Long-distance truckie Trevor Warner has never seen the Bruce this bad in more than a decade of driving the much-maligned highway.
“We’ve got to do something – there is almost as many potholes in the Bruce as there are on the Ukraine highways at the moment,” Warner said.
“People think that the Newell is bad but the Bruce Highway is a lot worse, and the [roads] minister Bart Mellish doesn’t care, he only seems concerned about his own electorate. Anything up this way he only seems to pay lip service to.”
Warner said the Gladstone area is one of the worst sections and urgently in need of fixes.
“They’ve spent a lot of money on repairs there but in my view all of them have pretty much failed.
“The Rocky ring road is going to be a good one, but we’ve got to do something between Rockhampton and Mackay.
“It’s just coming apart all over the place.”
Warner said the condition of the Bruce is so bad, the company he works for had two brake boosters snap off trailers due to the impact.
“Trucks aren’t built for that sort of pounding, particularly down the left-hand side along the fog line. That’s where all the potholes are appearing.
“We’re driving in the middle of the road sometimes to avoid them.”
Warner said the lack of overtaking lanes are only exacerbating the problem due to caravanners backing off because of the roughness of the road.
“If they’ve just come up from Melbourne on all those beatuful four-lanes, and all of a sudden they’ve got to Marlborough, no wonder they’re slowing down because it’s just a goat track.
“And of course that just plays havoc with everyone else and aggressive driving takes over and accidents are the result.”
RACQ’s expert analysis of AusRAP crash data between 2018-2022 shows upgrades, including the installation of dual carriageways on the Hume and Pacific Highways have almost eliminated the head-on crash risk – the crash type in over half (81) of fatalities on the Bruce Highway.
By contrast, 1398km of the Bruce Highway (from Gympie to Cairns) remains single-lane and undivided, leading to an average ‘per kilometre travelled’ FSI crash rate three times higher than rural sections of the Pacific Highway and five times higher than rural sections of the Hume Highway.
At the launch of the new Fix the Bruce campaign this week ahead of the looming state election, RACQ managing director and CEO David Carter said the shocking statistics highlight the urgent need for action.
RACQ has joined forces with leading Queensland organisations to fight for a better Bruce Highway, with new data revealing it has an average fatal and serious injury (FSI) crash rate three to five times higher than major national highways in New South Wales and Victoria.
RACQ, along with Queensland Trucking Association (QTA), Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), Queensland Farmers Federation (QFF), Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Queensland (RACS Qld), and Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) are urging political parties to commit to a 10-year funding plan with the federal government to urgently eliminate all two-star sections of the Bruce.
“The Bruce Highway is the backbone of this state, it’s supposed to be a national highway but when you compare it to the Pacific or Hume, it’s substandard,” Carter said.
“Those interstate highways have rightfully been upgraded to three, four and five stars out of five for infrastructure safety, yet around half of the Bruce is still a poor two-star rating. In 2024, there is no way Queensland should have any two-star sections on the Bruce Highway.
“We know proper upgrades work and safer roads save lives. The Cooroy to Curra section of the Bruce Highway, which is now dual carriageway, has a similar FSI crash rate to rural sections of the Pacific and Hume, which means it’s five times lower than the single lane, undivided sections of the Bruce.
Carter wants to see a commitment to widen narrow sections and bridges, install more overtaking lanes and progressively duplicate the road to a dual carriageway standard, like the Hume and Pacific Highways in NSW and Victoria.
While welcoming the state government’s extra $50 million a year in the budget, the groups warned it had been undermined by the federal government’s changed funding split from 80-20 with the stategovernment to 50-50.
QTA CEO Gary Mahon said the importance of securing the future of freight supply chains in Queensland is without question.
“The road freight industry is heavily reliant on the Bruce Highway as a freight route to deliver into regional communities, get fresh produce to market and resources to ports,” Mahon said.
“Bold investment decisions are needed to make this key freight route safer for our truck drivers who are providing an essential service to the state.
“Floodway treatments, improvements in the economic carry of bridges and rest areas every 200km must be a priority for the next Queensland government.”
The campaign group is seeking commitments that the Queensland state government will take an industry and government delegation to Canberra in November prior to next year’s federal budget to secure fair funding for the Bruce and other road funding and a return to the 80-20 federal-state government funding split.
The road safety alliance is also calling for parties to make state election commitments to further fund the roads that Queenslanders deserve.