Dual carriageway ruled out
THE Queensland Government has emphatically ruled out construction of a two-way dual carriageway on the increasingly notorious stretch of the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Ingham.
“While there is no current planning or available funding for a complete two-way dual carriageway between Townsville and Ingham, we continue to deliver important safety, capacity and flood resilience upgrades on this section of the Bruce Highway,” TMR said in a statement.
“As there is no planning under way, a cost estimate is not available for these works.”
There has been a spate of deadly accidents on the Bruce Highway south of Ingham as well as between Ingham and Cardwell to the north.
TMR has undertaken significant upgrades to the highway north of Townsville, leading to delays of at least 10 minutes.
TMR said the Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program 2021–22 to 2024–25 represented a record investment in road and transport infrastructure, with $27.5bn in works committed over the next four years, supporting an average of 24,000 jobs over the life of the program.
“Of this, $1.18bn is committed across the Northern District, which is estimated to support an average of 1020 direct jobs over the life of the program,” a representative said.
“The Queensland Government is committed to improving safety, capacity and flood resilience on the Bruce Highway between Brisbane and Cairns.”
The QTRIP 2020-21 to 2023-24 includes the continued delivery of the $13bn, 15year Bruce Highway Upgrade Program, jointly funded by the Australian Government.
From north of Townsville to the Cardwell Range, BHUP projects include:
$107.65m Townsville Northern Access Intersections Upgrade (Bruce Highway, Veales Rd to Pope Rd) – duplicating 5.2km of the Bruce Highway. Works started in May and are expected to be completed by early-2023, weather permitting
$29.17m Bruce Highway – (Townsville-ingham) Hechts Rd to Easter Creek Safety Upgrade Project. Works include road widening, intersection upgrades, installation of a new service road and new overtaking lanes. Works are expected to be completed by the end of the year
$25m Bruce Highway, Ingham – Halifax – Bemerside Rd and Cardwell Range widen road and improve safety. Project is in the planning phase
$6.7m Bruce Highway (Townsville-ingham), Leichhardt Creek to Lilypond Creek, install overtaking lanes. Works due to start March 2022 and expected to be completed early 2024, weather permitting
$6.7m Bruce Highway – (Townsville-ingham), Leichhardt Creek to Abergowrie Road, widen road and improve safety. Works due to start March 2022 and expected to
be completed early 2024, weather permitting.
TMR said the projects would deliver “significant safety improvements on the Bruce Highway between Townsville and the Cardwell Range”.