depends what you call recently,but i went through that way from marble bar to alice springs last august,the track was in pretty good nick,a few rough corrugations around near kintore but on the whole it was much improved from the previous time i went that way about 6 years earlier. bear in mind i think there was a fair bit of rain out there a couple of months ago,might pay to ring one of the communities out there for up to date advice,they are usually very helpful.

cheers, sparra