The contrast couldn't be starker: on one side of the road is a brand-new double-lane highway, but step across the border and the road is reduced to a red, dusty, corrugated track.
The Warri Gate Road in outback Queensland is the final stretch of road between the one-pub town of Noccundra and the New South Wales border.
Just 140 kilometres of the road remains a gravel track, and the stretch of dirt road linking Australia's north to south has been the subject of funding pleas to seal it for years.
Right when locals thought their wishes were coming true, money promised to them is nowhere to be seen.
"It's frustrating, we've been at this a long, long time," Bulloo Shire Mayor John "Tractor" Ferguson said.
Eight hours to travel 200km
The Warri Gate Road is in such a remote part of the country, it was once only used by the adventurous or those who had to.
But the region has hit the headlines recently for its treacherous conditions.
Just last week, four people went missing, and were found bogged but safe 48 hours later, south of the Warri Gate Road.
It is also where still missing man Jeremiah Rivers was last seen in late 2021.
Truck driver Richard Loveday has been carting cattle in his triple-trailer semis for decades, and even he avoids the Warri Gate stretch when he can.
"It takes you about seven, eight hours when it's bad, you run out of hours, just [travelling] 200kms," he said.
"It can be really bad, it can wreck your gear [too]."
Mr Loveday won't have his cattle standing on trucks for longer than 12 hours for welfare reasons, so he diverts to other, sealed roads to quicken the pace.
"It depends where you're going, if you're going to [a south-west cattle station] it will add an extra 400km," he said.
"And no-one wants to pay that money so you've got to bear it, you've got to grin and bear it."
The missing link
According to the mayor, the Warri Gate Road is the link that could keep the nation running in times of crisis.
"As [we've] seen earlier in the floods when everything was cut off on the eastern seaboard, this is the road through the centre of Australia," Mr Ferguson said.
Mr Ferguson was hopeful another 20 to 30km could be sealed this year when the previous federal government committed $8 million as part of the Remote Roads Upgrade Program (RRUP).
But when Labor won office, before money could come through, the Infrastructure Minister Catherine King vowed to review the proposed funding.
Despite also sending communication to the new minister after the election, Mr Ferguson said he had no answers about whether the funding would come through.
The Labor government has not ruled out the possibility of funding the Warri Gate Road upgrade in the October budget.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King said investment in regional Australia's transport network was a priority.
"The government is currently meeting with relevant stakeholders, including at state and local government levels, to discuss future funding priorities ahead of the October budget, such as addressing significant deficiencies in the road network," the spokeswoman said.
A road to nowhere
On the New South Wales side, the Silver City Highway is nearly complete, taking bitumen right up to the gate separating the states.
While the money promised by the Coalition wouldn't come close to completely upgrading the Warri Gate Road, Mr Ferguson said, combined with the council's own $2 million contribution, it was a good step forward.
Now, he fears the road, which is far away from any major city and in a safe LNP seat, will struggle to get a look-in.
"We're gonna be sitting out on the outskirts, I think we're going to miss out," Mr Ferguson said.
Another interior road to the east, the Inland Freight Route, is slated for upgrades from Mungindi to Charters Towers as an alternative to the Bruce Highway.
"[Politicians will say] this is where the population is, there's no one out there, there's no votes out there, so let's do this road [the Inland Freight Route] instead," Mr Ferguson said.
Ripple effect
To the 300-plus people who live out this way, the Warri Gate Road means more than bitumen.
It would potentially revitalise communities and secure jobs and investment for years to come.
"It'll keep this little community alive for a long time," Mr Ferguson said.
"It'll keep our people employed, and possibly a few contractors around the place."
While it waits for the October budget, the council will make do with what it has got.
"We'll just poke along as we get a bit of spare cash," Mr Ferguson said.
"Instead of doing 25 to 30km a year, we'll probably now just do 2 or 3km a year."
