Bruce Highway: Infrastructure Minister says road could be complete one day

While bickering over the funding split between state and federal governments continues, Australia’s Infrastructure Minister says she believes the Bruce Highway could be complete one day.

The Bruce Highway could be completed one day, Australia’s Infrastructure Minister has declared, despite the federal government refusing to budge on a detrimental funding decision.

Upgrades on the Bruce Highway had previously been funded by the federal and state governments on an 80:20 agreement, but this was reduced to 50:50 after an infrastructure review last year.

Pressure has been building on the federal government to overturn the funding split decision as the death toll on the 1700km road creeps up to more than 40 in the past 12 months.

But Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King ruled out any change to the controversial 50:50 funding split decision, saying it was needed to “equally” share the risks of a major project with the state and ensure proper planning was done along the way.

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“We’re not reducing the amount of money that we’re putting in. What we’re asking is states to match that amount of money,” Ms King said.

The state’s peak motoring body RACQ warned the 50:50 funding split for new projects on the Bruce Highway would force the state government to pick and choose between future upgrades, leading to potentially deadly consequences.

Ms King’s refusal to budge on the 50:50 funding split decision comes despite her belief the Bruce Highway could “absolutely” be complete one day.

“We are absolutely committed to fixing the highway, to improving the safety of the highway,” she said.

“It’s why we’ve got $10bn on the table and we will keep working with the Queensland Labor Government to make sure we fix this road.

“We have stated very clearly our preference is for 50:50 funding. We’ve said that for over a year now.”

Recovery works on the Bruce Highway where an ammonium nitrate truck exploded near Bororen. Photo – TMR

Premier Steven Miles said the state government had been “very clear” it expected the Australian Government to “properly fund” the Bruce Highway by recommitting to an 80:20 funding split.

Unlike Ms King, Mr Miles said the government would “never be done with building the Bruce”.

A horror weekend of crashes on the Bruce Highway resulted in the death of a 22-year-old woman in the Whitsundays on Sunday and 17-year-old Broc Dawson and a motorcyclist in the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

On August 31 a section of the Bruce Highway at Bororen, south of Gladstone, was shut for days after a horror chemical truck crash led to a fiery explosion that killed one man and left a huge crater in the road.

The Bruce Highway is the biggest carrier of traffic in the state. It is also the longest highway in Australia at about 1700km — a distance equivalent to driving from Paris to Naples.