PROJECT SEA DRAGON STAGE 1 LEGUNE GROW-OUT FACILITY DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT

VOLUME 3 - SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL ASSESSMENT CHAPTER 4 - TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 1-1 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

CONTENTS

1 Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Terms of Reference Adressed in This Chapter ...... 1 1.2 Regulatory Approvals, Conditions and Agreements ...... 2

1.2.1 Control of Roads Act...... 2 1.2.2 Traffic Act ...... 2 2 Methods ...... 2 3 Existing Environment ...... 3 3.1 Road Transport ...... 3

3.1.1 Existing Road Network ...... 3 3.1.2 Proposed Road Upgrades ...... 5 3.1.3 Traffic Volumes ...... 5 3.2 Rail Transport ...... 7 3.3 Sea Transport ...... 7 3.4 Air Transport ...... 7

4 Assessment of Potential Impacts ...... 8 4.1 Traffic Generation ...... 8

4.1.1 Construction ...... 8 4.1.2 Operation ...... 11 4.1.3 Summary ...... 12 4.2 Traffic Generation by Road Section ...... 12 4.3 Traffic Impacts ...... 13

4.3.1 Road Capacity ...... 13 4.3.2 Road Surface ...... 15 4.3.3 Emergency and Other Essential Services ...... 15 4.3.4 Road Closures ...... 15

5 Mitigation and Monitoring...... 16 6 Commitments ...... 17 7 Conclusions ...... 17

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-i Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Terms of Reference ...... 1 Table 2 West Australian Count Data ...... 6 Table 3 Total Construction Vehicle Movements ...... 8 Table 4 Annual Operational Traffic Generation ...... 11 Table 5 Summary of Daily and Peak Hour Traffic Generation ...... 12 Table 6 Daily Construction Traffic Movements by Road Section (November 2018) ...... 12 Table 7 Daily Operational Traffic Movements by Road Section ...... 13 Table 8 Existing Road Capacity ...... 14

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Proposed Road Transport Route...... 4 Figure 2 Seasonal Traffic Pattern for the Victoria , 24 km West of Timber Creek ...... 6 Figure 3 Traffic Count Sites ...... 7 Figure 4 Monthly Traffic Generation by Vehicle Type ...... 10 Figure 5 Daily Traffic Generation by Vehicle Type ...... 10

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-ii Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 TERMS OF REFERENCE ADRESSED IN THIS CHAPTER This chapter addresses the potential traffic and transport impacts arising from the construction and operation of the Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility (the Project). A detailed traffic and transport assessment for the Project has been undertaken by GHD and is included in Volume 5, Appendix 23.

Table 1 summarises the requirements from the Terms of Reference for the Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (ToR) for the Project and where they have been addressed in this chapter.

TABLE 1 TERMS OF REFERENCE

Section Terms of Reference Chapter Section

2.2 Project Components

2.2.1 Construction Phase

The EIS should describe the preferred methods and processes during construction, including:

traffic management requirements, including: Section 4.1.1 operating times and scheduling vehicle types, numbers and frequency the estimated volumes, tonnage, composition, origin, destination and proposed routes of traffic generated by the proposal hazardous or dangerous material that may be transported traffic flow management, including site access and signage.

4.7 Human Health and Safety

4.7.2 Assessment of Risks

the risks can and will be managed effectively during the construction, Risk Assessment operation, and decommissioning of the Project, including safety risks (Volume 1, associated with: Chapter 8) and road users associated with increased traffic and use of the the Human Health existing road networks. and Safety Chapter (Volume 3, Chapter 3)

4.7.3 Mitigation

A traffic impact assessment / traffic management plan (detailing access, Environmental vehicle types, volumes of existing vehicles and increased traffic and other Management Plan relevant matters, including a risk assessment) should be developed as part of (Volume 4, the EIS. Chapter 3)

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-1 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

1.2 REGULATORY APPROVALS, CONDITIONS AND AGREEMENTS The regulatory requirements relevant to traffic and transport are discussed below.

