visit raa.com.au
RAA Daily > RAA report calls for Mid North road upgrades

RAA report calls for Mid North road upgrades

31 July, 2026

RAA is calling for major upgrades of the Augusta and Wilkins Highways, as part of a new regional road assessment identifying the Mid North’s most pressing safety priorities.

The new report also highlights the need for more road maintenance funding across the region, with key corridors including Augusta Highway, Horrocks Highway, Wilkins Highway and RM Williams Way all showing fatigue cracking, rutting, undulations and potholes.

RAA’s Safety and Infrastructure team spent 10 days on the ground across the Mid North and Flinders Ranges, driving more than 4,000km to assess conditions firsthand. This assessment was guided by feedback received during RAA’s community survey distributed across the region in 2025.

Across the Mid North region, fatal and serious crashes have risen by 15% over the past decade, with single-vehicle run-off-road crashes – including rollovers and hitting fixed objects like trees – making up 60% of all fatal and serious crashes.

Key recommendations from the report include:

  • Augusta Highway: Should be duplicated as a priority between Crystal Brook and Port Pirie, as part of the long-term plan to fully duplicate the corridor. Converting the highway from a single lane each way to two lanes each way reduces the risk of head-on and run-off-road crashes – two of the most severe crash types on the corridor. The project has strong community backing, with 87% of community survey respondents rating it important or very important.
  •  Wilkins Highway: The region’s major east-west freight route, a 19km stretch of Wilkins Highway between Gladstone and Augusta Highway is in poor condition and needs reconstruction. There should also be new or extended overtaking lanes on the corridor, where existing lanes fall well short of best-practice length.
  • Horrocks Highway: There is a need for new overtaking lanes between Templers and Sevenhill, as well as wider sealed shoulders between Wilmington and Quorn. Speed limits between Auburn and Clare could also be made more consistent by reducing the changes in speed limit on this section from 15 to as few as nine – an issue that was flagged by several survey respondents. RAA welcomed a $90m commitment from the State Government in the lead-up to the 2026 election to improve the Horrocks Highway and looks forward to work starting on this upgrade.
  • Road maintenance: Improve sections of unsafe road surfaces on key highways, as well as undertake main street resurfacing in townships including Tarlee, Rhynie, Watervale, Sevenhill, Jamestown and Clare.
  • Motorcyclist safety: Retrofit motorcycle-friendly safety barriers on popular riding routes including Germein Gorge Road, Horrocks Pass Road and Flinders Ranges Way, where motorcyclists account for up to 80% of crashes.  

RAA Senior Traffic Engineer Matthew Vertudaches said the assessment showed what locals already knew – that key routes through the Mid North needed urgent attention.

“Our team spent time on the ground across the Mid North assessing how safety could be improved on the region’s road network and looking into concerns raised by locals,” Mr Vertudaches said.

“The Augusta Highway recorded 206 casualty crashes over the past decade (2015-2024) – with the section between Redhill and Port Augusta alone accounting for 17% of all crashes recorded in the region.

“Duplicating the Augusta Highway between Crystal Brook and Port Pirie is the clear next step to reduce the risk of fatal and serious crashes in the Mid North region.

“RAA’s Growth without Gridlock advocacy platform has been calling on the State Government to duplicate this corridor, and for an increase in road maintenance funding to address the state’s growing backlog, among other priorities.

“It wasn’t surprising to see road maintenance come through as a primary concern of many Mid North road users – South Australia has a $2.1bn road maintenance backlog with many regional corridors in need of attention.

“On Horrocks Highway and Wilkins Highway, more overtaking lanes would help ease the frustration and risky overtaking we’ve heard about from drivers.

“RAA has shared these findings with state and local governments and will use this report and community feedback to inform our future advocacy in the region.”

RAA’s full Mid North and Flinders Ranges Regional Road Assessment and accompanying fact sheet are available at raa.com.au/road-assessments.
 

Related articles