...those 'bleep' <span class="highlight">corrugations</span>!

hi adelaide george

i was always of the impression that those outback tracks were never ever graded
and are excepted in

the as in condition left by natures events and horregations left by those who travel those tracks
after all isnt that what the real outback is all about and why most of us go on those tracks ????
if you dont really enjoy rough roads well maybe you have chosen the wrong route and should select a smoother one
i'm not having a go at you but it's just the way i see these tracks from my perspective
if all the outback tracks had a grader over them on a regular basis there would be no challenge or anything different to experience to where we live
just my thoughts
cheers
barry

George, you are assuming that you live in a world where the State Government give a rats backside. They don’t! The A/B is not a gazetted road past a Mabel Creek. It's value is only to those tourists that wish to travel it. Also large swathes of the ABH are actually within a commonwealth restricted (read prohibited) area so there is little interest in promoting access to that type of area. Both prohibited and a good deal of surrounding countryside also fall into native title areas so there is also the push to restrict access to these areas as well.

The difference at the WA end is that there are far more indigenous communities across the those areas of the state that rely on access or use the tracks as "Business" roads. This ensures that they will be maintained to some degree.

It’s simply a matter of sucking it up, fitting decent shockers, letting the tyres down, travelling slowly and gluing the teeth in and enjoying it while you can.

Cheers Mick

;-)

Hi George

That track come under the control of the Department of Environment and Heritage ( National Parks )

You will be wasting your time in expecting a reply from them, as one local chap from here in Clare was that disgusted in the condition of the track a few years ago, contact the National Parks people and offered to grade the track with his grader and his time for free, but only wanted them to pay for the fuel.........

You guested it they refused point blank.


Cheers


Stephen

Well - I haven't researched this but assumimg you are all correct and it's not gazetted road and comes under the Department of Environment and Heritage, are they the body to whom we must pay great lumps of money for a Desert Parks Pass?

Are we getting value for our money???????

George

Gday George,

As far as I know:
Coober Pedy to Mabel Creek Station is a public road.
Mabel Creek to the dogfence is on pastoral land - so the road was declared a Public Access Route (PAR) so is maintained by a deal with the State Govt.
The area within Tallaringa Conservation Park (I think) is still controlled by DENR's Port Augusta Office.
Tallaringa to the WA border it is now managed by the Maralinga Tjarutja Council from Ceduna.

It is a very remote and sparsely populated part of the State, so there is no way a local aboriginal community will maintain a tourist route such as the ABH. If people keep complaining, then they might close it!!!

I'm happy to keep it corrugated!

Cheers
Phil

Grow up , don't like tracks with corrugations stay on asphalt , next you'l be demanding that the Birdsville track / Oodnadatta track etc. all have asphalt all the way.

Slightly off the specific topic, but on our recent trip to the Gulf I did a reasonable amount of cycling (peddle power) on the tracks we travelled.

Now if we want to rid ourselves of corrugations then it should be compulsory for all 4WD drivers to ride 100 kilometres on an outback road, actually 50 kilometres would suffice – we’d cure ourselves of corrugations overnight, no butts!

Tongue in cheek mind you, but I vowed to ensure correct pressures on ‘The Landy’ at all times to avoid contributing to the ‘corrugation’ problem, you feel every one of them on the bike!

1. You'll notice I haven't told anybody to "grow up", "stay on the bitumen" or used any other pajorative or inflamatory language - why do so many men [I think the "hairy chested" responses are from men but please correct me if I'm wrong] let their testosterone get the better of them when they are not talking face to face?
I have a valid opinion - I've also detected from many postings here that many others love the outback and eschew the thought of Maccas everwhere BUT just want some maintenance on roads that are in everyday use and might just be public roads. Another interesting point to come out of the thread thus far is that there are differing opinions on precisely who is repsonsible for the maintenance - if anybody;

2. I though we might end up with the "shut up or they'll close the road" fearmongering view - so - don't demand any corrective action by our Government on waiting times at FlMC and RAH - they might teach us all a lesson and close the hospitals altogether!!!!?......don't demand any corrective action by our government on Arkaroola they might just teach us all a lesson and open cut it!!!!?
I don't want to live in 'fear' like that - i believe if the majority want the corrugations fixed (say) once every couple of years - they should ****** well do it!

