$240M TO GET CITY MOVING
Federal budget spend to complete ring road dream
A SURPRISE $240 million commitment is set to fix a congestion headache for Cairns commuters.
The plan to turn the Cairns Western Arterial Road into four lanes will fix a notorious traffic bottleneck and add the final piece of the Cairns Ring Road dream.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will announce the cash in tomorrow’s budget, revealing the federal government will pay 80 per cent of the cost of expanding the busy road from Kamerunga to Smithfield.
AN INFURIATING pinch point on the Cairns road network will be overhauled after a shock $240m federal budget pledge to smash the city’s traffic congestion.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will on Tuesday announce $240m to complete the duplication of the Cairns Western Arterial Road – the final piece required to achieve the Cairns Ring Road dream.
In a surprise decision, the federal government will pay 80 per cent of the cost to increase the busy road to four lanes from Kamerunga to Smithfield, including doubling the bridge over the Barron River at Kamerunga and the Redlynch overpass.
The state government will need to provide the final $60m.
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the only thing that would delay the project would be if state departments lagged in design and planning work.
“The Cairns Western Arterial Road is a state government road but we are going to put in 80 per cent of the money anyway,” he said.
“It’s now a matter of how quickly they can design and plan it; and it should be pretty easy – that work has all been done.
“The restriction was going to be the cost of the bridge and the overpass, and we’ve effectively covered that.”
The federal government has already put aside 80 per cent of the $359m required to upgrade the Captain Cook Highway, with the first works between the CBD and the airport due to begin in September.
The wider works will form the other leg of the Cairns Ring Road and ensure fourlane highways all across the northern side of Cairns.
Advance Cairns director Trent Twomey said the announcement was momentous for mums and dads, business owners and tourists.
“This not only provides jobs in the design and construction phase but is a massive efficiency gain that will increase productivity for people not only travelling to work, but also dropping kids to school and moving in and around the city,” he said.
“Whilst this will be the flagship announcement for us in Cairns and the Far North, we are hopeful of a few others also.”
The announcement follows Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s $10bn pledge to provide a guarantee for a new cyclone reinsurance pool to drive down premium costs for the Far North.
Cairns-based Labor Senator Nita Green has criticised the declaration for a lack of specifics on how it will work.
“It’s not just me asking – it’s advocates, businesses and homeowners across the region that are waiting to see some detail,” she said.