A frustrated Queensland truckie has hit out at the lack of truck parking in Rockhampton, as he said it’s becoming more and more difficult for him to do his job.
Corey Franklin is based in Gladstone and carts general freight all over Queensland and into New South Wales.
He said truck parking is an issue on many of the routes he drives, but it’s particularly bad in Rockhampton, which is a major transport hub that sees nearly 3,000 trucks pass through every day.
“Rockhampton doesn’t have a dedicated breakdown pad,” he told Big Rigs.
“I do a lot of direct-to-customer deliveries, but it’s getting harder and harder to get the job done.”
He said there are a few places where you can park or split trailers, like the Yeppen roundabout, but you’re “battling it out” with larger transport companies.
“Or there’s the northside Ampol, but it’s only a small yard and at the best of times you can only get two B-doubles in there,” he added.
“It’s also not very ergonomic for my deliveries because it’s on the Bruce Highway and you’ve got to be in the southbound lane to get into the Ampol, you can’t do a U-turn.”
Franklin frequently makes deliveries to the Bunnings in Rockhampton, which is on a route without B-double access.
However, he said they order B-doubles’ worth of freight, which means he has to find somewhere to split up the trailers and deliver them one by one.
The most convenient place for him to do this is at Parkhurst, which is just a few minutes’ drive away, but he said this won’t always be an option.
“Parkhurst was a good spot because you’ve got RGM Maintenance and Western Star and all the big dealer repair places close by,” he said.
“They demolished an old factory that was there years ago and flattened the area.
“There were streets but not many buildings there before, but now they are starting to build.
“This is creating a problem because when the buildings get finished, there are going to be cars parked on the streets and heavy traffic.”
The 32-year-old thinks the best solution to the problem would be to have a dedicated south side and north side breakdown pad in Rockhampton.
“I feel like no-one’s really thinking about heavy vehicles and where the freight comes from,” he said.
“They don’t think about how we park, where we park, and what we need to do our jobs.”
He hopes that the much-anticipated Rockhampton Ring Road, which is not expected to be completed until approximately 2030-2031, will make some difference to travel times – but he wonders why the powers that be aren’t thinking about truck parking.
“Sometimes it can take you nearly an hour to get through Rockhampton, from one end to the other, with all the traffic lights and everything else that goes with it,” he said.
“The Ring Road might cut that down a little bit, but there has still been no talk of a break down pad.
“They just think we’ve got one at Gracemere, so why would they bother.
“But Gracemere is 15-20 minutes away, and you run into the same problem with the big companies using that.”
The lack of truck parking in Rockhampton has been an issue for years, with high-profile truckies’ advocate Rod Hannifey previously complaining to Big Rigs about changes by the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) to the northbound and southbound bays on the Bruce Highway opposite the Ampol servo.
These popular rest areas used to be able to accommodate up to 10 B-doubles on the north side, and two in the other direction.
Since TMR got involved, Hannifey says the parking options have shrunk by more than half.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport and Main Roads Queensland issued the following response to this story: “The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) manages a dedicated decoupling pad east of Rockhampton on the Capricorn Highway on Saleyards Road at the Central Queensland Livestock Exchange, Gracemere.
“There is also a heavy vehicle rest area south of Rockhampton at Midgee, and a heavy vehicle stopping place on the Bruce Highway between Farm Street and Carlton Street.
“The Rockhampton Ring Road will provide significant benefits for heavy vehicle operators and the freight industry including improved safety, reduced travel time, better road access, increased traffic flow, improved network connectivity and improved flood immunity.”
TMR confirmed it has no plans for any further decoupling pads or heavy vehicle rest areas/stopping places in Rockhampton.
“TMR provides dedicated heavy vehicle rest areas, motorist rest areas and dual-use rest areas across the state so that drivers can stop and rest as required,” the spokesperson added.
“Locations for rest areas in Rockhampton are publicly available on Queensland Globe via https://qldglobe.information.qld.gov.au/.”