Albany Highway Upgrades

• Widening the highway and installing safety barriers between Kojonup and Balgarup Road.
• Intersection improvements at Crossman Road and Crossman Dwarda Road, which includes widening lanes and shoulders, new right turning lane into Crossman and Crossman Dwarda roads, a new left turning lane into Crossman Dwarda Road, and upgrades to the southbound rest area.
• Reconstructing and widening a 5.7 km section between Gordon River Bridge and Pinjalup Creek Bridge, and new safety barriers at Frankland Cranbrook Road and Rockwell Road.
• Road repairs to 13.5 km of highway between Jarrahdale Road and Williams, across 5 sections.

Gordon River Bridge in the Shire of Cranbrook

An extensive environmental impact assessment has been undertaken, including completion of three biological surveys to assess the potential impact on Threatened Ecological Communities (TEC) and the required clearing of native vegetation on this section of the project.

A biological survey completed in October 2018 located flora species acacia prismifolia previously thought to be extinct, within the road reserve. It has since been established that there are approximately 1500 individual plants in both the road reserve and adjacent private property.

To lessen the impact to this rare species, the project design and scope was altered to shorten the length of horizontal and vertical curves, designing steeper embankments and installing kerbing and safety barriers to reduce the environmental footprint. Clearing of any observed acacia prismifolia population will be avoided.

Kojonup to Balgarup Road

To undertake these works, roadside vegetation was cleared on both sides of the highway. The design sought to minimise clearing where possible to 5.5 ha. The majority of the vegetation was considered to be in a degraded condition.

Our Initial submission to the Australian Government’s Department of the Environment and Energy for this project determined the proposed works to be a controlled action, due to potential impacts to threatened species and communities listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

In accordance with section 95A(3) of the EPBC Act, Preliminary Documentation related to the proposal was available for viewing and comment. One submission was received and a response finalised, see documents below.

The compliance report for this project is available on our Construction Project Reports page.

Media Statement

• Construction underway on new Hotham River Bridge - 24 January 2022

Funding 

• The $10 million project was part-funded under the State Government’s Safer Roads Program.