Truckies can now safely take a break at the recently completed $3.8 million Salt Creek Heavy Vehicle Rest Area along the Princes Highway.
The completion of the project delivers a significant safety and freight productivity boost, providing a place for drivers to stop, manage fatigue, and check their loads.
“This project is an investment in the wellbeing of the hard-working truck drivers who now have a safe space to stop when travelling east bound along Princes Highway,” department for infrastructure and transport spokesperson says.
“Rest areas play a vital role helping heavy vehicle drivers manage fatigue, increasing productivity and keeping freight safely on the move.
“This new rest area at Salt Creek will deliver long-term safety improvements for all road users, while driving regional economic growth and freight efficiencies across the state’s South East.”
Located near the township of Salt Creek, the new rest area includes five heavy vehicle parking bays, a unisex toilet block, a metal shade structure, and picnic facilities.
The location was selected to meet rest area spacing requirements and design guidelines for safe vehicle access and egress, while minimising impacts on adjacent properties and areas of high environmental and cultural significance within the Coorong region.
Driving while feeling sleepy, physically or mentally tired, or lacking energy, is a major heavy vehicle safety hazard, and drivers are legally required to take rest breaks to manage fatigue.
Providing well-spaced, safe rest areas for truck drivers to stop helps reduce fatigue-related crashes, improving safety along the road corridor and keeping freight securely on the move.
On average, approximately 1,200 vehicles travel along Princes Highway near Salt Creek each day, including more than 200 heavy vehicles.
During the 2020 to 2024 five-year period, there were 49 reported crashes on the Princes Highway between Meningie and Kingston, including two serious injury crashes.
The new rest area was jointly funded by the Australian and South Australian governments as part of the Heavy Vehicle Rest Area initiative, through the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program.