LET’S PLAN FOR A PURPOSE
THERE is a lot of discussion about the Kuranda Range Road. It is clear that the current road cannot be upgraded to the four lanes that is needed due to current usage of some 9000 vehicle movements per day, and the impact on the Wet Tropics.
Four alternatives have been suggested – The Saddle Mountain Route, The Reddicliffe Hwy, the Bridle track route, and a fourth further south. All have advantages and all have disadvantages. Both major federal political parties are finally facing up to the situation.
There needs to be a clear statement of purpose by the responsible state and federal decision-makers. What is the purpose of the new road?
Purposes include: Increase freight to/from the Tablelands, Savannah and the Cape, access for bedroom suburbs at Kuranda and for tourism.
What are the major factors in a decision: Cost, impact on values of the World Heritage Wet Tropics, user safety, ease of permanent access to and from the coast in times of cyclones, impact on existing residents’ properties and the impact of the Barron River (crossing or bypassing it).
Questions: Is the best route one that bypasses Kuranda bedroom suburbs and makes a quicker route to Mareeba but cuts a major swath through the Wet Tropics and is 21km long, or is the best route the shorter (7 km) new construction that has least impact on the Wet Tropics, but uses the existing crossing of the Barron and uses the existing route into Mareeba and beyond?
It is past time that this process commenced so that a plan can be developed and activated. Waiting will not make it cheaper or easier but just continue to cost lives, dollars and inconvenience.
Brett Duck, Mt Sheridan