Palaszczuk Government boosts the Bruce at Wide Bay Hwy intersection

The Palaszczuk Government will boost the Bruce with a 20 per cent investment of $2.8 million in funding to upgrade the Bruce Highway and Wide Bay Highway intersection.

Minister for Main Roads and Road Safety Mark Bailey spruiked the Bruce north of Gympie today as part of his 1700 kilometre Bruce blitz road trip up the Queensland coast to talk about the record roads program the Palaszczuk Government is delivering.

“Our $2.8 million investment, combined with the Australian Government commitment, means a $14 million commitment to improve safety and efficiency at the intersection,” Mr Bailey said.

“This project is part of the Palaszczuk Government’s record spend on road and transport infrastructure across the state for the second year in a row, delivering around $21 billion of works and supporting 17,000 jobs over the next four years.

“It’s also part of the $8.5 billion ten year Bruce Highway Upgrade Program jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments to improve safety and reduce serious injuries along the whole stretch of the highway form Cairns to Brisbane.

“Included in that is a $40 million allocation in 2017-18, to widen the Bruce Highway to four lanes between Cooroy and Curra (Section C: Traveston to Woondum), at a total cost of $384.2 million.”

Minister Bailey said several members of the community had raised concerns in recent times about insufficient capacity of the Wide Bay Highway intersection and this funding would go a long way to improving safety and efficiency.

“At times throughout the day, vehicles experience long delays turning right out of the Wide Bay Highway due to the high volumes of traffic on the Bruce Highway,” he said.

“This is of particular concern for heavy vehicles or longer vehicles such as caravans which require a larger gap in traffic to enter the traffic stream safely.

“The funding announcement is a great outcome – we’re committed to funding projects that make our roads safer and more efficient, and create jobs for Queenslanders.”

Mr Bailey said the project involved implementing an at-grade seagull configuration.

“The Bruce Highway will be widened to allow for the introduction of a dedicated southbound acceleration lane between the north and southbound lanes,” he said.

“Wide Bay Highway traffic will give way to Bruce Highway traffic on their right before moving into the dedicated acceleration lane where they will give way to their left.

“The benefit of this configuration is that Wide Bay Highway traffic will only have one direction of through traffic to negotiate at a time.

“The left-turn lane onto the Wide Bay Highway will also be physically separated from the northbound through lane to improve visibility when entering the Bruce Highway.

“The Bruce Highway is the state’s major north-south road corridor for tourist, transport and freight industries, so these works will help to provide a free-flowing corridor, while ensuring the safety of motorists.”

Mr Bailey said that detailed design activities would soon commence and would involve undertaking more detailed investigations to refine the preliminary layout.

“Community will be consulted during this phase and their feedback will play an important role in developing the final design that meets safety requirements and the community’s needs.

“These works are an excellent example of what can be achieved when the federal and state governments work together to improve safety on Queensland roads.”

Transport and Main Roads is currently in the process of finalising delivery timeframes.

If you would like to provide feedback about the works, please phone 1300 728 390 during business hours or email bundaberg.office@tmr.qld.gov.au.

ENDS

Media contact:

Minister Bailey’s office – 0428 079 640