Central Arnhem Road upgrades

The Northern Territory Government is planning for and delivering long term upgrades along Central Arnhem Road.

The Central Arnhem Road is 645 kilometres and connects the regional centre of Nhulunbuy to the Stuart Highway.

It services a large number of Aboriginal communities and is a key tourism drive and freight route for the mining and pastoral industries.

$355 million has been committed to deliver initial priority upgrades. This includes $280 million from the Australian Government and $75 million from the Northern Territory Government.

The upgrades will include sealing, reconstruction, widening and flood immunity improvements. Improvements will also be made to drainage, bridges, culverts and road alignments.

Map

Aim

The upgrades will improve:

• connectivity
• flood immunity
• road safety
• travel time
• accessibility.

The upgrades will provide opportunities for:

• economic development for the region
• Aboriginal employment and business supplier use.

The long term objective is to provide a two-lane sealed connection for the entire road. The current funding commitment will contribute to this long term objective.

Investment strategy

Territory-based consultant GHD developed an investment strategy informed by outcomes of community and stakeholder consultation undertaken in 2019. The investment strategy identified 40 individual road upgrade projects along the corridor and grouped them into short, medium and long-term priorities.

The first group of priority upgrades have been chosen to ensure money is spent where it makes the most immediate difference for Territorians.

Completed works

The following early works packages are complete:

• Package 1 - Beswick section (chainage 59.8 to 66.0 km) – upgrade and sealing approximately 6.2 km completed in June 2021
• Package 2 - Goyder approaches (chainage 363.6 to 378.1 km) – upgrade and sealing approximately 14.4 km completed in December 2021
• NT funded package - Bulman Airfield to community (chainage 250.8 to 254.9 km) – upgrade and sealing approximately 4.1 km completed in December 2022.

Upcoming works

The department is currently progressing the following three priority packages:

• Package 3 - Mountain Valley Station (chainage 158 km to 176 km). The contract for upgrade and sealing was awarded to Allan King and Sons in June 2024. On-site investigations are underway with construction expected to commence in April 2025.
• Package 6 - Stuart Highway to Tandangle Hill (chainage 0 km to 46.6 km). The tender for design and construction is expected to be released in November 2024.
• Package 7 – Wugularr to Jurassic Park Lookout (chainage 66 km to 119 km). The tender for design and construction is expected to be released in November 2024.

Planning

Planning is underway for the following packages. This includes survey works, investigations, consultations and design:

• Package 4 – Waterhouse River and Dook Creek Floodplain (chainage 56 km to 60 km)
• Package 5 - Boggy Creek to Dhupuma Road (chainage 544 km to 645 km)
• Package 8 – Mainoru Station (chainage 176 km to 197 km)
• Package 9 – Conway’s Station (chainage 119 km to 158km)

Consultation

The Central Arnhem Road passes through both pastoral and Aboriginal land.

One of the key objectives of the project is to respect culture and country.

Consultation with Traditional Owners will be conducted through the Northern Land Council.

Broader community consultation was undertaken in 2019 with the:

• Katherine and Nhulunbuy communities
• businesses and organisations that use Central Arnhem Road.

This consultation helped inform criteria which were used to determine priority upgrades which will deliver the most benefit for Territorians.

Stakeholder update

To register for stakeholder updates on this project, email transport.planning@nt.gov.au.

Contact

Transport Planning
Phone: 08 8924 7118
transport.planning@nt.gov.au