Gibb River Road upgrades delayed/deferred
Submitted: Monday, Aug 12, 2013 at 08:22
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Road Warrior
Buried deep in the budget papers of Bad Boy Buswell's 2013/2014 State Budget, was this:
"A further $196 million has been pushed beyond June 2017 by deferring upgrades to the
Gibb River Road, the extension of the
Mitchell Freeway and the construction of an interchange on
Reid Highway at Malaga Drive."
No idea what these upgrades entailed. Were they planning to seal it?
Reply By: Kris and Kev - Monday, Aug 12, 2013 at 10:27
Monday, Aug 12, 2013 at 10:27
I heard that they were going to seal from
El Questro to the
Pentecost River. But a search on the WA main Roads web site show the following-
El Questro –
Pentecost River 2013-2014
Roadworks include:
• formation and alignment improvement;
• gravel resheeting; and
• floodway and culvert construction of 23 km from the
Pentecost River to
El Questro on the
Gibb River Road.
Perhaps this is what they refer to. Personally I am against sealing the Gibb, but these improvements would have been great. Kevin
AnswerID:
516282
Follow Up By: Member - Rosco from way back - Monday, Aug 12, 2013 at 18:35
Monday, Aug 12, 2013 at 18:35
Was just up there and it's currently sealed from
Kununurra all the way to the turnoff to
El Questro.
FollowupID:
795627
Follow Up By: Stretchlizard2 - Monday, Aug 12, 2013 at 20:33
Monday, Aug 12, 2013 at 20:33
I also did it recently and would not mind if they turn the red/
orange lumpy bits to blacktop. I like driving dirt roads but I am over bad corrugations while towing an offroad van. The van handles it but the vehicle load and my teeth rattling are what I am over.
Those that say say that making the GRR blacktop will cause too many visitors are behind the times. The queues at
Imintji Roadhouse for diesel and food have to be seen to be believed. The management cannot keep the shelves stocked to cater for the demand as there are too many people in the
shop to reach the shelves. Some people were distressed to come away without the supplies they were counting on.
It used to be that it was only
Broome that had to be prebooked for a site. Now it also applies at
Katherine and
Kununurra and some roadhouses.
We are out there and we are swamping the
places.
See it soon or just look at someone's piccies.
Cheers Stretchlizard
FollowupID:
795638
Reply By: DiscoTourer - Tuesday, Aug 13, 2013 at 23:40
Tuesday, Aug 13, 2013 at 23:40
Let's hope they don't seal it any more than they have.
I have travelled the GRR 6 times, once last year, and she is not a bad road. Corrugations are ok. Kalumburru and
Mitchell plateau roads while corrugated and quite good compared to other serious outback roads.
Don't want to much traffic up that way.
Brett....
AnswerID:
516367
Follow Up By: Member - PJR (NSW) - Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 at 09:05
Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 at 09:05
Disco I agree. The rougher the better. I hate crowds. It was perfect in the
Simpson Desert as we didn't see a car until the third day. We don't have an issue with corrugations but I do understand those that do.
Although I do feel for the locals. They would benefit from it being sealed.
So where is the balance. Maybe with the budgets and votes I think. We shall see. I will never forget what an engineer at
Cook Council told me. They listen to the locals before the visitors. So he built a
bridge.
Phil
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