1.2.1 Control of Roads Act The NT Control of Roads Act controls activities undertaken on NT government roads and road reserves. Permits are required for conducting works and for the movement of heavy and oversized vehicles on NT roads. A permit is also required under the Act to conduct works within a road reserve including new access to private property, telecommunications and power installations.

1.2.2 Traffic Act The NT Traffic Act and regulations set out the road rules for the and the penalties for failing to abide by those rules. Road rules set out in the Act and associated regulations will be enforced on internal roads within Legune Station and transport routes between the other Project Sea Dragon facilities. 2 METHODS

The following tasks were undertaken to complete this assessment:

Review of existing transport conditions.

Review of the proposed Project in terms of location, access, and its material and workforce transport needs during construction and operations.

Assessment of impacts on the road network and identification of potential safety risks associated with increased traffic on the public road network. This includes an analysis of the amount of traffic that the Project is expected to generate and how it will use the road network. Impacts are described in terms of capacity and suitability of the transport network.

Selection of mitigation measures to offset or reduce the identified impacts.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-2 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT

3.1 ROAD TRANSPORT The Project is located on Legune Station in the Northern Territory (NT). The only road access to the Project Area is via the town of Kununurra in West Australia (WA), approximately 100 km south-west of the Project Area (Figure 1).

The main internal road within Legune Station is the Legune Access Road. The Legune Access Road connects with the Cave Springs Road at the southern boundary of Legune Station. The Cave Springs Road then runs from the WA/NT border where it connects with Moonamang Road. Moonamang Road runs from the WA/NT border to the outskirts of Kununurra. From Moonamang Road, heavy vehicles and trucks heading to the Processing Plant for the Project and/or the Victoria Highway will bypass Kununurra via Stock Route Road, Research Station Road and Ivanhoe Road. Light vehicle traffic heading to Kununurra and/or Victoria Highway will use the Weaber Plain Road.

The key roads on the route between the Project Area and Kununurra are shown on Figure 1 and described in further detail in Section 3.1.1.

3.1.1 Existing Road Network 3.1.1.1 Legune Access Road Legune Access Road is an internal property road that connects the proposed Central Facilities (and nearby Marralum Community) to the southern boundary of Legune Station. This gravel road is 20.8 km long and within a Government gazetted corridor. The Legune Access Road will be upgraded as part of the Project to bring it up to the required road standard.

The upgrades to the Legune Access Road will follow the existing Government gazetted corridor for nearly all of its length, except for the first 2 km where a deviation is proposed to bypass the Marralum Community.

3.1.1.2 Cave Spring Road Cave Spring Road is an unsealed road approximately 30 km long that connects the Legune Access Road at the southern boundary of Legune Station, with the WA border. It is currently restricted to dry-season use only due to two major waterway crossings (and numerous smaller crossings) without bridges. The NT Government are proposing to upgrade this road which will allow all weather access to Legune Station.

3.1.1.3 Moonamang Road Moonamang Road is approximately 27 km long and connects Cave Spring Road on the NT/WA border with Weaber Plain Road and Stock Route Road on the northern outskirts of Kununurra (Figure 1). Moonamang Road is currently sealed for 19.6 km north-east from the intersection with Weaber Plain Road and Stock Route Road. On this section, the road has a single carriageway providing one lane in each direction. The remaining section of Moonamang Road from the end of the seal to the WA/NT border (7.4 km) is a low standard, unsealed road. The upgrade of this section of the road is planned to undertaken by the WA Government.

3.1.1.4 Stock Route Road Stock Route Road is a two lane, two way road running east-west between Moonamang Road and Research Station Road.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-3 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

FIGURE 1 PROPOSED ROAD TRANSPORT ROUTE

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-4 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

3.1.1.5 Research Station Road Research Station Road is a two-lane two-way road running approximately parallel to Weaber Plain Road. It connects to Ivanhoe Road at the western/southern end, and to Stock Route Road at the northern end. The road is sealed and the speed limit is 110 km/hour.

