Beaudesert Town Centre Bypass opens early

The $27.5 million Beaudesert Town Centre Bypass, a 1.5 kilometre two-lane road, will open to traffic this afternoon, a month ahead of schedule.

Minister for Local Government and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Mark Furner officially opened the road today along with Scenic Rim Regional Council Mayor Greg Christensen and Beaudesert Traditional Owners.

“It is with great pleasure that after eight months of construction – which included challenging conditions due to ex-TC Debbie flooding - I announce the town centre bypass is open,” Mr Furner said.

“The bypass starts at the intersection of the Mount Lindesay Highway (Brisbane Street) and Helen Street and connects to Bromelton Street (Beaudesert–Boonah Road), with new signalised intersections at each end.

“This is an important project as the bypass will provide a more efficient route for motorists around the town centre while reducing the flow of heavy vehicle traffic through Beaudesert.

“It also created around 85 jobs during the project, which is a long-term investment in the local road network.

“I thank motorists and local residents for their patience during construction, especially those who live close to the alignment or travelled through the changed traffic conditions each day.”

Mr Furner said an exciting discovery was made during construction.

“Aboriginal artefacts were found at the site and archaeologists estimate themto be 4500 years old,” Mr Furner said.

“In January 2016, Cultural Heritage investigations were undertaken along the town centre bypass route with 200 Aboriginal artefacts found,” he said.

“As the area under investigation had not been ploughed, or significantly impacted, the artefacts found were only half a metre below the surface.

“The artefacts included a stone axe head, lead musket balls, hundreds of stone tools including backed blades that were used as barbs in so-called ‘death spears’, a Scottish clay pipe (circa 1850s) and ceramic and glass which has led to further information on the location of the first Beaudesert Homesteads.”

Acting Main Roads and Road Safety Minister Steven Miles said construction started in mid-January 2017 and was progressing well until Tropical Cyclone Debbie brought more than 300mm of rain to the project site and the Logan River at Beaudesert, exceeding all previous flood levels.

“About 80 per cent of the project site was impacted by flood water, with damage to the earthworks and delays on installing culverts due to saturated foundations,” Mr Miles said.

“Despite putting the construction back several weeks, the team was determined to make up the lost time.

“To mitigate flooding, we have built a 50 metre bridge over Spring Creek and installed five new drainage culverts along the alignment and upgraded the existing culverts on Bromelton Street.

“The fast construction of Spring Creek Bridge assisted in getting the project completed ahead of schedule.

“The bridge piles and deck units were manufactured at Bromelton and the local community may have seen them being delivered to site along Beaudesert–Boonah Road and Brisbane Street during April and May.”

Scenic Rim Regional Council Mayor Greg Christensen said completion of the town centre bypass was a significant achievement which will benefit Beaudesert and the Scenic Rim area.

“The town centre bypass has been a long-awaited project for the town and I am thrilled to see the project completed,” Cr Christensen said.

“Completion of the town centre bypass will enable council to progress with the master plan to revitalise the town centre.

“While the main alignment has been constructed away from traffic, the intersection works and changed traffic conditions on Brisbane Street and Bromelton Street have been high impact with construction underway very close to residents and businesses.

“The whole community has managed very well through the construction stage and I look forward to the town adapting and growing around this new infrastructure.”

SEE Civil Pty Ltd have been constructing the project on behalf of Transport and Main Roads and Scenic Rim Regional Council and will be on site for another few weeks undertaking final tasks such as landscaping, site clean-up and other minor works.

Beaudesert Town Centre construction fast facts:

•           53,000 cubic metres of embankment fill

•           2,200 cubic metres of concrete used across the site such as for culvert base slabs, headwalls and bridge abutments and footpaths

•           10,650 tonnes of asphalt having been laid across the new road and intersections and

•           26 x 23-metre piles and 57 x 18-metre bridge deck units manufactured locally.

ENDS

Media contact:          

Minister Furner: Brock Taylor – 0427 018 178

Minister Miles: Zoe Russell – 0428 079 640