Increased safety and heavy freight accessibility on Princes Highway

Thursday, 3 November 2022

Two new culverts on the Princes Highway between Kingston and Millicent, in the Southeast, will make the highway safer and more accessible to heavy freight vehicles.

The culvert replacements form part of the $190 million Princes Highway Corridor upgrade project jointly funded (80:20) by the Australian and South Australian governments.

A review of bridges and culverts along the highway was undertaken to identify those at their end of life or those unable to accommodate Performance Based Standards (PBS) Level 3A vehicles (double road trains up to 36.5 metres long). As a result of this review, two culverts located between Kingston and Millicent were identified as priorities for replacement.

Approximately 600 vehicles travel along this section of the Princes Highway each day, and approximately one quarter of these are heavy vehicles. Currently, this section is gazetted for PBS Level 2B vehicles (B-doubles between 26 metres and 30 metres long).

Two culverts, located approximately 40 kilometres south-east of Kingston and approximately 23 kilometres north-west of Millicent, will be replaced. This will allow for wider lane widths and will include new safety barriers to improve road safety, driving conditions and site reliability. The bridge barriers will also be extended along the approaches to the culverts.

The new and improved culverts will contribute to the section of the Princes Highway between Kingston and Millicent meeting the criteria for PBS Level 3A vehicles, improving freight productivity and reliability.

Work is expected to start in early 2023, subject to authorisations, and be completed later that year. It will include construction of temporary diversion tracks to allow traffic to bypass the project sites.

To find out more about the Princes Highway Corridor Upgrade Project please visit the website.