'Dangerous' rain-damaged Barkly highways costing NT cattle industry, tourists and residents

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Barkly News

Rural,Cattle,Roads

The NT cattle industry and tourists are calling for urgent repairs on the Stuart, Barkly and Tablelands highways after a heavy wet season caused significant damage.

The NT cattle industry and tourists have called for repairs, saying the roads are a safety issue and cause vehicle damage.The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics says repair work has started but will take several months.

"Some of are two meters long ... some are up to your knee ... 400 deep, so you could definitely lose a car tyre," he said."The shoulders with their big drop off are gauging out rims, caving in rims. There's bad tyre wear and tear, then there's many more moving parts underneath them sorts of big things, banging and clanging," he said.

"I would have thought the Barkly Highway's a pretty important one to get done up; it's the main freight run for Australia from east to west," he said.Meanwhile, the first hundred kilometres of the Barkly Highway's western end has many big holes and long ruts, some covering the entire road width.) "You can blow out of tyre and suspension ...You've got to drive the conditions all the time because it's pretty slow."

"Money needs to be going into roads because we need to keep our pastoralists moving. It's one of the biggest industries in the Northern Territory," he said."It's costing people money. It's just not good enough."A Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics spokesperson said the Northern Territory Government was investing $7.4 million to repair flood-damaged sections of the Stuart, Barkly and Tablelands highways.

"Delays to commence repairs have been attributed to the saturated pavement conditions and unsealed shoulders, making it impossible to utilise heavy machinery without it causing more damage or becoming bogged," the spokesperson said.The Department of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development provides 80 per cent of funding for Territory roads.

 

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