Strzelecki Track to be sealed? (!)

[theflyingbadger]

Get your outback trips in now!

Problem
The Strzelecki Track was identified in the Australian Infrastructure Audit (April 2015) as a key freight route. It is the only viable land route between Adelaide and the Cooper Basin, and will be increasingly important to service the expanding oil and gas industry in the Cooper
and Eromanga Basins, and the pastoral industry in the north east of South Australia.
The Strzelecki Track is currently unsealed and suffers from potholes, corrugation and a lack of drainage. It is not sufficiently wide for triple road trains.
The road's condition and alignment reduce travel speed, damage vehicles, cause unpredictable closures due to flooding, and result in road safety risks. The road is not currently suitable for the most productive heavy road vehicles.

Proposed initiative
Upgrade and seal 426 kilometres of the (currently unsealed) Strzelecki Track between Lyndhurst and Innamincka, and 26 kilometres of the Nappa Merrie Access Road. This will provide a sealed connection between SA and Queensland. Improvements to mobile
phone coverage along the route are also proposed.

Next Steps
Business case development


Source

Infrastructure Australia Plan
Infrastructure Priority List

[GeoffA]

They're gunna be busy. The Tanami and GCR are supposedly going to be sealed too.....

[rkl71]

I am shocked that these tracks are being sealed, but after traveling down to from the Strezlecki Creek to Lyndhurst in August 2010 I can understand why. It rained overnight when we were camped on the Creek just prior to the bridge so the next morning we traveled the 350 odd kilometers to Lyndhurst in high range FWD, a tiring exercise.

[tk421]

I am shocked that these tracks are being sealed, but after traveling down to from the Strezlecki Creek to Lyndhurst in August 2010 I can understand why. It rained overnight when we were camped on the Creek just prior to the bridge so the next morning we traveled the 350 odd kilometers to Lyndhurst in high range FWD, a tiring exercise.

Not really surprising, if the route is being increasingly used for freight and industry they will all get sealed eventually. Especially any where resources are concerned. The costs to the business from delays caused by rain etc. can mount very quickly and be huge.

Hopefully the GCR and Tanami aren't sealed by the time I do them next year...

[duggie]

Not really surprising, if the route is being increasingly used for freight and industry they will all get sealed eventually. Especially any where resources are concerned. The costs to the business from delays caused by rain etc. can mount very quickly and be huge.

Hopefully the GCR and Tanami aren't sealed by the time I do them next year...

I used to drive the Tanami Track many times when I was working at the Granites. I saw many rolled over vehicles/trucks, I lost friends/ work colleges form accidents, and saw and waited for delays on transport due to the road conditions.

The Tanami Track should have been sealed many years ago, due to how much revenue has been raised from the Gold Mines since the 80's in the area.

I don't care if I ever have to drive on that rough , corrugated, road train saturated road again until it is all black top.

At least when Rabbit's Flat was open you could get a cold beer and have a break from the conditions.

[Bird]

Don't forget, with "genuine 4wds" becoming softer and softer and nomads choices thinning out to tow their 8 ton 50ft mobile roadblock along - more blacktop will suit more fossils people

[Spada]

wont it just be a case of joining the dots ?

I might be getting confused in my old age, but I thought last time I was out there (2013), there was a tar stretch about 5k long every 100k or so, wide enough and straight enough for road train passing ?

[doc evil]

I very much doubt that the GCR will be bitumenized. 1 cost is cost. Where I previously worked,  we did a pre feasibility study for a nickel mine near surveyor general corner. Cost to bitumenize from Ayres rock to Black stone (Warburton) community was over 60 million let alone bitumenizing all the way to Laverton. Traffic counts wouldn't justify it........not in the next 20 years at least (or if the mine goes ahead).

There was talk a couple of years ago with the locals, that they were considering making it "all weather" but still dirt (there is a small section near cosmo that is being trialed) and 7km of bitumen at chooka (Tjuka) and 15 odd at Warburton.

[woolgoolgaoffroad]

Theres always the old Strzelecki down to Merty Merty for a little dirt and dust

[MDS69]

Problem
The Strzelecki Track is currently unsealed and suffers from potholes, corrugation and a lack of drainage. It is not sufficiently wide for triple road trains.
The road's condition and alignment reduce travel speed, damage vehicles, cause unpredictable closures due to flooding, and result in road safety risks. The road is not currently suitable for the most productive heavy road vehicles.

That's what makes it appealing.

[GeoffA]

I doubt any of them will be sealed any time soon.

Not enough votes in it.....

[Julian Kaye]

I doubt any of them will be sealed any time soon.

Not enough votes in it.....

Quite so, not enough votes, too much money probably only mentioned due to lobbying from mining and energy companies. You read it here first, it won't happen in our lifetime.

[grumpy1]

Agree totally with Geoff and Kay....