Bypass project is taking shape
IT’S the sight and sound of the $164 million Smithfield bypass project that is getting people like Daniela Ferrigno (left) excited. The Sapori Antichi Italian cafe and pasticceria co-owner is looking forward to the opening of the bypass, which is meeting its construction deadlines. Those who live and work in the Smithfield area would be familiar with the booms of giant piles being driven into the ground with motorists now able to see progress.
BOOMS of progress are thundering across the northern suburbs as one of the city’s biggest road projects in a decade rises from the earth.
The $164 million Smithfield bypass project is meeting its construction deadlines and is on track for completion in late-2021.
The work is now unmistakably under way with motorists able to see a flurry of heavy activity at the 3.8km road’s northern end.
Barron River MP Craig Crawford said the venture’s morning wake-up calls were now a familiar sound for residents in the impact zone.
“The big piles are being put into the ground at the northern end there,” he said.
“It’s a pretty impressive system. Most people around the Smithfield area would hear that beginning about seven in the morning.”
Mr Crawford said he had not heard complaints about the noise from any residents.
“There’s some incredible engineering happening up there over the coming months,” he said.
“When you look at the economic climate now coming out of COVID-19, it’s such a great thing to see.
“Having all those people at a worksite shows that our economy is at work.
“I can hear it every morning and I don’t find it offensive.
“I just think that’s the sound of progress.”
Drivers near James Cook University can now begin to picture what the road will look like when it is finally finished.
“I’ve had people pull me up on the streets and say they finally realise what it’s going to look like,” he said.
“Those big steel cylinders they have there are going to be rammed into the ground and there are other extensions that go into them.
“Then shortly, in come the cranes to start building what will be a pretty impressive overpass (at McGregor Rd).”
The bypass project consists of a new 3.8km road between the McGregor Rd roundabout and the Cairns Western Arterial Rd and Captain Cook Hwy as an alternative route to the existing highway.
Daniela Ferrigno, co-owner of Sapori Antichi Italian cafe and pasticceria at the Campus Shopping Village, said she was looking forward to the opening of the bypass as she believed it would bring new clientele into the shop.