South Australian local councils can now apply to supercharge local road initiatives, with the opening of a new funding round for South Australia’s Special Local Roads Program.
The new funding round will allow South Australian councils to construct new strategic roads and undertake maintenance to improve significantly important local roads in their communities.
Local Government Association of South Australia President, Mayor Angela Evans, said funding would allow local governments to deliver strategic local road projects that would otherwise exceed an individual council’s capacity.
“This program is vital for South Australian councils, enabling them to construct and maintain significant and strategic local roads, including sealed or unsealed roads and bridges, which supports economic and business growth and local jobs,” Mayor Evans said.
“The program aims to prioritise construction and maintenance of strategic and significant local roads, where benefits go beyond the boundary of the council and its community.
“Year-on-year, this program has proven highly successful and is often oversubscribed — last year’s funding saw over $15 million provided to 26 projects supporting a range of strategic outcomes, like freight and supply chain access, tourism routes and safety improvements.
“Funding delivered through the Special Local Roads Program has been vital to help communities thrive and I’m looking forward to seeing the projects from this new round.”
District Council of Yankalilla Mayor, Simon Rothwell, said funding of $753,300 from the 2021-22 round of the program for Forktree Road in Myponga was a major boost for the project.
“Forktree Road is a significant regional route for tourism and the community, and funding from the Special Local Roads Program allowed us to address high-risk safety items and seal 1.8km of existing unsealed road, which has been a long-anticipated project for our community,” Mayor Rothwell said.
“With the opening of the Myponga Reservoir and anticipated tourist and visitor traffic, this upgrade was necessary to provide a safer access route and to support future tourism growth around the Myponga Reservoir ring route, as well as benefiting the traffic heading through to Carrickalinga, Normanville and further South.”
Applications to the 2022-23 round of the program are now open, and will close on 20 May 2022.
Assessment of projects is conducted through an independent Local Government Transport Advisory Panel with input from regional local government associations and the metropolitan local government group.
All South Australian councils are eligible to apply. For more application information, visit https://www.agd.sa.gov.au/local-government/grants-commission/road-funding.
