WILL RANGE FUNDS BE ENOUGH?

LABOR’S highly anticipated $210m Kuranda Range Rd preelection promise was fulfilled on federal budget night after a lengthy campaign by Far North residents and industry leaders alike - but is it enough?

The federal government confirmed its multimillion investment into improving safety measures on the range but there are concerns the funding won’t suffice.

Jamie Thygesen, owner of Tigo’s Towing, has been in the industry for 10 years and fields several calls a week regarding breakdowns and incidents along the Kuranda Range Rd.

“I personally had someone run into the back of my truck,” he said.

“Just with how slippery the range is … it’s like an ice-skating rink.”

While happy to see some funding come through, Mr Thygesen said he’s more concerned with how that money will be spent — saying that guard rails wouldn’t be enough to fix the “dangerous” range.

“They’ve got to resurface the road, council should run up it with the sweepers,” he said.

“Another thing is pullover areas, some of the areas I physically can’t put up a truck which is another accident waiting to happen if

I got a truck in the middle of the road.”

Leichhardt member Warren Entsch reaffirmed his calls for the Labor government to allocate $22m to discover alternative measures to fix the range, arguing safety fixes aren’t enough to address the issues.

Frequent users of the Kuranda Range Rd, Far North locals Karen Sanusi and Suella Wason know all too well how difficult the road can be.

Using the road almost every week, the pair knew exactly what the $210m should be spent on.

“It’s a bit of a hassle, because when you drive up and down the range you do a lot of wearing and tearing of your car, you have to use your brakes (a lot),” Ms Wason said.

“The traffic is forever, the trucks, big heavy vehicles need to use their own lane. And make the range wider.”

“The speed limit is ridiculous, the trucks and heavier vehicles should have their own road,” Ms Sanusi said.

Sydney tourists on their first jaunt around Far North, Hendry and Mina Kifa said the windy Kuranda Range Rd was typical for mountain roads.

“I wish it had more lanes, rather than the two lanes and make it a bit wider,” Mr Kifa said.