3.1.1.6 Ivanhoe Road Ivanhoe Road runs approximately parallel to Weaber Plain Road. It is a standard two-lane, two-way sealed road with sealed shoulders. The speed limits are similar to Weaber Plain Road with 50 km/hour in the town and then 80 km/hour as the road leaves the township, increasing to 110 km/hour beyond the town limits.

3.1.1.7 Weaber Plain Road Weaber Plain Road connects Moonamang Road to the Victoria Highway in Kununurra at a priority-controlled T- intersection. There are right and left turn auxiliary lanes on the Victoria Highway and a splitter island on the Weaber Plain Road approach. The first 750 m of the road operates under a posted 50 km/h speed limit. This increases to 60 km/hour and then 80 km/hour as the road leaves the township, and increases to 110 km/hour beyond the town limits.

3.1.1.8 Victoria Highway The Victoria Highway (National Route 1) is a national highway that links the at Katherine in the NT to the (National Route 1) in WA. It has a single carriageway with one lane in each direction. The posted speed limit is generally 110 km/hour in WA and 130 km/hour in NT, with lower limits applying over the Ord River dam, and through the built up areas of Kununurra.

3.1.2 Proposed Road Upgrades Part of Moonamang Road, Cave Springs Road and the Legune Access Road will be upgraded which will allow for all-weather access to the Project area. The upgrade of Moonamang Road and Cave Springs Road will be undertaken by the WA and NT governments respectively, and will service an array of industries including pastoralism/cattle trucks, Ord Stages 2 and 3 agricultural cropping, recreational fishing and tourism.

The proposed standard of the Cave Springs Road upgrade is understood to be:

two 3.5 m wide traffic lanes

sealed width of 8 m

carriageway width of 9 m

design speed of 110 km/hour

designed for A-triple vehicles.

The Legune Access Road will be upgraded as part of the Project and will be of a similar standard to the Cave Springs Road upgrade.

3.1.3 Traffic Volumes The nearest traffic count site monitored by the NT Department of Transport is located on the Victoria Highway, 24 km west of Timber Creek. This site carried an average annual daily traffic volume of 232 vehicles per day in 2014. Since 2005, the volume has varied from 192 to 249 vehicles per day, with an average linear growth rate of 2% per annum (five vehicles per day per year).

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-5 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

The pattern throughout the year is seasonal, as illustrated in Figure 2. The average daily volume in each month varies from around 100 vehicles per day (40% of the average annual daily traffic volume) in January and February, up to 412 vehicles per day (178% of the average annual daily traffic volume) in July.

FIGURE 2 SEASONAL TRAFFIC PATTERN FOR THE VICTORIA HIGHWAY, 24 KM WEST OF TIMBER CREEK

Several traffic count sites are also monitored by Main Roads WA. These sites are shown on Figure 3 and data for these sites are presented in Table 2. Data for Weaber Plain Road/Moonamang Road is not available, but is likely to be in the range of 300 to 1,000 vehicles per day, based on the data in Table 2.

TABLE 2 WEST AUSTRALIAN COUNT DATA

Site Count Site 2015 Average Annual % Heavy Vehicles Number Daily Traffic Volume (heavy vehicles (vehicles per day) per day)

1 Great Northern Highway, south of Gibb River - 304 24 (73) Wyndham Road

2 Great Northern Highway, south of Victoria 397 30 (120) Highway

3 Great Northern Highway, west of Foreshore 602 16 (96) Road

4 Victoria Highway, east of Great Northern 705 15 (106) Highway

5 Victoria Highway, east of Messmate Way 2,781 15 (417)

6 Victoria Highway, north of Road 349 23 (80)

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-6 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

FIGURE 3 TRAFFIC COUNT SITES

3.2 RAIL TRANSPORT The nearest rail line to the site connects Darwin to South Australia via , more than 450 km from Kununurra. Rail is not a feasible transport option for the Project and as such has not been considered further.

