Barron River bridge to be cut to one lane as debate rages

The troubled Barron River bridge at Kuranda will be cut to one lane for at least three months as state and federal politicians war over a long-term fix – with tangible evidence for options yet to be produced.

Debate is raging over future transport options from Mareeba to Cairns – while the troubled Barron River bridge is again set to become a bottleneck.

It will be cut to one lane from January 31 to sometime in March.

State Member for Barron River Craig Crawford confirmed the bridge, built in 1963, on the Kennedy Highway at Kuranda would again be reduced to one lane, for “monitoring and testing”.

Commuters faced major headaches for a year with the bridge cut to one lane before it reopened last October.

The Kennedy Highway bridge over the Barron River, near the town of Kuranda. It will be reduced to one lane from January 31. Picture: Brendan Radke

FNQ Growers and Mareeba Chamber of Commerce president Joe Moro said the lane closure was disappointing.

He said the northern Tablelands deserved a safe, efficient and reliable transport network.

“Impacts such as the temporary lane closure greatly impact all sectors,” Mr Moro said.

“There are many options on the table currently, including the Bridle Track.

“We appreciate an investigation and assessment of any project to provide alternative routes to the Kennedy Highway, between Mareeba and Cairns, is a significant undertaking, that comes with the need for significant investment.

“However, the communities on the northern Tablelands, and areas to the west and south, deserve confidence to grow and develop.”

Mr Crawford said Transport and Main Roads (TMR) had started “a planning study to investigate long-term solutions for the Barron River bridge”.

Mr Crawford said the findings of a detailed $1.6m study by TMR into the best way to improve access between Cairns and the Tablelands would be released this month.

Traffic regularly banked up on the approach to the Barron River bridge for a year while TMR undertook investigations on it. Picture: Brian Cassey

The report would look at all routes between Cairns and the Tablelands, including the Palmerston Highway, Gillies Range Rd, Kennedy Highway, Mossman-Mt Molloy Rd and alternatives – but Transport Minister Mark Bailey won’t say when the report will be made public.

Federal MP for Kennedy Bob Katter has vehemently maintained a new highway to the Tablelands, dubbed the Bridle Track, should be built.

Mr Katter said the proposed Bridle Track Highway would be a fast, heavy transport route and cut the commute from the Tablelands to Cairns by 30 minutes.

“One minute the bridge isn’t safe, then they say it is safe, and now they’re not sure again and are doing more testing,” Mr Katter said.

“We’re well into the second year of the Barron River Bridge being a liability, causing major headaches for motorists, tourism operators and businesses.

“The Bridle Track involves 16 kilometres of road from the Davies Creek turn off to the tunnel entrance, costing $32m and a 1-2km tunnel through the range costing $600m.

State MP for Barron River Craig Crawford says a $1.6m study into future options for the Barron River bridge will be produced late this year. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled.

“Coming out of the tunnel on the Cairns southern suburbs side, there will be an overpass onto the Bruce Highway costing $400m – so, there’s no way the total project would cost any more than $1.5b,” Mr Katter said.

But Transport Minister Mark Bailey slammed the Bridle Track proposal, saying it would plough through Dindin National Park.

“He must be dreaming if he thinks a new highway carving through a Far North Queensland national park will ever happen,” Mr Bailey said.

“Whacking a dirty big highway through the middle of it would be ‘Joh-style’ environmental vandalism at its worst.

“Has Mr Katter engaged a reputable planning or design consultancy to do real groundwork to base his figures or is he just pulling them out of his very large hat,” he said.

Originally published as Barron River bridge to be cut to one lane as debate rages