A collaboration of leading Queensland organisations is urging the state government to improve safety outcomes on the Bruce Highway in a movement named ‘Fix the Bruce’.
The Bruce Highway is a major Australian freight route has a fatal and serious injury (FSI) rate three to five times higher than major highways in New South Wales and Victoria.
The Queensland Trucking Association (QTA), RACQ, Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), Queensland Farm Federation (QFF), Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Queensland (RACS Qld) and the Queensland Tourism Industry Council have joined forces for the venture.
RACQ analysis has between 2018-2022 has shown the installation of dual carriageways on the Hume and Pacific Highways have dramatically improved safety outcomes and almost eliminated head-on crash risk – the type of crash that accounts for over half (81) of the fatalities on the Bruce Highway.
Almost 1400km of the Bruce Highway (from Gympie to Cairns) is single-laned and undivided, which has led to an average per kilometre travelled FSI crash rate three times higher than rural sections of the Pacific Highway, and five times higher than rural sections of the Hume Highway.
QTA CEO Gary Mahon says improvements must be made to ensure the safety of truckies on one of the nation’s most crucial freight routes.
“The road freight industry is heavily reliant on the Bruce Highway as a freight route to deliver into regional communities, get fresh produce to market and resources to ports,” Mahon says.
“Bold investment decisions are needed to make this key freight route safer for our truck drivers who are providing an essential service to the state.
“Floodway treatments, improvements in the economic carry of bridges and rest areas every 200km must be a priority for the next Queensland government.”
The collaboration is calling for a 10-year funding plan to urgently eliminate all two-star safety rated sections of the Bruce Highway.
RACQ managing director and CEO David Carter believes the difference in statistics between the Bruce and other comparable highways in unacceptable.
“The Bruce Highway is the backbone of this State, it’s supposed to be a national highway but when you compare it to the Pacific or Hume, it’s substandard,” Carter says.
“We know proper upgrades work and safer roads save lives. The Cooroy to Curra section of the Bruce Highway, which is now dual carriageway, has a similar FSI crash rate to rural sections of the Pacific and Hume, which means it’s five times lower than the single lane, undivided sections of the Bruce.
“Those interstate highways have rightfully been upgraded to three, four and five stars out of five for infrastructure safety, yet around half of the Bruce is still a poor two-star rating. In 2024, there is no way Queensland should have any two-star sections on the Bruce Highway.
“We need a 10-year funding commitment from the state and federal governments to continue upgrading the Bruce Highway by widening narrow sections and bridges, installing more overtaking lanes and progressively duplicating the road to a dual carriageway standard, like the Hume and Pacific Highways in NSW and Victoria.”
Fix the Bruce was ranked as the top priority from a list of 10 options in RACQ’s recent State Election priority poll.
24.6 per cent of respondents labelled it is their top priority, while 46.6 per cent listed in in their top three. 56 per cent of regional Queenslanders nominated Fix the Bruce as their first or second priority.
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