3.3 SEA TRANSPORT The nearest port facilities are located at Wyndham, approximately 100 km west of the Legune Central Facilities site, and some 830 km east of the Darwin environs. Sea transport demand for the construction and operational phases of the Project will only have a minor impact on the Wyndham Port and as such has not been considered further.

3.4 AIR TRANSPORT The nearest airport to the site is East Kimberley Regional Airport at Kununurra. Two airlines offer flights from here to Broome, Darwin, and .

Legune Station currently has a 1000 m long x 23 m wide unsealed airstrip for light planes only. This will be upgraded to a 1600 m x 30 m wide airstrip, plus navigational aids, to allow up to Beechcraft 1900D aircraft size to utilise it for some passenger and freight transfer between Darwin and Legune, and any emergency services.

Air transport demand for the construction and operational phases of the project will only be related mostly to passenger transport, and will be able to be catered for by air services and the existing airport facilities.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-7 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

4 ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS

4.1 TRAFFIC GENERATION

4.1.1 Construction Materials, equipment, and personnel will be required to be transported to and from Legune Station to enable construction of the Project.

Construction is scheduled to commence in July 2017 and be completed by November 2019. Construction work is expected to take place 6 days per week (Monday to Saturday), for nominally one 10 or 12 hour shift per day. The majority of construction activities will occur during the dry season from May to October.

Total vehicle movements during construction is anticipated to be 10,880 (5,440 inbound and 5,440 outbound). Table 3 provides a breakdown of the total construction vehicle movements including vehicle type, number of movements (return trips), transport routes and purpose.

TABLE 3 TOTAL CONSTRUCTION VEHICLE MOVEMENTS

Vehicle Type Movements Transport Routes Purpose (round trip)

Light vehicle 5,810 Perth -Legune-Perth (via Contractor mobilisation and Kununurra) travel Kununurra -Legune- General workforce use Kununurra

Bus (26 or 53 seater) 1,228 Kununurra-Legune- Workforce Kununurra

10 tonne truck 100 Darwin-Legune-Darwin (via Contractor mobilisation for Kununurra) temporary services Earthworks equipment mobilisation and demobilisation Road equipment mobilisation and demobilisation

20 tonne truck 880 Darwin-Legune-Darwin (via Earthworks equipment Kununurra) mobilisation and Kununurra-Legune- demobilisation Kununurra Road equipment mobilisation and demobilisation Material deliveries

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-8 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Vehicle Type Movements Transport Routes Purpose (round trip)

Semi-trailer 1,614 Darwin-Legune-Darwin (via Contractor mobilisation for Kununurra) temporary buildings and Pilbara-Legune-Pilbara (via services Kununurra) Village construction Perth -Legune-Perth (via Food deliveries Kununurra) Mobilisation and Kununurra-Legune- demobilisation of temporary Kununurra buildings, plant and temporary services Material and equipment deliveries

Double semi-trailer 40 Perth -Legune-Perth (via Piling materials for the intake Kununurra) structure

Dump truck 8 Darwin-Legune-Darwin (via Earthworks Kununurra)

Low-loader 788 Darwin-Legune-Darwin (via Contractor mobilisation Kununurra) Mobilisation and Kununurra-Legune- demobilisation of equipment Kununurra for pond earthworks, intake Queensland-Legune- structure, other earthworks Queensland (via Kununurra) and roads

Triple train 408 Darwin-Legune Darwin (via Fuel deliveries for village and Kununurra) earthworks

Rigid truck 4 Darwin-Legune Darwin (via Contractor mobilisation for Kununurra) mulching

Construction traffic is anticipated to peak in the second year of construction (i.e. 2018) when a maximum of 700 vehicle movements per month is expected (Figure 4). There is one month (November 2018) when heavy vehicle traffic volumes alone reach 560 vehicle movements per month. This one-off peak is associated with the demobilisation of construction and earthworks activities prior to the wet season. More typically heavy vehicle volumes reach 250 movements per month during the busiest period in 2018.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-9 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

FIGURE 4 MONTHLY TRAFFIC GENERATION BY VEHICLE TYPE

Figure 5 converts the monthly traffic movements to average daily totals. The resulting average daily traffic generation during the peak construction period is 30 vehicles per day. Typically this comprises of up to 10 heavy vehicles per day (Figure 5).

