 While initial estimates placed the construction cost at £ 125 @,@ 000 over a period of four months , it actually cost twice as much , and was not completed until June 1942 , though the road was sufficiently trafficable and in use by January 1942 . The finished road , while an improvement over the previous route , still was not much more than a track . The only sections with a bitumen surface were the Madura and Eucla Passes . The formed width was 30 feet ( 9 @.@ 1 m ) , with some sections lightly gravelled over a 16 @-@ foot ( 4 @.@ 9 m ) width . 
