Construction work is progressing for the Horrocks Highway Corridor Upgrade project in South Australia. The work is seeing improvements carried out to a 245km stretch of the highway between Wilmington and Gawler. The project will boost safety and connectivity and provide greater capacity for freight transport.
The work being carried out includes paving shoulders, repairing and replacing the road surfaces, widening, new overtaking lanes and overtaking lane extensions. It also includes cutting off local road approaches, bridge upgrades, fitting new safety barriers, installing Audio Tactile Line Marking (ATLM), and improvements to the Gladstone rail corridor and level crossing.
The bridge upgrade and safety upgrade work will be the last portions of the project to be completed and should be finished in late 2023. Once it is ready, the project will improve transport to the north of the state capital, Adelaide.
Funding for the project has come from a variety of sources including US$40.7 million (A$55 million) from the Horrocks Highway Corridor programme, which forms part of the $244.27 (A$330 million) South Australian Rural Roads (SARR) Package. There has been $814,220 (A$1.1 million) provided through the first stimulus Targeted Road Safety Works, which itself forms part of the $107 million (A$144.5 million) Road Infrastructure Safety Package. And $28.6 million (A$38.7 million) has come from the second stimulus works $233.16 million (A$315 million) Road Safety Package. The AustralianFederal Government has provided a good percentage of the funding required in various forms.
Pavement rehabilitation works have now been completed between Wilmington and Murray Town and final line marking being carried out. However, speed restrictions remain in place on the newly resurfaced section of road until the new surfacing has been run in properly.
