MP SAYS BYPASS THE PRIORITY: ELECTION

BARRON River MP Craig Crawford says bottleneck issues at Cairns North will be fixed before the Smithfield bypass is completed.

“That’s the intention, otherwise we make a bad problem worse,” he said.

“The bypass will take between two and three years to build … the solution at North Cairns will probably only take 12 to 18 months.

“We know that the bypass will funnel more traffic at North Cairns quicker.

“But we start the bypass, get that one moving and we’ve bought ourselves more time to fix North Cairns before the bypass opens.”

Several Cairns councillors have been accused of grandstanding after coming hat-inhand to ask the State Government for a Smithfield bypass.

The Cairns Post yesterday reported councillors Brett Olds and John Schilling had labelled the bypass plan a “Band-Aid solution” and “stupid”.

Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the local politicians were playing political games.

“Just months ago, Cairns councillors met with the Premier and lobbied for this project, describing it as a No.1 priority for the region,” he said.

Mr Crawford said the council had been pressuring the State Government for years to fund the project.

“We’ve got the solution to the Smithfield roundabout — it’s called the Smithfield bypass and we’re building it,” Mr Crawford said.

“The Smithfield bypass is the answer to Smithfield. It’s not the answer to North Cairns and I’ve never ever advocated that the bypass answers the Cairns North problem.”

Mr Crawford said engineers had been surveying the area’s roads and would come back to the government with a plan to fix congestion at the northern entrance to the city after the election.