Lae-Nadzab freeway to be upgraded
By JASON SOM KAUT
THE Highlands Highway from Lae to Nadzab will be upgraded to a freeway to accommodate increasing traffic.
The double lanes will reduce traffic and container jams that have increased in tandem with increasing business activities in the industrial hub.
The project will be the first to be undertaken by the recently set up National Road Authority (NRA) and will cover a 40 km stretch of the road.
Heavier trucks with twice the required axel load are using the highway to freight fuel, food, medicine and building materials to the Highands and return with agricultural commodities for export from Lae, the largest port facility in the country.
Initial work on the freeway began 15 years ago, Minister for Civil Aviation, Transport and Works Don Polye said last week during the launching of the resurrection of the plant and transport branch (PTB) of the Department of Works.
The PTB had been defunct for the past 10 years.
Mr Polye said the Lae-Nadzab stretch of the highway had not been upgraded to keep up with increasing cartage loads.
He said the highway was originally constructed with an axel load of 3,000 but trucks were now moving up to 6,000 axel loads.
He said this was disintegrating the road and causing potholes.
The current road standards were adapted from Australia and intended for poor roads, he added.
“The Institute of Engineers should review and improve our road standards that will enable the construction of a super highway,” Mr Polye said.
The NRA was set up with the function of maintaining the national roads of the country, leaving the Works Department to concentrate on new projects while the re-organised PTB would build and maintain rural roads.
The formation of the NRA was part of a major reform exercise in the transport sector that included the National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA) and the revamping of the PTB aimed at improving service delivery to districts through a reliable and cheap road network.
Mr Polye assured that the NRA would not take over the functions of the Works Department, but would instead work in partnership to achieve Government priorities.
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