Clearing way for $481m project
PRELIMINARY earthworks and tree clearing are well under way on the 10.5km Bruce Highway upgrade set to future-proof the growth of f Cairns’ booming southern suburbs.
The Cairns Southern Access Corridor Stage 3 plans will duplicate the existing two-lane sections of the road between Edmonton and Gordonvale to four lanes and increase the speed limit to 100km/h.
John Holland Seymour White AECOM Joint Venture has been awarded the contract for the $481m joint state and federally funded project.
There will be a new signalised intersection at Petersen Road and upgraded traffic light intersections at Draper Road and Riverstone Road plus new road and rail bridges at Wrights Creek and Stoney Creek and an overpass south of Maitland Road.
A series of smaller roads allowing access to the highway will be closed to improve traffic flow and increase road safety.
Wrights Creek resident Ian Coutts said Warner Road was expected to be one such closure and this would mean much less through traffic coming off Pine Creek Yarrabah Road.
“It’s going to be beautiful,” he said.
But the planned future relocation of Queensland Rail shunting yards created uncertainty, he said.
“I can’t sell this house now, who would buy the bloody thing?” Mr Coutts said.
A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesman said the project was being delivered as a staged design and construct contract, which was currently progressing through the detailed design phase.
“(The contractor) has been carrying out works including vegetation removal, building demolition, erosion and sediment control works, and earthworks in various areas,” he said. “Work on a new connection road between Warner and Harris roads has started.”
Later this year the detailed design phase of the plan will be complete.
The project has been slated for completion in mid-2023.
A dedicated off-road highspeed cycleway from Riverstone Road to the north of Collinson Creek to tie into the existing cycleway at Thompson Road has been incorporated into the design of the upgraded highway.