Roads across South Australia are set to receive upgrades to improve flood resilience and safety.
Flood recovery works on the Eyre Highway and Stuart Highway will include raising the road level and incorporating new drainage structures.
The recovery works are being undertaken following extreme weather events and widespread flooding on regional roads across the state in January 2022.
The contract will soon be awarded for the construction of works to improve the flood resilience of the Eyre Highway west of Kimba. These works will enable this section of road to withstand and remain open during flood events in future years.
On the Stuart Highway, similar works are planned at Glendambo, while at Lake Windabout, large-scale scour protection and a new safety barrier will be incorporated.
Between Port Augusta and Pimba, select locations will see shoulder resealing along the Stuart Highway.
These works are being delivered under the Targeted Investment to Improve National Supply Chain Resilience, aimed at repairing flood damaged road infrastructure, restoring national and state supply chains, and reconnecting remote and regional communities and industries to pre-disaster conditions.
The program is jointly funded by the Federal Government ($60 million) and the South Australian Government ($15 million).
The upgrades delivered through this program are designed to reduce the economic impact of flooding events with more resilient infrastructure and provide support for the communities that rely on the road network. Road infrastructure will be able to return to functionality much sooner in the immediate aftermath of a disaster through these upgrades.
Works recently began on a $10.6 million upgrade of the Oodnadatta Track between Marla and Oodnadatta to reconstruct five major floodways and raise the surface level of the track, allowing it to remain open or be reopened sooner after rainfall, with $8.8 million in funding provided for the project under the Roads to Recovery Program.
The Strzelecki Track is also currently in the process of being sealed as part of a jointly funded $205 million upgrade, with just over 40 per cent – 190km out of 472km – currently completed.
Additionally, the Federal and South Australian Governments are jointly funding a series of safety upgrades announced for Barrier Highway and Mannum Road.
As part of the state’s most recent $168 million allocation under the nationwide Road Safety Program, $10 million will go towards upgrading 60km of the Barrier Highway from Burra to Riverton.
Upgrades on the Barrier Highway include shoulder widening and sealing, improving access to properties, pavement rehabilitation, audio-tactile line marking and installing safety barriers.
Additionally, $800,000 will go towards safety upgrades at multiple locations on a 30km stretch of Mannum Road between Mannum and Murray Bridge. Those upgrades will include Audio Tactile Line Marking and safety barrier installation.
The works on Barrier Highway and Mannum Road will support 50 full-time-equivalent jobs over the construction period and the whole $168 million package of works will support approximately 635 full-time-equivalent jobs.
Works in both locations are expected to begin before the end of May and are set to be completed by March 2025. The completion of these works will improve road safety and freight efficiency while supporting regional economic development.
The $168 million investment under the nationwide Road Safety Program is equally funded by the Federal and South Australian Governments, each contributing $84 million.
Image: MichaelHahn/shutterstock.com
