goodday all
wont be long we can all sell our 4bs and tour by 2wd
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Hopes highway will open up outback
From: AAP
July 12, 2006
A KEY outback link between Queensland and Western Australia was one step closer today.
Roads Minister Jim Lloyd was at the remote Northern Territory outpost of Hearts Range this morning to launch eight projects which will seal 119km of the 2800km Outback Highway.
Hearts Range is home to a
police station with a jurisdiction of more than a thousand square kilometres.
Petrol there is $1.50 a litre.
And it is the place where the bitumen of the
Plenty Highway meets the red dirt of the Outback Highway.
The highway runs diagonally south-west from
Winton in central Queensland to
Laverton in the West Australian goldfields.
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Remote sections of the highway are used by less than 50 cars a day but those backing the highway hope a bitumen road will deliver tourists to
places like
Warburton, Docker River and Tobermory.
"We might be daunted by the concept of developing an all-weather road over 2800km across this big land," Mr Lloyd said.
"However, it is easy to view bits of the whole as being worthwhile achievement so that we bring about the wider vision."
The Outback Highway runs across two states, one territory and five gigantic shires.
The Commonwealth has committed $10 million to the highway with state and territory governments also providing funding.
Mr Lloyd said the highway would be a great development for tourists and those who live in the outback.
"These works will reduce the duration of road closures in the wet season and improve road alignment at selected sections with unsafe curves."
yesterdays nt news
steve