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RUSH JOB ON
HIGHWAY
Ship Chartered
DARWIN, Saturday. - To
transport materials, mach
inery, and men to Darwin to
begin work on the new 450
mile all-weather highway be
tween Tennant Creek and
Birdum, a special ship is being
chartered in Sydney.
Provision has been made for the
health of men engaged on the job by
sending a mobile medical unit. Auto
patrol graders, tractors, and spreaders
capable of constructing a road at high
speed are to be used on the job, and
a mobile workshop is planned for the
sIervicing of machinery.
When completed the road will be one
of the longest in the Southern Hemi
sphere. and it is expected that 75 tons
of tratfic a day will pass over it.
By connecting the two railheads
Alice Springs and Birdum. it will
provide a permanent link between
Adelaide and Darwin.
Plans for improving the Darwin
Birdum train service are understood
to be under consideration, and appli
cation has been made for modern loco
motives and more rolling stock.
With 75 tons of materials, including
perishable goods. reaching Birdum
each day, it is believed that the re
organised train service will provide for
a daily run between Darwin and
Birdum instead of a weekly trip as
at present with a 40-year-old engine.
SURVEY COMPLETED
A survey of the proposed route has
just been compleed by a party of en
gineers. including Major Dickson, of the
Military Survey Corps, and representa
tiveis from the Stat's.
Major Dickson left here for Can
berra this week to report to the De
fence Cabinet.
For more than 200 miles out of Alice
Springs the road has been completed.
the work being undertaken to speed up
the overland mail route. It is believed
that plans provide for the road to be
40 ft. wide.
The New South Wales Main Roads
Board will be responsible for the north
ern portion, Queensland for the cen
tral section, and South Australia for
the southern section.
The estimated building time for
the road is 90 days to allow its use
during the next wet season, but
mani Darwin authorities consider
it will be impossible to build the
road in that time unless many more
men are employed.
Even if it is- completed, many are
also doubtful whether it will with
stand the ravages of severe wet seasons.
It has also been stated that the road
will be of little use unless the Birdum
Darwin section is also built, as it is
in a shocking condition and impassable
in the wet season.
The road will undoubtedly be of im
mense military importance in the event
of invasion.
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