A flood-prone section of the Bruce Highway in North Queensland is set to be upgraded with $50 million of resilience works to improve a stretch of road between Ingham and Innisfail.
Detailed designs are now complete for improvements to the Gairloch to Ripple Creek section, in the Seymour River Area, with the project scheduled to go out to tender in coming months with construction expected to get underway next year.
The works will include safety upgrades, wide centreline treatment, replacing culverts to improve drainage, widening the road and reconstructing the highway to a more resilient standard.
The project will be delivered under the $450 million Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Program (QRRRP, which is funded through the joint Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and administered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.
Queensland Minister for Disaster Recovery, Ann Leahy said building back better and delivering more resilient infrastructure was a core pillar of the State Government.
“Betterment projects like this are smart investments in our state’s future, using the lessons we’ve learned from past disasters to strengthen us for the future,” Minister Leahy said.
“Our upgrades to the Bruce Highway will be transformational for our state and benefit every Queenslander, particularly in our regions and the north.
“We can’t stop severe weather from occurring, but we can improve our resilience to its impacts, and that’s what these Gairloch to Ripple Creek road improvements are all about.”
Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Brent Mickelberg (pictured) said the resilience works were a long-term, generational investment to help keep North Queensland communities open and moving during the next disaster.
“We are committed to building stronger infrastructure, making sure Queensland is better prepared for disasters in the future,” Minister Mickelberg said.
“For more than a decade this section of road has been a choke point as it floods regularly during the storm season and holds up logistics, so we are going to deliver the road improvements the region has been asking for.
“Workers will be on-site in the next year building a more durable stretch of road that ensures safer and more reliable travel on the Bruce Highway while reducing the time and cost of road closures and repair works.”
This project is the next section of the Bruce Highway improvements north of the $48 million Gairloch Floodway project that is already funded by the Australian Government and is currently in the design phase.
The Crisafulli Government is also working with the Australian Government to finalise the scope of works for the $205 million Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements betterment funding approved to build a more resilient Bruce Highway and other key state-owned connection roads impacted by the extreme rainfall event earlier this year.
