widening, shoulder sealing and resurfacing works. This project forms part of the South Australian government's commitment to raising the speed limit on eight country roads, jointly funded (80:20) by the Australian and South Australian governments as part of the Rural Roads Safety Package.
- Horrocks Highway: 20lm (over two separate projects) of shoulder sealing and/or pavement rehabilitation.
- Karoonda Highway: 16 lane kilometres of micro-surfacing to fill wheel ruts on the road surface.
- Barrier Highway: 14.5km combined of road widening and shoulder sealing along the approaches of Mount Bryan and Hallett.
- Playford Highway: culvert extensions and shoulder widening.
In addition to these works, 51km of resealing works are starting on Browns Well Highway.
Sealing works are also starting on a 20km section of Kempe Road directly north-east of Coober Pedy, as part of a project to deliver 37 kilometres of improvements that began in March.
Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Sign up here to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.
