BYPASS DESIGN U-TURN

Revised route creeps closer to brewery but will strategy improve congestion?

THE State Government has backflipped on its $152 million Smithfield Bypass project and moved its connection further west from the Yorkeys Knob turn-off to Caravonica.

The Caravonica roundabout will be upgraded with traffic lights. It will mean traffic arriving from four thoroughfares instead of three at Yorkeys.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the late change of plan was for safety and other reasons.

Construction is due to start within weeks and be completed by late-2020, weather-permitting.

The announcement comes about 12 months after the minister wrote to Cairns Regional Council saying his department had no intention to review alignment plans for the traffic improvement project.

Macalister Brewing Company owner Rob Callin (left), whose Smithfield business will be only 137m away from the new bypass road, is questioning the design change.

He said it would make little improvement to traffic in the area.

“We’ve lived on the beaches for years, and basically if you try to drive into town in the morning, traffic backs up all the way from north Cairns,” Mr Callin said.

“So feeding it past Smithfield quickly is only going to make that worse.

“I’m not quite sure about the logic, and I’m not the only one questioning it.”

In a letter obtained by the Cairns Post, Mr Bailey last year wrote that changing the plan would place “unacceptable impacts on environment, cultural heritage, cost and delivery time frame of the project”.

But, yesterday, he said the design change would bring major benefits for the region, including improved safety.

“All intersections in Smithfield will benefit from the network connectivity as the majority of through traffic on the Captain Cook Highway will be removed from the local road network,” Mr Bailey said.

“The Yorkeys Knob community will also appreciate reduced volumes of traffic using local roads … with through traffic being diverted on to the Smithfield Bypass.”

Barron River MP Craig Crawford, who was briefed about the changes yesterday, welcomed the plan.

“These design changes will avoid the duplication of infrastructure and additional bridge construction, which was required under the original design,” he said. “It will also reduce the bypass length and the number of culverts as well as eliminating the need for an additional 500m of bridge construction at Avondale Creek.”

Division 9 councillor Brett Olds suggested the plan would make no major difference to northern beaches traffic flow.

“The ad hoc nature that this current government is treating residents of Barron River to, is ridiculous,” he said. “No consultation, no long-term plan, just last-minute pork barrelling before an election, with all promises pushed back until the next election year.”