Northern Australia Roads Program and Northern Australia Beef Roads Program

Northern Australia Roads Program

About the program

The $980 million Northern Australia Roads Program is delivering upgrades to high priority roads in northern Australia essential to the movement of people and freight to support the North's economic development.

At the 2022-23 Budget, the Australian Government extended the Northern Australia Roads Program by committing a further $380 million to road projects in northern Australia over four years from 2022-23 to 2025-26.

Projects to be funded from this new $380 million commitment will be determined following engagement with stakeholders and project delivery partners.

This extension builds on the Australian Government’s initial $600 million investment, which is nearing completion. Roads identified in Infrastructure Australia's Northern Australia Audit, along with other roads identified as priorities by the states and territories, such as those connecting communities, or regional towns to ports, were considered for funding.

Works undertaken include upgrades and safety and productivity improvements, such as road widening, overtaking lane construction and pavement renewal.

Throughout 2016, the Australian Government announced 19 projects to be funded under the Northern Australia Roads Program. In 2020, the Australian Government committed to deliver Stage 2 of the Great Northern Highway Upgrade Ord River North using savings that were realised following completion of other Northern Australia Roads Program projects in Western Australia.

See below for a list of projects:

Projects

Queensland

Flinders Highway (Townsville – Torrens Creek): Pavement strengthening and rehabilitation (Package 1).
Flinders Highway – (Charters Towers to Richmond): Replacement of culverts.
Capricorn Highway (Rockhampton—Gracemere): Duplicate the section of the Capricorn Highway between Rockhampton and Gracemere.
Kennedy Developmental Road (Mount Garnet – The Lynd): Widening a section of road from a single lane seal to a two-lane seal between Mount Garnet and The Lynd.
Kennedy Developmental Road (The Lynd – Hughenden): Upgrading sections of the Kennedy Developmental Road known locally as the Hann Highway.
Barkly Highway (Cloncurry – Mount Isa): Intersection upgrades in Mount Isa urban area.
Bowen Developmental Road: Progressive sealing and minor drainage improvements.
Landsborough Highway (Longreach – Winton): Pavement widening and strengthening.
Peak Downs Highway (Clermont – Nebo): Logan Creek to Nine Mile Creek: Pavement widening and strengthening.
Rockhampton (Bajool – Port Alma Road): Pavement widening and safety upgrades to the port access road.

Northern Territory

Plenty Highway: Progressive sealing and flood immunity improvements.
Tjukaruru Road: Sealing and upgrades to an unsealed section of the road.
Keep River Plains Road: Upgrade and seal sections of the Keep River Plains Road and construct two new bridges over Keep River and Sandy Creek.
Adelaide River Floodplain Upgrade Arnhem Highway: Upgrades to the Arnhem Highway, improving the flood immunity at the Adelaide River floodplain to provide all-weather access between the Stuart Highway and Mount Bundy.
Buntine Highway Road Upgrading: Pavement strengthening, widening and sealing on priority sections.

Western Australia

Great Northern Highway Upgrade – Maggie Creek to Wyndham: Widening and reconstruction works and improvements to road alignments on the Wyndham Spur.
Marble Bar Road (Coongan Gorge): Realignment and reconstruction works.
Great Northern Highway (Bow River Bridge): Replacement of the existing low-level single lane bridge with a new two-lane high-level bridge.
Broome-Cape Leveque Road: Road re-construction and re-alignment.
Great Northern Highway Upgrade Ord River North Section (Stage 2): Widening and reconstruction works, including building a new bridge over Tickalara Creek.

Benefits

The Northern Australia Roads Program will help improve the North's transport network and as a result support economic development and improve safety for all road users.

Funding

The Australian Government will fund up to a maximum of 80 per cent of the total project cost in partnership with the state, territory and local governments.

Timetable

Funding is currently available from 2016-17 until 2025-26.

Map

Map of current Northern Australia Roads Programs and Beef projects PDF: 15603 KB

Northern Australia Beef Roads Program

About the program

The $100 million program is making targeted upgrades to key roads necessary for transporting cattle to improve the reliability, productivity and resilience of cattle supply chains in northern Australia, thereby reducing freight costs and strengthening links to markets.

The Australian Government announced projects to be funded under the Northern Australia Beef Roads Program in October 2016, and the program is now nearing completion.

To help identify priority projects, the Australian Government actively engaged with key stakeholders, including members of the northern Australian beef and transport industries, through a series of stakeholder roundtables held in Rockhampton, Kununurra and Darwin throughout late in 2015 and early in 2016.

The CSIRO analysed and modelled the different scenarios put forward by state, territory and local governments using the Transport Network Strategic Investment Tool (TraNSIT) to determine the extent of benefits to the movement of cattle and assist in the prioritisation of projects.