FIGURE 5 DAILY TRAFFIC GENERATION BY VEHICLE TYPE

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-10 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

4.1.2 Operation The operational phase of the Project will commence in late 2019 when the first post larvae will be delivered to the grow-out centre from the hatchery located in the Darwin environs.

Traffic movements associated with the operational phase of the Project will include:

transport of post-larval prawns from the Hatchery in the Darwin environs to the Project Area

transport of harvested prawns from the Project Area to the processing plant at Kununurra and then on to the port at Wyndham

deliveries including formulated feed and diesel

workforce movements

Table 4 summarises the operational transport requirements including annual volumes, number of movements, vehicle type and proposed routes.

TABLE 4 ANNUAL OPERATIONAL TRAFFIC GENERATION

Input / Annual Deliveries Round trips Annual vehicle Vehicle type and route output volume (one-way) per annum movements required (one-way)

Post larvae 505 1 every 156 312 Triple Tautliner, Darwin- million/year second day Legune

Feed 19,400 243 per year 243 486 Triple Tautliner, Wyndham- tonnes/year Legune

Diesel 19.5 million 3 per week 156 312 Quad , Wyndham- litres/year Legune

Harvested 13,980 3,177 loads 3,177 6,354 Refrigerated Pantech prawns tonnes/year per year Legune- Kununurra

Processed 13,980 222 per year 222 444 Triple road train, Kununurra prawns tonnes/year to Wyndham (for export from Wyndham port)

Workforce - 14 per week 728 1,456 10-seater bus, Kununurra- Legune The expected average daily traffic movements from regular operations is:

one to two vehicles per day transporting processed prawns between Kununurra and Wyndham

four vehicles per day in bus movements to transport workers

four vehicles per day associated with regular operations not affected by harvest (i.e. diesel, feed, juvenile prawns).

Traffic movements associated with harvesting activities are more variable. The peak is 32 vehicles per day during a combination of partial and terminal harvests. During terminal harvests (96 days each year) and partial harvests (72 days per year) there are 24 and 8 vehicles per day, respectively.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-11 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

4.1.3 Summary The expected traffic generated by the Project is summarised in Table 5.

TABLE 5 SUMMARY OF DAILY AND PEAK HOUR TRAFFIC GENERATION

Project Phase Light Bus (vehicles Heavy Total Peak Hour (vehicles per per day) (vehicles per (vehicles per (vehicles per day) day) day) hour)

Construction 16 4 10 30 10

Operation – no harvest - 6 4 10 4

Operation – during harvest - 6 36 42 14

Daily volumes have then been converted into hourly volumes using the generally accepted rule of thumb relationship that the peak hour volume is about 10% of the daily volume. Construction and industrial activities typically differ as they can have more concentrated arrival and departures peak associated with the start and end of the working day. In this case, it is conservatively estimated that the peak hour of activity could be up to one third of the daily total.

4.2 TRAFFIC GENERATION BY ROAD SECTION All construction and operational traffic will use the Legune Access Road - Cave Springs Road - Moonamang Road route between the Project Area and Kununurra. Traffic headed to or coming from other destinations will distribute to or from the wider network at Kununurra.

Construction and operational traffic movements by road section is presented in Table 6 and Table 7. Unlike operational traffic, construction traffic does not have a consistent composition and directional pattern. As such, Table 6 presents the daily construction traffic movements by road section in the busiest month of construction (i.e. November 2018) as a worst case scenario.

