South West region

South West Region

Roads and road transport are important to local economies and meet the accessibility and growth needs of rural communities. Well-planned, well designed and well-built roads and transport infrastructure are vital for the economic development of both community and business.

The South West Region manages:

4,151 carriageway kilometres of state roads and national highways.
Administers funding for maintenance and rehabilitation of 4,169 carriageway kilometres of regional roads carried out by councils.
687 bridges and bridge-sized culverts.
69 sets of traffic signals.

KEY CHALLENGES FOR THE SOUTH WEST REGION

The key challenges in managing the road network include:

Maintaining the border crossings of the Murray River and their links with the Hume, Sturt and Newell Highway routes is of regional importance to the national economy.
Three major rivers (Murray, Murrumbidgee and Lachlan) require crossings to meet the interstate, agricultural and community needs.
The topography and climate are very diverse, ranging from flat arid plains to mountainous ranges; very high summer temperatures to winter snow and ice.
Suitable materials are not readily available and the impact of large irrigation areas and salinity limit the use of traditional road building techniques.

South West Regional Manager

/html/roadprojects/projects/south_western_region/images/steve_warrell_2.jpg Steve Warrell commenced on a cadetship with the then DMR in 1974. Since graduation he has worked in all regions except Hunter in a variety of construction, planning and supervisory positions. The range of activities he has been involved in is as broad as Roads and Maritime Services (formerly Roads and Traffic Authority) and varies from road and bridge construction and maintenance in rural areas, to management of Transitways in Sydney and project direction of the final stages of delivery of the on-line MyE-Toll.