From Page 5

From the Maryborough turn-off to Childers you will find passing lanes, but not enough – and those ready to attempt a “speed up and pass’’ risk not just a ticket but their lives.

Approach Childers and that wonderful red volcanic soil that stains the houses and the tractors, and throws into sharp definition the green of the sugar cane field, provides a beautiful distraction – but not one enhanced by the state of the road.

By the time you negotiate that winding path from Gympie to Gin

Gin, you might believe you’re past the worst of it but you’d be mistaken.

Miriam Vale has been identified for generations of northerners as a Bruce landmark, not least because of the mud crab sandwiches at the “Big Crab’’ Shell servo.

The town, now a turn-off point for those heading to the tourism drawcards of Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy, also has been associated with a particularly troublesome section of the Bruce that became even more pronounced after the 2010-11 Summer of Disaster floods damaged the road between Miriam Vale and Rockhampton.

Today it is by no means a dual carriageway, but there are more passing lanes and the road’s surface is in reasonable condition.

The southern approach to the beef capital is a delight, given it hosts the longest bridge in regional Queensland. The 1.6 km South Yeppen Crossing has gone a long way to floodproofing Rocky.

Veterans of the Bruce Highway always brace themselves for the 230km drive between Marlborough (100km north of Rocky) and Mackay.

Since the 1970s, it’s been referred to by regional Queenslanders as

“The Horror Stretch’’, although the “horror’’ is not necessarily a reflection of the road itself.

It’s a reference to a series of

murders that occurred along the road – most notably at Funnel and Lotus Creek and at Connors River.

Get past the highway’s first sea views at Clairview (the town that marks the entrance to North Queensland) then into the sugargrowing country around Koumala and the scenery might improve, but your mood won’t. Slow traffic, whether in the form of a caravan or truck, will hamper your trip, with few passing opportunities.

North of Sarina and the power of money and persistent lobbying by local government – in the form of the Mackay City Council under long

The reality is that the majority of today’s Queenslanders won’t see a four-lane highway from Brisbane to Cairns in their lifetimes

serving mayor Greg Williamson – is evident.

The long-awaited ring road that funnels traffic away from the city at the southern approach around Bakers Creek, and deposits it on the northern side of the city around Glenella, is an impressive and cuts out around 13km of low-speed urban driving for intercity travellers.

But, having skirted Mackay, the drive up to Proserpine, taking the motorist into the glamorous Whitsunday region if they make a right just north of the town, is anything but pleasant. That section of road still floods and cuts off traffic

as it did in January 2021 due to the tail end of Cyclone Imogen.

Pass the Burdekin and the impressive “Silver Link’’ bridge over the Burdekin river and approach Townsville and you would expect a dual carriageway to welcome you to the nation’s largest northern city.

But you can be so close to Townsville you can spy the iconic “Sugar Shaker’’ (the Hotel Grand Chancellor, known by locals for decades as the Sugar Shaker) through the windscreen and yet still be on a modest two-lane highway.

A decent, well paved four-lane highway starts around the turn-off to

the Sun Metals Zinc Refinery, and older Queenslanders will see major progress has been made around Townsville in the form of the ring road for those still heading north.

Yet the 100km trip from the southern side of Townsville to Ingham is still a largely two-lane affair subject to flooding, while the segment’s ongoing dangers have been highlighted by a string of fatal accidents south of Ingham.

That last segment, from

Townsville to Cairns, was in the

1970s regarded as a four-hour road trip by north Queensland motorists. Today it takes most drivers five hours

but at least the four-lane entrance to Cairns has become something grand, befitting the city.

And then, after 1688 km, you are “there,’’ gazing at the beautiful Trinity Inlet – mission accomplished.

The promises made about the Bruce Highway by politicians in election mode are too numerous to list. In 2017, the federal government estimated the cost of building 1km of freeway at $5.4m — that has probably doubled now.

The reality is that the majority of today’s Queenslanders won’t see a four-lane highway from Brisbane to Cairns in their lifetimes.