Kuranda Range rapid crash response team flagged in Northern Tablelands transport study
The true impact of closures on the region’s most notorious range roads has been revealed on the eve of a landmark traffic study release.
Cairns
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THE true impact of closures on the region’s most notorious range roads has been revealed on the eve of a landmark traffic study release.
Advocacy groups have been eagerly awaiting publication of the Cairns to Northern Tablelands Access Strategy in the hope it would set out a concrete blueprint for some of the region’s most important transport routes.
The full study is finally set to be handed down on Friday with the triggers behind some of the Far North’s biggest traffic headaches to be brought to light.
The 25-year planning study looked at the four key transport corridors the Northern Tablelands – Mossman Mount Molloy Rd, the Kuranda Range Rd and Kennedy Highway to Mareeba, the Gillies Range Rd and the Palmerston Highway linking Innisfail to Ravenshoe.
It found there were 43 days where multiple range roads were closed on the same day from 2015-2019, and 19 times when both the Kuranda and Gillies routes were shut on the same day.
The Kuranda route was the most volatile with an average of 44 closures per year, each of which had an average duration of 6.6 hours.
However, Barron River MP Craig Crawford said the $1.6m study showed the existing Kuranda Range Rd was not yet operating at its capacity.
“New data shows the average travel time was 12 minutes from the top of the range to Smithfield” he said.
“Research found that 93 per cent of trips are within two minutes of the expected travel time.
“That’s a pretty good run on average.”
Mr Crawford acknowledge the route was far from perfect with delays invariably caused by crashes, vehicle breakdowns, landslides, fallen trees and cassowary strikes.
“Significantly the report shows there are on average 44 crashes a year on the Kuranda range, and the delay time to motorists is more than six hours,” he said.
The full report will set out the next steps for a long-term alternative route once capacity has been reached – but that is some time off.
In the meantime, a short-term solution has been identified – a Transport and Main Roads response recovery unit to be stationed at the base of the range at Smithfield.
“If there is a crash, breakdown or the road is blocked, a recovery vehicle could be quickly on scene to clear the road.
“It would reduce those delays from hours to minutes.’’
The study will not mandate the rapid response team but will call for an investigation into its feasibility as a key short and medium-term action.
The Gillies was shut 17 times per year with a delay of 5.3 hours for each closure on average .
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Originally published as Kuranda Range rapid crash response team flagged in Northern Tablelands transport study
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