For decades truck drivers have been calling for a major upgrade of the Bruce Highway.
After a spate of recent accidents, some of which included trucks, the call for action has never been stronger.
Gary Snell, aged 62, works for Todd Wiltons Transport in southern Queensland and has been driving along the Bruce Highway for 43 years.
Speaking to Big Rigs while tending to his trailers at a roadhouse, Snell was scathing in his criticism of the Bruce Highway.
“The section between Gin Gin and Gympie is an absolute disgrace and when they do work on it is just a temporary fix,” Snell said.
That was not the only stretch which Snell said was dangerous and unsafe.
“Between Sarina and Rockhampton it is also bad in some parts and Townsville to Cairns section is dangerous and has lots of potholes. It is especially difficult in wet weather and it rains a lot up there,” he said.
Dave Morgan is the owner of the busy Bohle-based Morgan Transport which has 60 trucks.
Each day, his fleet travels the Townsville to Cairns run and also from Townsville to Mackay.
Morgan Transport also has three trucks which carry general freight daily from Brisbane to Townsville.
Morgan said he recently he travelled in a company truck with operations manager Cameron Wright and was disgusted with the state of the highway.
“North of Rockhampton it is horrendous, and we had to slow down to 60km/h so the truck wasn’t damaged,” Morgan said. But Morgan said that many of his trucks suffered “premature damage” because of the rough highway.
“This is tyre and suspension damage,” he said.
Morgan said his drivers reported that highway around Marlborough was especially difficult.
Veteran 72-year-old truckie Laurie Seery has been driving the Bruce Highway since 1980 and described it as a “goat track like some in third world countries’’.
“It is a major Australian road and the food chain route from north to south and hasn’t improved much over the years,” Seery said.
“These days four to five times more traffic travel on it and it needs to be fixed. There are not enough passing lanes which is a safety issue,” he said.
I asked Seery what he considered the worst sections and he said there were many.
“Around Gin Gin it is a disgrace and between Cairns and Townsville it is not good. There are pot holes galore. Also, down to Mackay it is shocking in places,” he said.
Seery said he would recommend to authorities who send up engineers from Brisbane to draw up plans to upgrade sections to consult with locals.
“The locals know where the water runs and where it can cross the highway and close it after rain and their advice should be taken,” he said.
Sarina-based Chris Hodgkin, 38, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of a Mack Titan when I saw him, works for Sarina Crane Hire and is a relative newcomer to the industry but travels the Bruce regularly.
“Sarina to Rockhampton is terrible at many places especially along the Marlborough stretch. There are ruts along it and also fog early on and that adds to it,” he said.
Bruce was in the cabin of a yellow Kenworth parked up in Townsville and didn’t want his surname mentioned or picture taken, but was highly critical of the route.
“I have been driving for 35 years and try and dodge driving along the Bruce unless I have to. I use the back roads where I can,” he said.
I asked Bruce what he considered the worst parts when he does have to use it.
“Where do I start? Most of the Bruce Highway is buggered,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Forensic Crash Unit of the Queensland Police is appealing for information as they continue to investigate a fatal two-vehicle traffic crash at Bororen on August 30.
Around 5.10am, a utility and truck carrying ammonia nitrate crashed along the Bruce Highway near Daisy Dell Road.
The driver of the utility, a 21-year-old Koongal man, died at the scene.
The driver of the truck, a 47-year-old New South Wales man, was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
The Forensic Crash Unit continues to appeal to anyone who may have seen the utility or truck prior to the incident, or has dashcam footage, to come forward.