Buntine Highway

The Buntine Highway is a 581-kilometre highway in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It runs from the Victoria Highway via Top Springs and Kalkarindji and then to Nicholson, Western Australia.^[2] The section from the Victoria Highway to Kalkaringi is a single-lane sealed road with a few dual-lane sections; the remaining section is unsealed.^[3] Funding for maintenance is provided by the Northern Territory government.^[4]

Buntine Highway Western Australia –Northern Territory
Map of north-western Australia with Buntine Highway highlighted in red
General information
Type	Rural road
Length	581 km (361 mi)
Route number(s)	National Route 96 (WA/NT border – Victoria Highway) B96 (future route number in Northern Territory)
Former route number	National Route 80 (Nicholson – Top Springs)
Major junctions
West end	Duncan Road, Nicholson, Western Australia
	Buchanan Highway (National Route 80)
East end	Victoria Highway (National Highway 1), Delamere, Northern Territory[1]
Location(s)
Major settlements	Kalkarindji, Top Springs

The highway was named in 1996 after Noel Buntine who established a livestock transportation business known as Buntine Roadways in the 1950s in northern Australia.^[1]

Upgrades

The Northern Australia Roads Program announced in 2016 included the following project for the Buntine Highway.

Road upgrading

The project for pavement strengthening, widening and sealing on priority sections is to be complete in mid 2022 at a total cost of $48.1 million.^[5]

Major intersections

The only major intersection on this road is with the Buchanan Highway (National Route 80) at Top Springs.

See also

Australian Roads portal

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in the Northern Territory
• List of highways in Western Australia

References

1. "Place Names Register Extract for "Buntine Highway"". NT Place Names Register. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
2. Department of Transport (April 1998). "Map of all NT Roads" (PDF). Northern Territory Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
3. Hema, Maps (2007). Australia Road and 4WD Atlas (Map). Eight Mile Plains Queensland: Hema Maps. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-86500-456-3.
4. "Funding for NT roads". 24 April 2010. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
5. "Buntine Highway Road Upgrading - Project Development and Delivery Phase". Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.