Kuranda Range closed twice in 12 hours due to accidents, as calls mount for an alternative
There are renewed calls for an alternative to the treacherous Kuranda Range Road after the major arterial thoroughfare was closed twice in 12 hours due to serious traffic crashes, with one MP declaring it “not fit for purpose”.
Cairns
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THERE are renewed calls for an alternative to the treacherous Kuranda Range Road after the major arterial thoroughfare was closed twice in 12 hours due to serious traffic crashes, with one MP declaring it “not fit for purpose”.
The Kuranda Range Road was closed for a total five hours in two separate incidents within the space of 12 hours over the afternoon of Boxing Day and the morning of December 27.
The latest spate of closures comes after a long spell of dry weather, with newly wet roads proving dangerously slippery.
Meanwhile, voices continue to call loudly for an alternative solution to the two-lane road traversing the Macalister Range.
The first incident occurred shortly after 4pm on Monday, with emergency services responding to a four-wheel drive which had jackknifed while towing a boat blocking both lanes of traffic and closing the road for a number of hours.
The second incident in the early morning hours of December 27 was the result of one of the main dangers of travelling up or down the range – falling trees.
A truck carrying four tonnes of chicken meat struck a large falling tree, blocking the road for more than two hours.
Luckily the driver was unharmed.
While motorists continue to get stuck in lines of traffic as a result of crashes and other hazards on the road, Far North leaders have renewed calls for a solution to an issue that is strangling the economic growth of the Tablelands by restricting the access of commercial transport.
Federal Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch has been pushing for $22m of the $210m committed by the Federal Government for safety upgrades of the Kuranda Range Road to be used to fund an options report analysing viable alternative routes up to the Tablelands.
“This bulls*** $210m to update safety is not going to change a thing. The road is not fit for purpose and will never be fit for purpose,” Mr Entsch said.
“The only solution is to find a new alternative.”
“We have requested $22 million of the funding to go towards a full business and engineering case to explore alternatives so that if a commitment comes we can commit to planning the first stage and move from there.”
Mr Entsch is sceptical any amount of funding will ever make the Kuranda Range Road fit for purpose.
“$210m spent on these mickey mouse safety things is going to do nothing whatsoever for connectivity and it is not going to improve one iota the access for one single B-double,” he said.
“Even if they could widen it you’re never going to be able to teach the cassowaries to run fast enough to avoid being floored.
“It will always be a local access road for the community to go through to Kuranda and Mareeba.
“It will be a very scenic tourism road but it will not meet the needs now and it hasn’t met the needs of our community for over 10-15 years.
“It should have been done decades before it should have been completed.
“It’s time to bite the bullet.”
Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (FNQROC) executive officer Darlene Irvine is supportive of investigating alternative routes up the range.
“We have been pushing for the $20m to be put towards the development study and the federal government has said they will do that if the request comes from the state,” Ms Irvine said.
“So we have asked the Minister to do that, I can't understand why he has not.”
Another key piece to the puzzle is an update to the FNQ Regional Plan which would incorporate the newest economic development growth data.
“They have started drafting it now but that will go into full fledge next year so the first six-nine months next year,” Ms Irvine said.
“The outcomes of that would change the data that is contained in the Cairns to Northern Tablelands Access Study.”
“The current regional plan has no economic development growth in it and so all of their data that informed it have come from the regional plan,” Ms Irvine said.
“And a new FNQ regional plan will change that.”
There is also a push for the Kuranda Range Road, among others, be added to the National Land Transport Network, which would assist the state government with planning and access to maintenance funding from the federal government.
Julie Battersby, owner of JumRum Place in Kuranda, has been using the range road for over 25 years.
She said that while it was a beautiful stretch of road, it can often catch people out if they aren't careful.
“It's a fantastic range and generally the driving of those using the range is pretty good and the safety measures in place are good enough,” she said.
“But people can still get caught out especially when the roads are slick.
“One issue is the diesel that is sometimes spilt, whether that's from normal spillage or something more, it can really catch people even if they are driving safely.”
Ms Battersby became used to what to expect when driving on the range during her commute into Cairns for work.
She did, however, have questions regarding the constant work on the Barron River Bridge.
“When there was reports of incidents it was usually a matter of waiting it out before making the trip,” she said.
“One thing I do have questions about is the bridge they have been working on it for two years and it would be good to know what is going on with it, whether it would be replaced or continually worked on.”
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