Northern Australia Roads Program is a suite of projects designed to deliver upgrades to high priority roads in northern Australia. In 2016 the Australian Government announced 19 projects to be funded under this program, and in 2020 another was added. This program is separate to the

Northern Australia Beef Roads Program Northern Australia Beef Roads Program is a suite of projects designed to deliver targeted upgrades to key roads for transporting cattle in northern Australia. In 2016 the Australian Government announced 18 projects to be funded under this program. ...

, also announced in 2016, which contains a further 18 projects.

Funding and program status

Funding by the Australian Government is up to 80% of total costs, with the remainder being met by state, territory and local governments. The initial funding allocation by the Australian Government was $600 million, most of which has now (in March 2022) been expended on the identified projects, most of which have been completed or are nearing completion. In the 2022 Federal Budget a further $380 million over four years was allocated for projects yet to be determined.

Type of work

The work undertaken includes bridge and culvert construction, road widening, sealing, overtaking lanes and pavement renewal.

Projects

The roads involved in the 20 projects are listed below.

Queensland

* Flinders Highway (2 projects) *

Capricorn Highway The Capricorn Highway is located in Central Queensland, Australia, and links the city of Rockhampton with western Queensland. The highway is long, and joins the Landsborough Highway at Barcaldine. Formerly National Route 66, Queensland began ...

Kennedy Developmental Road The Kennedy Highway is a highway in northern Queensland, Australia. It runs as National Route 1 for approximately 243 km from Smithfield, on the northern outskirts of Cairns, to the Gulf Developmental Road in the vicinity of Forty Mile S ...

(2 projects) *

Barkly Highway The Barkly Highway is a national highway of both Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia. It is the only sealed road between Queensland and the Northern Territory. Description The highway runs between Cloncurry and the junction wit ...

* Bowen Developmental Road *

Landsborough Highway Landsborough Highway is a highway in western Queensland, Australia, running in the northwest–southeast direction from Morven, Queensland, Morven to Cloncurry, Queensland, Cloncurry. The Landsborough Highway runs through vast tracts of land th ...

Peak Downs Highway The Peak Downs Highway links the towns of Mackay and Clermont in the Australian state of Queensland. It represents the main link between Queensland's Whitsunday Coast and the Central West region of the state. The highway runs for a total lengt ...

* Bajool-Port Alma Road,

Northern Territory

Plenty Highway The Plenty Highway is a outback mostly unsealed road in the Northern Territory of Australia between the Stuart Highway and north-western Queensland. Route description The road begins at a turnoff from the Stuart Highway north of Alice Spring ...

Tjukaruru Road The Great Central Road is a mostly unsealed Australian outback highway that runs from Laverton, Western Australia to Yulara, Northern Territory (near Uluru / Ayers Rock). It passes through a number of small communities on the way. History The ...

* Keep River Plains Road *

Arnhem Highway The Arnhem Highway is a 227—kilometre highway in the Northern Territory of Australia. It links the mining town of Jabiru, in Kakadu National Park, to the Stuart Highway at a point 35 kilometres south of Darwin. Upgrades The Northern Aus ...

Buntine Highway The Buntine Highway is a 581-kilometre highway in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It runs from the Victoria Highway via Top Springs and Kalkarindji and then to Nicholson, Western Australia. The section from the Victoria Highway ...

Western Australia

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

(3 projects) * Marble Bar Road * Broome- Cape Leveque Road

Project details

Where there is an article about a road the project details have been included therein. For roads with no article the details are shown below.

Bajool-Port Alma Road

The project for pavement widening and safety upgrades to the port access road was completed by January 2022 at a total cost of $14.5 million.

Keep River Plains Road

The project to upgrade and seal sections of the road and construct two new bridges over Keep River and Sandy Creek was completed in late 2020 at a total cost of $87.3 million.

White Paper on Developing Northern Australia

The Northern Australia Roads Program is part of the ''White Paper on Developing Northern Australia'', a $600 million commitment to upgrade high priority roads in northern Australia.

Parliamentary report

The Parliament of Australia has produced a report on transport infrastructure that includes extensive details of the Northern Australia Roads Program, among others.

Press recognition

The ''Roads and Infrastructure'' magazine has published details of the progress of a number of projects under the Northern Australia Roads Program.

Progress reporting

As Queensland projects under the Northern Australia Roads Program reach significant milestones these are reported on the Department of Transport and Main Roads website.

Completed Queensland projects

References

{{Reflist

External links

Our North, Our Future: White Paper on Developing Northern Australia
Northern Australia Roads in Australia Lists of roads in Australia