Victoria Highway - Little Horse and Big Horse Creek crossings and road upgrades

The project scope included:

• construction of two bridges and road approaches between chainage 294km to 296.5km at Big and Little Horse creeks which include culverts at low points to the east of the bridges.
• safety upgrades to the intersections at the Big Horse Camp ground and the Bradshaw Field Training area.
• demolition of the existing bridges.

The Victoria Highway provides the only sealed link between the Northern Territory and Western Australia providing a critical link in the Perth to Darwin National Corridor.

Big Horse and Little Horse creeks are tributaries of the Victoria River. Before these upgrades were completed, flooding caused the highway to close at both these crossings for an average of 96 hours annually.

The new bridges:

• Achieve a 1-in-20-year flood immunity, consistent with other new crossings on the Victoria Highway.
• Reduce the Annual Average Time of Closure to less than 12 hours at the crossings.
• Increase year round accessibility for the pastoral, agricultural and transport industries, tourism and local users on the National Highway.

This section of the Victoria Highway forms part of the main route to the Bulla and Amanbidji communities, and is utilised by the Bradshaw Defence facility in the vicinity.

Image shows impact on Bradshaw Bridge during 2008 flood. Adjacent is existing Little Horse Bridge.

Image shows 3D depiction of design for Big Horse Bridge