3. If the corrugations are fixed, will the hairy chested ones refuse to use the highway and choose find a really bad road to wreck their vehicle on and claim to really enjoy it? I think not some how...

Just my view... anybody else?

Happy days
George

Dunno George, I feel that the Government, state or local, should provide road maintenance to eliminate major safety issues such as washouts, and maybe run a grader occasionally over those roads which are access for communities and pastoralists. However to regularly maintain 4wd tourist roads to a high standard is expecting a bit much.

I do travel often on remote roads/tracks/call them what you will and with the appropriate vehicle, tyre pressure and speed find them reasonable for the purpose. Not at all sure that I want their standard raised to the point where I am plagued by Winnebagos.

But I certainly do not wish to dissuade you from your point of view or from attempting to persuade the authorities to do a little housekeeping. Go for it!

AdelaideGeorge

Very calmly (and yes I am a man) I do agree with some posters saying to leave it as is. Seriously, that is why we choose these tracks.

I went to CY this year, and can you believe it the OTL has been graded from just north of Gunshot to where it meets the bypass road. And on this road we passed a busload of tourists on a high-clearance type bus. They came in from the bypass road to the Gunshot bypass.

Now I would much rather have less and slower traffic on the old state of the OTL than what it currently is! Same with Anne Beadell.

And again this is a considered view not shooting from the hip.

What will be next? Will they grade the Gunshot itself for buses to go further south on the OTL? Where will it end?

I know I am using the Cape York as example, but that is just because of the above experience and the fact that it was just a few weeks ago. But it equally applies to Anne B, Simpson lines, yes Cape York, and many many more. Durba Springs, there is a nice spot lets grade the roads in up to there? No thank you

Cheers CJ

Here's a thought ( tongue in cheek of course ) - the corrugations don't seem to be a problem for our indigenous cousins so why don't you buy an XF falcon, remove the windows and the exhaust system and you can then comfortably cruise that section of road at 110 kph ! Problem solved.

Happy Travelling


Gazz

Hi George,

I drove the section west to NJ in January 2006 after unusually heavy rain. There was not a corrugation in sight. The road when not covered in water was a smooth as you could get.
So present corrugations were formed after that period.
Not the answer you were seeking however it may pay to do it next time in seasons following heavy rain.

Regards
Alan

It's unlikely that "anyone" would grade the AB, to rid it of those corrugations pictured in Zebra400's post of 24th July.

To get rid of the corrugations, one would need to rip all the offending areas first, before regrading. To just brush a grader over them would only knock off the peaks, and fill the valleys, allowing the first few vehicles, now travelling at a higher speed, "'cause the AB's so good now", to reform the corro's for the next poor buggers.

The strangest corro's I've ever seen were on the Old Jim Jim road, just SE of Cooinda, from bitumen to Old Cooinda Store. Instead of being about 300mm apart, they were almost 1200mm apart. Really strange feeling driving over them!

And what's the worst, really bad Corro's or deep & constant bulldust??

Hooroo,
Bob.

I guess at the end of the day, corrugations, flat tyres, dust in the camper, ants in your food, prickles in your feet, heat, rain, flies etc. are part of travelling the outback so if that's where you want to go you have to put up with them, that's life.

Josh

Shocking!!!! Absolutely Shocking!!!!
Are you a troll?

The worse the roads are, the less the tourists. :-)

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Just back from the AB.
Those corrugations on the SA side ensured we slowed down and stopped to look at stuff eg flowers whereas when we were on the WA section (which was in really good nick for the most part) we rarely stopped because speeds were higher and regularly stopping just became a bit of an inconvenience.
Also the constant stopping in the corrugated section kept the shockies cooler.
I say leave it alone.