Tourists stranded on outback tracks after the Eyre Highway was closed for many days recently has highlighted the need for an urgent upgrade to other roads on the Nullarbor.

Key points: The only sealed road between WA and SA, the Eyre Highway, was closed for 12 days because of bushfires

The only sealed road between WA and SA, the Eyre Highway, was closed for 12 days because of bushfires Now, there is a call to upgrade the Trans Access Road as an alternate route

Now, there is a call to upgrade the Trans Access Road as an alternate route Several tourists were rescued "simply by chance" after taking remote routes to get around the closure

On Friday, the Eyre Highway — the only sealed transport route between Western Australia and the rest of the country — reopened after being closed for 12 days.

The highway was shut down because of bushfires in the region, which left hundreds of travellers and truckdrivers stranded on either side of the South Australia and WA border.

Now Eucla pastoralists, in the remote Nullarbor region of Western Australia, are renewing their push to get the Trans Access Road upgraded.

This road runs parallel along the Trans Australia Railway line, from Kalgoorlie to the South Australian border.

Fires near the Eyre Highway stranded hundreds of travellers and truck drivers this month. ( DFES: Evan Collis )

They also want a link road built between the Trans Access Road to the Eyre Highway, which would have given stranded travellers trying to drive between WA and South Australia an alternative route.

Mark Forrester runs Kanandah and Balgair Stations east of Kalgoorlie, and his family rescued several stranded tourists after the highway was closed in late December.

He said some travellers tried to get across to South Australia via the rough four-wheel drive Trans Access track, and other station roads.

He found a family of six who had been stuck for at least two days on a track near his station, with only five litres of water between them.

He said if he had not found them when he did "they could have been in real trouble".

"My son pulled a Toyota Camry out of a bog 30 kilometres south of the Trans Access Road, on one of our station tracks, simply by chance," Mr Forrester said.

"It really does highlight the dangers of not having a defined and maintained link road."

A recent 12-day closure of the Eyre Highway has reignited calls to seal the Trans Access Road as an alternative route. ( ABC Goldfields: Tom Joyner )

The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is hoping a new federal infrastructure program could provide essential funds for these Nullarbor roads.

The council is applying for the Trans Access Road and the new link road to be funded under the Commonwealth's $4.5 billion Roads of Strategic Importance.

This program has already committed to spend $100 million for the highway between Port Augusta to Perth, and $70 million for WA's Wheatbelt Secondary Freight Network.

However City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder CEO John Walker said they will lodge an application for this program next month.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder council CEO John Walker says the closure highlighted a need to upgrade the Trans Access Road. ( ABC Goldfields-Esperance: Nathan Morris )

"We want to seal or make better the road between Kalgoorlie and Rawlinna, and then connect Cocklebiddy [to the Eyre Highway]," he said.

He said, beside providing an alternative access route for interstate travellers, these roads were essential to 12 pastoral stations, some mining operations, and an Indigenous community.

It is also the only road for the railway, which carries the Indian Pacific train and about 80 per cent of WA's interstate freight.

"For the railway line, there's no other way of getting people out if anything happens on the rail," Mr Walker said.

The Indian Pacific travels on the Trans Australian Railway line, which runs along the Trans Access Road. ( Flickr: Simon Yeo )

The chief executive of WA trucking group Western Roads Federation, Cam Dumesny, said they were lobbying for more outback roads to be upgraded and sealed.

This included the Great Central Highway (which connects Laverton in WA to Yulara in the Northern Territory) along with the Tanami Road, which was further north and also connected the Northern Territory to WA's Great Northern Highway.

Mr Dumesny also said some of the key outback highways were a vital link for Defence operations.

"So it's not just an economic issue. It's a national security issue," he said.