TABLE 6 DAILY CONSTRUCTION TRAFFIC MOVEMENTS BY ROAD SECTION (NOVEMBER 2018)

Road Light (vehicles per Bus (vehicles per Heavy (vehicles day) day) per day)

Legune Station to Kununurra (Legune Access 16 4 22 Road - Cave Springs Road - Moonamang Road)

Victoria Highway - East of Kununurra - - 18

Victoria Highway - West of Kununurra 2 - 10

Great Northern Highway 2 - 10

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-12 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

TABLE 7 DAILY OPERATIONAL TRAFFIC MOVEMENTS BY ROAD SECTION

Road Light (vehicles per Bus (vehicles per Heavy (vehicles day) day) per day)

Legune Station to Kununurra (Legune Access - 6 36 Road - Cave Springs Road - Moonamang Road)

Victoria Highway - East of Kununurra - - 2

Victoria Highway - West of Kununurra - - 6

Great Northern Highway - - 6

4.3 TRAFFIC IMPACTS

4.3.1 Road Capacity 4.3.1.1 Existing Road Capacity Table 8 presents an assessment of the capacity of the existing road network. Traffic data from traffic count sites 4, 5 and 6 (Table 2 and Figure 3) are used as they are the closest to the Project Area and represent the range of traffic volumes carried by roads in the area.

The assumptions used in this assessment are:

The average daily volume in the peak month of the year is 180% of the average annual daily traffic volume (based on the analysis in Section 3.1.3).

Peak hour volume (two-way) is 10% of the daily total.

Up to 65% of the peak two-way volume could be travelling in one direction in one lane.

The typical capacity of a one-way traffic lane in uninterrupted flow conditions is 1,800 vehicles per day (Austroads 2015). The analysis in Table 8 shows that at the busiest times of the year, the roads around the Project Area are currently operating at no more than 18% of their capacity (i.e. before the addition of Project traffic).

The Project is expected to generate up to 10 vehicles per hour during construction and up to 14 vehicles per hour in a harvest period during operations (Table 5). Based on the analysis in Table 8, there is more than adequate available capacity in the surrounding road network to accommodate this level of activity.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-13 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

TABLE 8 EXISTING ROAD CAPACITY

Site Road Existing Peak Month Peak Hour Peak Hour % capacity Average Average (vehicles per (vehicles per used Annual Daily Daily Volume hour, two- hour, one- Traffic Volume way) way)

4 Victoria Highway, 705 1,269 127 82 5% east of Great Northern Highway

5 Victoria Highway, 2,781 5,006 501 325 18% east of Messmate Way

6 Victoria Highway, 349 6286 63 628 2% north of Lake Argyle Road

4.3.1.2 Project Area to Kununurra During construction, heavy vehicle volumes between the Project Area and Kununurra peak at 22 vehicles per day (noting that this is a one-off peak month for heavy movements, and the regular average is 10 vehicles per day). During operation, heavy vehicle volumes between Project Area and Kununurra peak at 36 vehicles per day.

This projected change is negligible and will be within the normal day-to-day variation in traffic volumes. It is not likely to materially affect delays and queue lengths for existing road users.

The upgrading of part of Moonamang Road, the Cave Springs Road and the Legune Access Road will ensure that the entire route from Project Area to Kununurra is of an appropriate standard and capacity to accommodate the needs of the Project.

Consultation will be undertaken with the Shire of Wyndham - East Kimberley in regards to any required road or intersection upgrades on local roads (i.e. Stock Route Road, Research Station Road and Ivanhoe Road) on the heavy vehicle route to the processing plant in Kununurra and/or the Victoria Highway.

No impacts are anticipated from light vehicle traffic using the Weaber Plain Road as these movements would be within the normal day to day variation in traffic volumes and will not materially affect delays and queue lengths for existing road users.

4.3.1.3 National Highways The Victoria Highway and connecting highways are established heavy vehicle routes. The addition of ten to 18 vehicles per day during construction and two to six vehicles per day during construction (Table 6 andTable 7) to routes that carry 350 to 2,780 vehicles per day (Section 3.1.3) and operate at no more than 18% of their capacity (Table 8) is not expected to have any material effect on safety, operational efficiency, or the performance of intersections along these routes.

