A flood prone section of the Bruce Highway in North Queensland is to be upgraded with $50 million of resilience works to improve a stretch of road between Ingham and Innisfail.
The state government said detailed designs are now complete for improvements to the Gairloch to Ripple Creek section, in the Seymour River Area, with the project scheduled to go out to tender in coming months with construction expected to get underway next year.
The crucial works to an area that has been a trouble-spot for freight operators for many years will include safety upgrades, wide centreline treatment, replacing culverts to improve drainage, widening the road and reconstructing the highway to a more resilient standard.
Federal Minister for Emergency Management Kristy McBain said these works on the Bruce will make a real difference for North Queenslanders who rely on this route for essential travel, supplies and emergency access.
“By replacing ageing culverts and strengthening the pavement, we’re ensuring this stretch of highway can better withstand the floods that impact the region year after year,” McBain said.
The improvements can’t come soon enough for many road freight operators.
In the aftermath of the devastating Queensland floods earlier this year, Roger Blennerhassett, the manager of the Brisbane depot for the family-run Blenners Transport, told Big Rigs the notorious section should have been fixed years ago.
“It’s had new bitumen put over the top of it, but the design has been like that for 50 years,” he said.
“At Seymour, just past there, they upgraded that about 10 years ago, but they did half a job. They didn’t put enough pipe work underneath it so now it’s like a dam.
“The water still comes up over the road. It flooded and the road was blocked only 12 months after they did it.”
Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads Brent Mickelberg said the resilience works were a long-term, generational investment to help keep North Queensland communities open and moving during the next disaster.
“We are committed to building stronger infrastructure, making sure Queensland is better prepared for disasters in the future,” Mickelberg said.
“For more than a decade this section of road has been a choke point as it floods regularly during the storm season and holds up logistics, so we are going to deliver the road improvements the region has been asking for.
“Workers will be on-site in the next year building a more durable stretch of road that ensures safer and more reliable travel on the Bruce Highway while reducing the time and cost of road closures and repair works.”
This project is the next section of the Bruce Highway improvements north of the $48 million Gairloch Floodway project that is already funded by the Australian Government and is currently in the design phase.
It will be delivered under the $450 million Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Program, which is funded through the joint Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and administered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.