It’s been a busy week for Gary Mahon and the Queensland Trucking Association (QTA). Just weeks after floods first wreaked havoc across North and Far North Queensland, wild weather saw the Bruce Highway once again closed earlier this week.
At the same time, the transport industry turned its eyes towards Rockhampton, where the federal and Queensland governments announced it would begin the first set of $9 billion upgrades to the Bruce, as well as revealing additional funding for the Rockhampton Ring Road and the Beef Roads.
“We strongly endorse this announcement and we’re pleased that early works have been approved and are commencing,” Mahon told OwnerDriver.
“The funding was only announced in January, so to have early works approved and getting underway in March is commendable.
“We’re very happy to see both governments working together on the planning of initial stages of works.”
Mahon says some members of the industry have raised the question why $100 million of the $300 million announced for the initial early works is going towards planning. While it may seem like a high portion of the works budget, Mahon says this planning phase will lay the foundation for a variety of works to Queensland’s major freight route.
“This $100 million for planning will also set the scene for the next $700 million worth of work that will begin over the next 12 months, so it’s basically a $100 million investment in the planning and design of $1 billion worth of spend,” he says.
This funding means Mahon is expecting to see “material differences” on the road within the next 12 to 18 months. These changes should include wide centre lines, overtaking lanes and the remediation of narrow bridges – all of which are part of the first $1 billion of road upgrades.
While this funding came at the same time as the Bruce flooded between Cardwell and Ingham once again, Mahon’s Bruce focus also extended to the second sitting of the Bruce Highway Advisory Council this week.
“These discussions held were excellent, and we were able to make contributions to these Bruce Highway upgrade priorities to evolve the road over the next couple of years,” he says.
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“It’s all good news for the Bruce, with the recent flooding showing that this work in a short time is vital.”
Mahon’s contributions centred around the northern sections of the Bruce, with flooding between Cardwell and Ingham showing that the weather-proof issues are intensified north of Townsville.
With this being the second time the road has been cut off north of Townsville in the past five weeks, he says patience is running thin for operators and communities in the area.
“In 2025, we should be able to do better, as people are fed up,” he says.
“It’s good to see the progress of works upgrading the Bruce from Gympie to Townsville, but now we need to do more north of Townsville to upgrade bridges and floodways.
“On top of this, we need some realignments and major pavement works. It’s a different outlook for the Bruce north of Townsville – the first priority is safety, but productivity is a close second for the freight industry.
“We also need to see more of a focus on a reliable second and third route in the region, such as the Kennedy Highway.”
Outside of this, Mahon is satisfied with the funding announced for the Rockhampton Ring Road. While his understand is that the project won’t be completed until 2029, he’s confident the changes made will be “substantial” when complete.
“The next round of discussions with the Bruce Highway Advisory Council will go into more detail around the provision of rest areas and their design, so that will be excellent progress,” he says.
“Alongside this, work on the Inland Freight Route is progressing to develop that secondary north-south corridor for heavy freight in Queensland. It’ll be tremendous when complete.”
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