Bruce Hwy alternative inland route between Cairns and Mackay labelled ‘bananas’

Truckies were being told to travel a 26-hour, 2300km route to get goods from Mackay to Cairns following wild weather as leaders call for a better way. See the map.

The Bruce Hwy has been completely cut in half at Ollera Ck, between Mutarnee and Balgal Beach

For the price of a “round of drinks” in government spending terms, a major vulnerability in Far North Queensland’s road infrastructure could be addressed, while also wiping about 1000km off an alternative 26-hour inland route.

The region’s vulnerability has again been exposed with severe flooding cutting off the both the Bruce Hwy in multiple locations, but also simultaneously impacting back-up inland routes.

While the state government moves to provide emergency fuel, electricity and food to the hardest hit communities such as Ingham, much of the Far North, which avoided the worst of recent weather, has become a casualty of the flood-prone routes, resulting in empty supermarket shelves for a number of days.

It comes as the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator on Tuesday morning advised trucking companies of its proposed route for operators looking to travel between Mackay and Cairns.

What would ordinarily be about a 740km, 10-hour trip, was dragged out to 2300km and 26 hours non-stop.

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator on Tuesday, February 5, was advising operators of this 2300km route between Mackay and Cairns.

It advised heavy vehicles headed north to travel west from Mackay to Clermont, up to Charters Towers and out to Cloncurry and then up to Normanton, before returning east to Cairns.

The advice was later updated with the reopening of the Gregory Developmental Rd, which connects Charters Towers back to the Kennedy Hwy.

On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, heavy vehicles looking to move between Mackay and Cairns were being advised of an alternative route which included travelling as far west as Cloncurry and Normanton.

Advance Cairns chair Nick Trompf said for the price of “a round of drinks” the region’s “inland freight route” could be sured up with the completion of the Kennedy Developmental Rd between Hughenden and The Lynd.

“There’s 10.8km remaining to seal at the White Cliff’s realignment, and it would cost $30m,” he said.

“The Prime Minister will recall this road began when he was Infrastructure Minister (in the previous Labor Government) and it’s a project that’s been phased out over a long period of time, but we’re seeing now why it needs immediate works.

“They could have that complete before the next wet season.”

Mr Trompf said despite part of the road being dirt, it had been reported to him some trucks were still driving the Kennedy Developmental Rd, which was also becoming “a bog” with recent rain.

Advance Cairns' 2024-25 federal budget submission calls for the completion of the Kennedy Developmental Road (Hann Hwy), which requires about 10.8km of sealing works at a cost of $30m.

“Not only would sealing the road give us year-round all weather access, but Melbourne is also the biggest market for our produce, this would cut the travel time and distance significantly for our producers.”

The completion of the Kennedy Developmental Rd would cut the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s proposed alternative route by 1300km and 14 hours, on an inland trip from Mackay to Cairns.

“I don’t know the genesis of their route, but if that’s what they’re proposing, that’s farcical,” Mr Trompf said.

Cairns Regional Council Division 9 Councillor Brett Olds said while the heavy vehicle regulator was just doing its job, he described the alternative proposed route as “bananas”.

“I’ve driven to Canberra in 26 hours, it’s ridiculous because if this flood was just a one off a thing that would be different, but this is happening every year,” he said.

Cairns Division 9 Councillor Brett Olds has labelled the alternative inland heavy vehicle route for trucks to move between Mackay and Cairns as bananas. Picture: Arun Singh Mann

“We want to be promoting population growth here, you can’t not have food, it’s not a luxury, it’s essential, this is third world.”

Mr Olds said he was feeling buoyed by the language Premier David Crisafulli had been using around “betterment” of infrastructure post-flooding, but called for greater visionary thinking.

“He (the Premier) is thinking about betterment from the issues impacting the Bruce Hwy right now, how can those bridges be built back better.

“My interpretation is a little different – we’ve got fresh produce on the Tablelands trying to get to Melbourne and back, while we’ve also got range roads closing every day, how does that make sense?

“Where’s the all-weather range access, where’s the visionary leaders? If you keep looking at return on investment or population sizes you’ll never get these projects; look at the road from Cloncurry to Brisbane because they needed to get their cattle out back in the day, that wasn’t off ROIs, that was vision.

Cattle trucks slowed to pass through the mob of 1500 steers on the Gregory Developmental Road being led by Bill Little and his droving team from Charters Towers to Moura. Picture: Trudy Brown

“And while we’re talking about betterment, we’ve got the Bradfield Scheme – all this annual rainfall could droughtproof Queensland, but where is that vision?”

The remaining unsealed section of the Kennedy Developmental Rd falls into the Flinders Shire Council with Mayor Kate Peddle stating inland communities couldn’t “help out a mate” due to the unsealed road.

“If the Bruce Hwy is cut, business is impacted, supply chains suffer, and inland communities lose the ability to support the coast. Right now, if they go down, we go down,” she said.

“Given the recent funding allocation of $7.2bn for Bruce Hwy upgrades, Flinders

Shire Council is urging all levels of government to also invest in strengthening alternative

routes.”

The unsealed, gravel section of the Kennedy Developmental Rd within the Flinders Shire Council, north of Hughenden.

It comes as just last week, prior to the flooding, Infrastructure Australia removed the inland freight route as well as the Gulf Developmental Rd, the Kennedy Hwy and Developmental Rd and the Gregory Development Rd from its priority list.

All three roads have suffered flooding this week, with Etheridge Shire Mayor Barry Hughes stating the Gulf Development Rd would now likely be closed for a number of days with flooding at the Etheridge River and the Gilbert River.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King defended Infrastructure Australia’s decision while noting the advisory body was independent of government and did not represent the Commonwealth’s fiscal decisions.

“No funding has been cut from Queensland. The Infrastructure Priority List has not been finalised and the newly elected Queensland Government can provide input and advice to Infrastructure Australia on additional projects to inform the priority list,” she said.

Kennedy MP Bob Katter said he had “significant hope that this ludicrous decision will be overturned” while calling on the Prime Minister to complete the highway he had started as Infrastructure Minister.

He also called for a diversion of waters in the upper Herbert River to be chanelled away from the coast, claiming without this change, the Bruce Hwy would continue to be flooded north of Ingham.

Woolworths stores across Cairns have been left bare from the transport delays. Photo: Dylan Nicholson

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Woolworths said about 20 pallets of goods were flown up from Brisbane to Cairns, with the assistance of the Australian Defence Force.

“We are working with local suppliers across milk, fruit, veg and meat to coordinate deliveries direct to our stores where possible, and we remain in constant contact with the State Government and emergency services to prioritise deliveries for the impacted area.”

He said temporary purchase limits of two packs per transaction had been placed on toilet paper, rice, bread, noodles, deli products and poultry products at Woolworths stores from Mackay north, including Charters Towers.

Originally published as Bruce Hwy alternative inland route between Cairns and Mackay labelled ‘bananas’