Bridge hits the halfway mark

A 13.5KM upgrade of a floodprone area of the Bruce Highway has reached the halfway point.

The Haughton River Floodplain upgrade will see new overpasses at cane tramways, new bridges and intersection upgrades, including the Haughton River Bridge.

The Burdekin Women in Sugar were provided an update this week about the $514.3m project by Transport and Main Roads northern region communications adviser Joanne Kent and project manager Craig Caton.

Mr Caton said the Haughton River Bridge progressing well.

“It’s the first bridge built in the new bridge code … it’s designed for earthquakes,” he said.

“We are very close to 50 per cent, just over in some places.

“So the goal is to be up, out of the ground everywhere before Christmas.”

The new bridge will be more than 40m longer than the current bridge and will be four metres wider than the current 6.2m-wide bridge. It will also be two metres higher.

Mr Caton said adhering to COVID-19 restrictions saw an additional 14 service vehicles as well as additional cleaning commissioned. “So there has been some additional costs associated with that,” he said.

It’s also been revealed what will happen with the current bridges and infrastructure.

According to an update by Transport and Main Roads, hydraulic modelling triggered consideration to leave the existing bridges in place and duplicate highway crossings. However existing bridges at the Haughton River, Pink Lily Lagoon and Horseshoe Lagoon bridges will be removed. new was