page_title: Eyre Highway
section_title: Sealing
hierarchical_section_title: Eyre Highway / History / Sealing
caption_attribution_description: Great Australian Bight Marine Park.
context_page_description: Eyre Highway is a 1,660-kilometre highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first European to cross the Nullarbor by land, in 1840–1841. Eyre Highway runs from Norseman in Western Australia, past Eucla, to the state border. Continuing to the South Australian town of Ceduna, it then crosses the top of the Eyre Peninsula before reaching the city of Port Augusta in South Australia.
  The construction of the East–West Telegraph line in the 1870s, along Eyre's route, resulted in a hazardous trail that could be followed for interstate travel. A national highway was called for, but the federal government did not see the route as important enough until 1941, when a war in the Pacific seemed imminent. The highway was constructed between July 1941 and June 1942, but was trafficable by January 1942.
context_section_description: The state of Eyre Highway remained relatively unchanged throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The road received yearly maintenance, but further, more expensive works were not warranted due to the low traffic volume of approximately fourteen vehicles per day. However, the maintenance and grading was hindered by a lack of rainfall – the road was smoothed out each year, and small sections were gravelled, but the soil the road was made from was too weak to be an effective road surface. When it did rain, even in small amounts, the road would become boggy, from patches that had broken down into a powdery substance (known as "bulldust") during dry periods. Large numbers of vehicles travelling the highway in 1962, for the Commonwealth Games in Perth, damaged the road  in numerous locations, and the lack of moisture required salt water to be pumped from 350 feet (110 m) below the surface for use in repairs and maintenance.
  Work to seal Eyre Highway was undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s. As the federal government refused requests from Western Australia and South Australia for a special allocation to fund the sealed road, the work was left for the states to finance, over a number of years. Construction began in 1960, at the Norseman end. By the end of that year five miles (8 km) had been reconstructed, and was ready to be sealed over a 20-foot (6 m) width. Fourteen miles (23 km) were sealed in 1961, another 67 miles (108 km) were completed by 1963, and in 1964 the seal reached 111 miles (179 km) out from Norseman. By the mid-1960s, approximately 60 miles (100 km) were being sealed each year. With increased priority given to the project from 1966, Western Australia's portion of the highway was completed in 1969, with a ceremony held in Eucla on 17 October.
  In South Australia, a decade-long program to seal the highway began in the mid-1960s. The first section to be completed was the 462-kilometre (287 mi) route between Port Augusta and Ceduna, in December 1967. In October 1972 the Ceduna to Penong seal was completed, and the final link to be sealed, between Penong and the state border, was completed with a ceremony held on 29 September 1976 near Wigunda Tank, South Australia.
  Between Yalata and the state border, the highway was realigned and deviated considerably from the original unsealed route. In deciding the new alignment for the South Australian section of the highway between Yalata and the state border, long, straight, flat sections were purposely avoided to prevent driver boredom and consequent fatigue, as well as sun-glare and glare from oncoming headlights. The new alignment also took into consideration the potential tourism opportunities provided along the coast of the Great Australian Bight. The older route, Old Eyre Highway, runs from Border Village to the Nullarbor Homestead, approximately 15 to 20 kilometres (9 to 12 mi) away from the coast. Another section from the Nullarbor Homestead to Nundroo Motel also travelled further inland than the new alignment, past Ivy Tank Motel and Yalata Roadhouse.
caption: The Great Australian Bight is a short detour away at several places along the highway
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