A contract has been awarded for work on almost $40 million of road improvements on the Upper Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.
The project, which was awarded to Downer EDI, will support approximately 75 jobs a year over its two-year construction phase and deliver a new roundabout to help ease the flow of holiday traffic at a key Yorke Peninsula junction.
The package of works includes:
- A roundabout at the junction of the Yorke and Copper Coast highways, known locally as Federation Corner
- Two overtaking lanes on the Yorke Highway, north of Ardrossan
- Shoulder sealing and other safety improvements on the Yorke Highway
- An upgrade of the intersection of the Curramulka to Port Vincent Road (known locally as Dans Road) and Minlaton to Port Vincent Road
- Pavement rehabilitation on the Bute to Kulpara Road are also included in the works package.
The roundabout will help to ease traffic flows during busy long weekend and summer holiday periods, particularly for many thousands of holidaymakers heading back to Adelaide, while also improving safety at the junction year-round.
The package of works will also improve productivity in the agricultural sector, especially during harvest, by allowing for road train access to the Yorke Peninsula from Port Wakefield for the first time.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan said the $40 million project is a significant investment.
“The new roundabout at Federation Corner will help to ease the flow of holiday traffic at the intersection and improve safety for tens of thousands of drivers during peak holiday periods.
“Together with the temporary traffic diversion through Lochiel and Balaklava, which has proven successful in diverting hundreds of vehicles away from the busy Highway One, it should also help to reduce frustrations for motorists.
“The Government has also been focused on completing the missing links in our heavy vehicle road networks.
“By opening up the Yorke Highway between Ardrossan and Port Wakefield to road trains we can remove productivity constraints for transport operators and primary producers, such as the double handling of freight and livestock,” Mr Mullighan said.
Across the State, the Government is spending more than half-a-billion dollars on road safety and maintenance over four years and almost two-thirds of that will go to regional areas.
Regional Development Minister, Geoff Brock, said, “The upgrade of this important regional road network will create safer and more efficient regional transport corridors and in turn help local primary producers and industry to become more competitive.”
