Coolgardie Esperance Highway Upgrade

Active recruitment of local Aboriginal people has been underway since the commencement of works. During the first half of the year, seven Aboriginal people were in full-time roles, comprising five plant operators and two traffic controllers.

Three Aboriginal trainees have been identified through liaison with the Midwest Employment and Economic Development Aboriginal Corporation (MEEDAC) and Central TAFE. They will be offered full-time opportunities on the project once they graduate in September.

A series of “Buy Local” packages have been nominated for construction materials, water, haulage, waste management, sealing aggregate and plant equipment; actively promoting tender responses from local companies and including non-price criteria in procurement decisions. As at the end of June, the project had spent:

• $4.2 million with local businesses including goods and services procured for plant hire, fuel supply, accommodation, labour hire, haulage and traffic management.
• Of this, $384,500 has been spent with Aboriginal businesses.

Water scarcity, efficiency and management is a key component of construction activities including earthworks, dust suppression and pavement construction. Saltwater sources have been incorporated for the project’s earthworks, however low salinity water is vital for long-term road performance when constructing pavements. This is a scarce and costly resource in the Goldfields Region.

Water for pavement construction is often stored in large open dams. Whilst this method of storage captures rainwater, it is also prone to high evaporation rates in Western Australia’s climate. A product called WaterGuard is being used to reduce evaporation from one of the project’s major water sources, the Spargoville Dam.

It is expected to achieve evaporation savings of at least 50 per cent, with approximately 120 litres to be used.

Project Updates

• Project Update - August 2022 - Word document - (2.36 MB)
• Construction Update - July 2022 - Word document - (485 KB)
• Construction Update - December 2021 - Word document (549 KB)
• Project Update - September 2021 - Word document (2.11 MB)
• Project Update - April 2021 - Word document (1.87 MB)

Project Information

• Facebook - Drone footage - March 2022
• YouTube - Drone footage - May 2021
• Facebook - Blasting video - 26 March 2021
• Fact Sheet - December 2020 - PDF (526 KB)

Media Statements

• Coolgardie-Esperance Highway set for $52 million upgrade - 19 October 2020