Highway open to traffic

THE final section of the $500m Bruce Highway upgrade south of Townsville has come online with traffic switched to the new road and bridge.

The 10.5km section is the last piece of the puzzle in the upgrades, with another section of the road completed in August this year.

The $514.34m Haughton River Floodplain Upgrade project is almost complete with a few on-and-off-ramps expected to be finished in the next few weeks.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said North Queenslanders were far too familiar with flooding closing the highway, forcing the public and transport operators to wait for water to recede.

The Transport Minister said the project would officially be completed later this year.

“Traffic across the national network is now using a safer, more flood-resilient crossing of the Reed Beds area,” Mr Joyce said.

“The Australian government, in conjunction with the Queensland government, has resolved this issue with the existing low-lying road replaced with a bridge, which is much more resilient to flooding.

“The Bruce Highway alignment across the Reed Beds was also reconfigured to improve safety. In addition to the previous traffic switches as part of this half-billion-dollar upgrade, (this) switch means traffic is now using all 13.5km of new or upgraded highway.”

Federal Dawson MP George Christensen said the project had supported about 544 jobs.

“The community and local industry will also benefit from the project’s safety improvements for years to come,” Mr Christensen said.

Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the Bruce Highway was the “backbone” of the state’s freight industry and delivering upgrades on the road was a priority.

“At Giru, the focus moving forward will be on completing local connection roads and demolishing existing bridges and road,” Mr Bailey said.

“Over the coming weeks, we’ll also finalise the highway on-and off-ramps to Hodel Rd and Shirbourne Rd so local access can be reinstated.”

Mundingburra MP Les Walker said in the final stage of the project, the intersection of Woodstock-giru Rd and the Bruce Highway would be completed.

“With traffic switched over to the new bridge, locals can see the major project coming to a close and are already experiencing the benefits,” Mr Walker said.

“To complete the final works, the intersection at Woodstock-giru Rd will be closed to traffic and a detour will be in place.

“Access to Giru will only be possible via Shirbourne Rd and the road towards Woodstock will be accessible via Link Rd.”

The project was funded on an 80:20 basis with the federal government committing $411.47m and $102.87m from the state government.