It is noted that triple road trains currently use the intersection of Victoria Highway and Ivanhoe Road, so no upgrades will be necessary.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-14 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

4.3.2 Road Surface The addition of up to 18 vehicles per day on the National Highway network is not expected to have a material impact on the life of road pavement. It may have an effect on the lower level roads in the hierarchy, depending on what heavy vehicle loading their pavements have been designed to carry. The upgrading of part of Moonamang Road, the Cave Springs Road and the Legune Access Road will ensure that the entire route from Project Area to Kununurra is of an appropriate standard to accommodate the needs of the Project.

Consultation will be undertaken with the Shire of Wyndham - East Kimberley in regards to any required road pavement upgrades on local roads (i.e. Stock Route Road, Research Station Road and Ivanhoe Road) on the heavy vehicle route to the processing plant in Kununurra and/or the Victoria Highway.

4.3.3 Emergency and Other Essential Services The upgrading of the route between the Project Area and Kununurra to an all-weather and two-way carriageway significantly improves access to Legune Station for all vehicles including emergency and essential services. The traffic generation associated with the Project is not expected to adversely affect the accessibility of the area for emergency and essential services.

4.3.4 Road Closures The upgrading of the route between the Project Area and Kununurra and specifically the upgrading of bridges and culverts to create an all-weather route significantly reduces the frequency of road closures in this area. With the all-weather route in place, the Project is not expected to impact or be impacted by road closures.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-15 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

5 MITIGATION AND MONITORING

The upgrading of part of Moonamang Road, the Cave Springs Road by the WA and NT governments respectively and the Legune Access Road as part of the Project will ensure that the entire route from Legune Station to Kununurra is of an appropriate standard and capacity to accommodate the needs of the Project.

Consultation will be undertaken with the Shire of Wyndham - East Kimberley in regards to any required road or intersection upgrades on local roads (i.e. Stock Route Road, Research Station Road and Ivanhoe Road) on the route to the processing plant in Kununurra and/or the Victoria Highway.

The existing road network from the sealed section of Weaber Plain Road is assessed as adequate to accommodate traffic generated by the Project. As such, no mitigation is proposed to Weaber Plain Road or the National Highway network.

To mitigate the risk of vehicle incidents involving personnel and other road users a Driver Safety and Fatigue Management Policy will be developed and implemented for all employees and contractors.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-16 Project Sea Dragon Stage 1 Legune Grow-out Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement

6 COMMITMENTS

Based on the mitigation and monitoring measures outlined in Section 5, the proponent commits to:

Undertake consultation with the Shire of Wyndham - East Kimberley in regards to any required road or intersection upgrades on local roads (i.e. Stock Route Road, Research Station Road and Ivanhoe Road) on the route to the processing plant in Kununurra.

Develop and implement a Driver Safety and Fatigue Management Policy for all employees and contractors to manage and mitigate the risk of vehicle incidents. 7 CONCLUSIONS

The Project is located approximately 100 km north of Kununurra. Road access is via a single route made up of the Legune Access Road, Cave Springs Road and Moonamang Road. From Moonamang Road, heavy vehicles and trucks heading to the Processing Plant for the Project and/or the Victoria Highway will bypass Kununurra via Stock Route Road, Research Station Road and Ivanhoe Road. Light vehicle traffic heading to Kununurra and/or Victoria Highway will use the Weaber Plain Road.

Traffic generation estimates have been made for the construction and operational phases of the Project. The forecast total generation of 30 vehicles per day and 42 vehicles per day during construction and operation, respectively, will not have a significant impact on the road network.

Additionally, the upgrading of part of Moonamang Road, the Cave Springs Road by the WA and NT governments and the Legune Access Road as part of the Project will ensure that the entire route from Legune Station to Kununurra is of an appropriate standard and capacity to accommodate the needs of the Project.

Consultation will be undertaken with the Shire of Wyndham - East Kimberley in regards to any required road or intersection upgrades on local roads (i.e. Stock Route Road, Research Station Road and Ivanhoe Road) on the route to the processing plant in Kununurra.

Volume 3 - Social, Economic and Cultural Assessment Chapter 4 - Traffic and Transport 4-17