POPULAR WORDS

June 17, 2010

The Rudd Government will allocate $3.5 million to Western Australia to build new and upgrade current rest areas under its Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program.

Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese says the money will fund seven new and eleven upgraded rest areas and one new and one upgraded decoupling bay.

New rest areas will be built on the Great Northern, Brand and Eyre highways, Geraldton, Marble Bar, east of Tom Price and north of Paraburdoo.

Existing rest areas on the Great Northern, Esperance, Goldfields and North West Coastal highways will be upgraded, alongside improvements to a parking bay south of Exmouth.

The new decoupling bay will be built on the Dampier Highway.

“We will also install flood warning systems along four sections along the Ripon Hills Road and Marble Bar Road in the Pilbara to help prevent a repeat of recent incidents involving trucks being washed away by floodwaters,” Albanese says.

The money is part of the final round of funding from the $70 million program, which the Australian Trucking Association wants extended.

“Established by us shortly after coming to office, this program is the first ever significant federal response to the lack of safe, modern rest stops along the nation’s highways,” Albanese says.

He says the investment in rest areas will complement the increase in funding for highways and the introduction in 2013 of a national heavy vehicle regulator to end cross-border inconsistencies.