South Australia second state to sign up to AusLink

<p>The Australian and South Australian governments have signed a bilateral agreement to implement AusLink, the national land transport plan. </p> <p>SA will now receive $462.3m under AusLink in the years to 2008&#4709, for major land transport projects. </p> <p>In addition, the Federal Government will provide SA with an extra $15m to help upgrade the Eyre Peninsula rail system.</p> <p>This morning (Friday, June 24), the outgoing federal transport minister, John Anderson, and the SA transport minister, Patrick Conlon, signed the agreement at the site of the Port River Expressway in Adelaide&#8211 one of the key projects that will be funded under the agreement.</p> <p>"SA is the second state to sign up to AusLink, after Victoria,&#8221 Mr Anderson said. </p> <p>"It’s time for the remaining states and territories to join us in building Australia’s transport future."</p> <p>Mr Anderson said the agreement was a huge boost for SA’s transport infrastructure, and continued the national rollout of the Government’s $12.5bn land transport plan.</p> <p>The AusLink projects to be funded include:</p> <p>&#8226 $80m for the Port River Expressway road and rail bridges, and associated road and rail works</p> <p>&#8226 $146m over five years to provide Adelaide with a new northern gateway, involving an extension of the Sturt Highway and the upgrading of Port Wakefield Road</p> <p>&#8226 $59.2m for Sturt Highway upgrading works</p> <p>&#8226 $14.3m for pavement rehabilitation on the Dukes Highway</p> <p>&#8226 $5.2m for shoulder sealing and passing lanes between Adelaide and Port Augusta</p> <p>&#8226 $5m to upgrade West Avenue at Salisbury</p> <p>&#8226 $3m to upgrade the intersections of Hampstead Road and Regency and Mullers roads and</p> <p>+ $131m in maintenance funding.</p> <p>In addition, the Federal Government will contribute $15m toward a $30m project to upgrade the Eyre Peninsula rail system. The grant is conditional on a matching contribution from the state government, industry and local councils.</p> <p>"The Eyre Peninsula rail system handles more than 2m tonnes of grain a year, but parts of it are in very poor condition. Our funding injection will make sure that&#8224 the grain transport system on the peninsula is as efficient as possible," Mr Anderson said.</p> <br />