The Rudd Labor Government will provide a further $3.5 million to build even more and better roadside facilities for the thousands of long distance truck drivers that use the highways of Western Australia.

This new money – together with a contribution from the State Government – will fund seven new and eleven upgraded rest stops as well as one new and one upgraded decoupling bay, providing drivers with even more opportunities to take a break or reconfigure their trailers.

We will also install flood warning systems along four sections along the Ripon Hills Road and Marble Bar Road in the Pilbara to help prevent a repeat of recent incidents involving trucks being washed away by floodwaters.

Attached is the full list of approved projects and a map with their locations.

The projects I’m announcing today are part of the second and final round of funding being provided from our $70 million Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program, and builds on the nineteen projects approved under the first round.

Established by us shortly after coming to office, this Program is the first ever significant Federal response to the lack of safe, modern rest stops along the nation’s highways.

In the years ahead, the local trucking industry will also benefit from our unprecedented investment in the State’s highways as well as the 2013 introduction of one set of nationwide heavy vehicle laws administered by a single national regulator.

The projects were selected following consultations with the State’s road authorities as well as the trucking industry.