Sandover Highway Explained

Type:track
Road Name:Sandover Highway
Route: State Route 14
State:nt
Location:Sandover Highway route map.png
Loc Caption:Map of central Australia with Sandover Highway (State Route 14) highlighted in red
Length:561
Direction A:Southwest
End A: Plenty Highway
Direction B:Northeast
End B:Alpurrurulam,
NT/Qld Border
Facilities:Arlparra, Ammaroo Station

The Sandover Highway is an outback unsealed track in the Northern Territory between the Plenty Highway north of Alice Springs and the Northern Territory/Queensland border.[1]

Description

The highway's name is derived from the Sandover River because its alignment follows that of the river.[2]

At its western end the road branches north from the Plenty Highway east of the Stuart Highway. Its total length is and it passes through semi-arid spinifex deserts and blacksoil Mitchell grass plains. The designated highway finishes just east of Alpurrurulam at the Northern Territory/Queensland border, but the track continues into Queensland for where it joins the Camooweal Urandangi Road, which runs north to Camooweal.[3]

Accessibility

The track crosses Urapuntja lands, which is an Aboriginal homelands area. No permits are needed to travel on the track; however, they are necessary for travellers wishing to visit Aboriginal communities off-track.

Although the first part of the track can be negotiated by conventional vehicles, use of a four-wheel drive vehicle is recommended after Ammaroo. Each year the wet season floods the black soil plains at the eastern end of the Sandover Highway and Alpurrurulam and Lake Nash become completely inaccessible, even to four-wheel drive vehicles. Flooding can also occur after brief but heavy thunderstorms during the dry season.

Stations and fuel

Ammaroo Station has a shop with basic supplies. Fuel is available but there are no camping facilities. Another fuel supply along the track can be found at Arlparra.

Woodgreen Station, also known as Atartinga, covers approximately, and is located around north of Alice Springs on the Sandover Highway.[4]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NT Map - All Roads . Northern Territory Government . 14 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130505181212/http://www.transport.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/6429/ntmapallroads.pdf . 5 May 2013 . National highways, primary roads & secondary roads.
  2. Web site: Place Names Register Extract for "Sandover River" . NT Place Names Register . Northern Territory Government . 26 April 2019.
  3. Australia’s Great Desert Tracks NE Sheet. Hema . Maps. 2005 . Hema Maps. Eight Mile Plains Queensland. 978-1-86500-160-9.
  4. Web site: Land Units of Woodgreen Station (Atartinga) . Spatial data and information management, Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics . Northern Territory Government. 9 November 2015 . 29 October 2022.