First new lanes of Tiger Brennan Drive and Berrimah Road overpass open
From 6am Monday cars will be able to travel through part of the $165m upgrade to Tiger Brennan Drive, with hopes the works will improve the damning safety record of Territory roads.
Northern Territory
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From 6am Monday the first new lanes of the Tiger Brennan Drive and Berrimah Road overpass will open to traffic, marking a major milestone for the $165m works to remove one of the NT’s most notorious black spots.
The new outbound lanes of Tiger Brennan Drive heading towards Palmerston are now connected to the existing lanes, allowing cars to pass under the bridge which will carry Berrimah Road over Tiger Brennan Drive.
Tiger Brennan Drive’s new inbound lanes are expected to open to traffic in June, and the overpass and overall project is anticipated to be completed at the end of this year.
Infrastructure Minister Joel Bowden welcomed the project as improving commuter times and road safety.
“This is a job creating project, but also a safety creating project, so that people can travel between Darwin and Palmerston and know they’re going to be safe, and they know they’re going to be home on time,” he said.
Initially budgeted at $61.5m, the project controversially blew out by more than $100m, with the government blaming rising supply costs in the civil construction centre.
Mr Bowden said he was “very confident” the project would be delivered within its revised $165m budget.
The overpass removes the intersection between Berrimah Rd and Tiger Brennan Dr, which has been the scene of several fatal crashes.
The Automobile Association of the Northern Territory (AANT) this week called on the government to share data about road quality, the causes of fatal crashes and the effectiveness of law enforcement activities, in an attempt to improve government accountability and bring down the jurisdiction’s damning road toll.
So far 19 people have been killed on Territory roads this year – a rate three times higher per capita than the rest of the country.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler said she was happy to work with AANT on any measures that could reduce fatalities but questioned how publishing more data would save lives.
“That data is available, I’m sure we can work with (AANT) around that, but it has to be for a purpose.
She said the Infrastructure Department received detailed statistics about every crash to inform policy, and the mandatory coronial inquiries after road deaths also provided recommendations.
“They’re not political decisions, they’re decisions around how we can upgrade our roads, what are the critical places that we need to upgrade our roads, and the Tiger Brennan Overpass is one of them,” Ms Lawler said.
Ms Lawler said infrastructure such as unpaved roads or narrow lanes was one of many factors that contributed to the NT’s road toll, including speed, fatigue, alcohol, people not wearing seatbelts, and pedestrians taking risks around roads.
The works on Tiger Brennan Drive are jointly funded by the federal and NT governments.
To date over 180 local businesses have been involved in the project, and more than 1200 workers, including 139 indigenous workers and 27 apprentices and trainees.
Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said the government was “focusing on the bush as well as cities like Darwin, where road congestion and heavy vehicle traffic requires investment”.
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Originally published as First new lanes of Tiger Brennan Drive and Berrimah Road overpass open
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