THE AUGUSTA HIGHWAY'S GANGBUSTER INFRASTRUCTURE SPEND

Written by the Department for Infrastructure and Transport

The Augusta Highway in South Australia is currently a hive of infrastructure upgrade activity, as work progresses on a range of projects and programs aimed at improving safety outcomes, travel times and freight productivity along the highway.

Over half a billion dollars of cumulative investment from both the Australian and South Australian governments has been committed to major projects and works programs on the Augusta Highway in recent years, which have created hundreds of jobs.

South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) Chief Executive Jon Whelan said this investment recognised the Highway’s strategic importance on both a state and national level.

“As someone who was raised in Port Augusta, I know firsthand how important the Augusta Highway is to local communities, visitors travelling across South Australia and freight operators from both SA and interstate,” he said.

“The Highway is not only the key road corridor between Port Wakefield and Port Augusta, it is a major gateway to South Australia’s north and west and part of Highway 1 and the National Land Transport Network.”

This investment has already started to pay dividends.

At the southernmost end of the Highway, an overpass has been constructed to remove hazardous at-grade turning movements and traffic congestion at the former intersection of the Augusta, Port Wakefield and Copper Coast highways. Towards the northernmost end, the Joy Baluch AM Bridge – which takes Augusta Highway traffic across the Spencer Gulf in Port Augusta, before it splits off into the Stuart and Eyre highways – has been duplicated to improve the critical road link’s resilience, road safety and efficiency. Traffic is now using both pieces of new and improved infrastructure, which were made possible by the $124.5 million Port Wakefield Overpass and Highway Duplication Project (which is now complete, except for minor finishing works), and the $200 million Joy Baluch

AM Bridge Duplication Project (which is now nearing completion).

Both projects were funded by the Australian and South Australian governments (on an 80:20 basis) and delivered by the Port Wakefield to Port Augusta (PW2PA) Alliance – a consortium of CPB Contractors, Aurecon and GHD, in alliance with DIT. PW2PA Alliance is also working on two additional projects on the Augusta Highway: one to duplicate a 28-kilometre section of the Highway between Port Wakefield and Lochiel, and the other to construct two new southbound overtaking lanes, near Lochiel and Redhill. Both are jointly funded by the Australian and South Australian governments (on an 80:20 basis).

Once complete, the $260 million duplication project will provide motorists with dual, two-lane carriageways, as well as upgraded connecting intersections, along the 28-kilometre stretch of highway from just north of the new Port Wakefield Overpass and Lochiel in the state’s Mid North.

To date, PW2PA Alliance has completed two sections of the new two-lane carriageway, spanning a combined 18 kilometres in length, with work on the third and final new section progressing. Traffic has been diverted onto the two completed sections of the new carriageway to safely enable reconstruction work to be undertaken on the existing highway adjacent to it. Traffic is expected to be diverted onto the third section in the coming months, weather permitting, to allow reconstruction work to commence on its adjacent section.

A significant amount of the reconstruction of the existing highway will be directed at future-proofing the major freight route, and will include improving several steep climbs, intersection upgrades to tie in with the new carriageway and key drainage improvements.

The Augusta Highway Duplication Project – Port Wakefield to Lochiel is expected to be fully completed in 2024.

The two new southbound overtaking lanes on the Augusta Highway form part of the Australian and South Australian governments’ $155 million South Australian Rural Roads Safety Package and are located north of Lochiel and south of Redhill.

The overtaking lane near Lochiel was completed and opened to traffic in

March 2023 and the one near Redhill is nearing completion, with work expected to be completed in the coming months.

The project will also involve the reconstruction of the adjacent sections of the existing Highway, with that work set to kick off later this year when the weather is warmer.

PW2PA Alliance General Manager, Dallas Keane, was proud of what the Alliance has accomplished on the Augusta Highway to date.

“Despite the challenges from the exceptionally wet conditions this year, we have completed some key milestones on the Highway duplication project,” he said.

“Once the warmer weather returns later this year, the team is ready to continue refurbishing the existing Highway sections.

“Meanwhile at Lochiel, we have deployed the specialist surface miner to continue with the rock excavation – which is set to deliver major benefits to road users, both from a safety and fuel economy point of view.”

In addition to the PW2PA Alliance projects, the Australian and South Australian governments are jointly funding several infrastructure upgrades along the Augusta Highway as part of the $266.3 million Princes Highway Corridor Upgrade and the $500 million, 10-year Freight Highway Upgrade Program (both funded 80:20).

Works recently commenced on two junction upgrades at the Augusta Highway junctions with Venning Road, south of Crystal Brook, and Clements Road, north of Redhill (both of which are being undertaken by BMD) and shoulder sealing at multiple locations on the Highway, between Snowtown and Redhill. Planning is underway for a junction upgrade at the Augusta Highway junction with Horrocks Pass Road at Winninowie and a new overtaking lane.

Planning is also underway to determine the program of works for the remaining nine years of the Freight Highway Upgrade Program, meaning road safety and freight productivity improvements will continue to roll out on the Augusta Highway for years to come.