Tuesday, Jun 21, 2016 at 10:34
WBS - I couldn't agree more. Mick Urlich, an old 'Slav prospector who lived next to us, on a gold lease at Higginsville, put it in a nutshell, back around the late 1970's - when the
Coolgardie-
Norseman Rd was fully upgraded to full width National highway standard.
Mick's exact words were, "You know, they reckon that new highway cost a million dollars a kilometre - and they're complaining about the cost! You wanna know something? It's WORTH EVERY CENT THAT IT COST!..."
"When I first arrived here in 1923, the '
road' was so bad, it was easier to drive through the bush, ALONGSIDE the
road!!
The '
road', was just two deep rutted wheeltracks, full of bulldust, potholes and bogholes!! It took the best part of a day to get to
Coolgardie! (120kms)"
Back in the "bad old days", it cost a fortune to get anything transported when roads were poor - and you had to rail anything even moderately heavy!
I can recall the transport cost on camels for the cement for the
Niagara Dam wall was 400 Pounds ($800) a ton! - in 1897!
Any area lucky enough to have a rail line, was in clover - anywhere else, getting your heavy goods moved was a struggle.
Any
road upgraded to National Hwy standard is a godsend, and a national asset, and no-one will ever regret building it, it's worth BILLIONS to the nation!
Cheers, Ron.
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