An Outback miracle Wanaaring Road sealing reaches final stretch

There will be excitement from both ends of the Wanaaring Road – and in between – once the mammoth job of sealing the 200-kilometre road is complete. Photo contributed

Story: Kristin Murdock

After years of staged works and multiple funding rounds, the sealing of the Wanaaring Road – all the way from Bourke to Wanaaring – is now entering its final stage, with the last 9.6 kilometres funded and underway.

Bourke Shire Council General Manager Leonie Brown said Council was pleased – and somewhat surprised - that the final funding had come through to complete the almost 200-kilometre project.

Councillors were thrilled to receive the news that this project could now be finalised – a fully-sealed road from Bourke to Wanaaring would have been unthinkable twenty years ago,” Mrs Brown said.

The most recent funding allocation was announced last year under Commonwealth Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program funding.

“This final funding to complete the entire Wanaaring road is made up of $2.7 million from the Commonwealth, and council will contribute $800,000 of its own funds.”

While some limited sections were sealed many years ago, the bulk of the work on the remaining stretch began in 2018.

“Years ago, about 25 kilometres was sealed,” Mrs Brown said. “And the major works started on the last 180 kilometres in 2018.”

The final 9.6 kilometres marks the completion of a project that has some Wanaaring locals saying they never thought they would live to see the day it actually happened. In the same vein, Mrs Brown acknowledged the scale of the task and the effort involved. […]

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