Exclusive: Survey unveils urgent need for Bruce Highway real-time alerts

Queenslanders have had their say on what fixes they want for the Bruce Highway with wet weather a major concern for many.

• Towns cut off ‘every two weeks’ by rain
• Big win delivered for road safety

More than three quarters of Queenslanders want real-time weather, flood and pothole warnings on the Bruce Highway, according to exclusive polling which also reveals one in three people have been held up by floodwaters on the notorious stretch.

It comes as community leaders along the 1700km horror stretch call for more funding to weatherproof the highway, with even a “medium amount of rain” closing some sections north of Mackay for hours – or worse, days.

The polling, conducted by NRMA Insurance on behalf of The Courier-Mail and its sister mastheads across the state for the Help our Highway campaign, found 59 per cent of Queenslanders had been impacted by extreme weather on the Bruce.

Shockingly, 70 per cent agreed the Bruce was not resilient to extreme weather and only 54 per cent believed damage caused by floods and rain had been repaired.

Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson has blasted the section of the highway between Mackay and Proserpine at Goorganga Plains as “atrocious in the 21st century” and called on the state and federal governments to “get their act together” and fix it.

“With a medium amount of rain a highway that carries the economy of Queensland will do underwater and not just little bits and pieces, but significant amounts of it,” Mr Williamson said.

“In this day and age to have that happen on a national highway between two very large and very prosperous centres in Queensland is just crazy.”

In January 2023, 12 sections of the Bruce Highway were cut due to severe weather.

The highway at Goorganga Plains was cut for four days following torrential rain and hundreds of people, including truck drivers, families and tourists, were stranded.

Gavin Steel’s house is at the start of the Plains on the Proserpine side and knows all too well the impact rain has on the road.

“When it floods I have traffic backed up to Proserpine and I have ladies coming to my house to use the toilet because they’ve got nowhere to go,” the 52-year-old said.

“Every time it rains … I make sure that I have the toilet ready for them.”

In mid 2023 a $15m business case, jointly funded by the federal and state government on an 80:20 basis, to preserve a corridor at Goorganga Plains was finalised.

A Transport and Main Roads spokesman said the business case assessed and recommended delivery options including identifying land requirements to upgrade the highway at the Goorganga Floodplain and was “subject to Australian Government approval”.

The Courier-Mail is partnering with NRMA Insurance and regional news mastheads across Queensland this year to drive positive outcomes through the Help Our Highway advocacy campaign.

TMR confirmed repairs to sections of the Bruce Highway damaged by natural disaster events since 2021–22 are expected to cost approximately $30 million.

The TMR spokeswoman said the 2021–22 season was the most significant disaster season experienced since the 2010–11 floods, with a number of flood-prone areas along the 1600km causing “severe traffic disruption”.

Repairs are currently underway on sections between Gympie and St Lawrence following four severe floods that impacted southern Queensland between November 2021 and May 2022.

NRMA Insurance Executive Manager Natural Perils Mark Leplastrier said as extreme weather became more frequent and severe, the impact on homes and infrastructure was significant.

“The 2016 Building Resilient Infrastructure Report found that critical infrastructure is highly vulnerable to and a major casualty of natural disasters. Repairing or replacing infrastructure after a natural disaster can be costly and difficult and worsen the recovery for impacted communities,” he said.

Heavy vehicles were allowed through earlier this morning with flood levels at Plantation Creek spilling across the Bruce Highway.

Queensland Bruce Highway cut by flooding. Source: Twitter/@GregBray1

“Embedding resilience in the planning process for critical infrastructure such as the Bruce Highway could help to prevent unnecessary disruption for Queenslanders and significantly reduce disaster recovery costs in the future.

“Queenslanders have also identified a need to utilise technology to help keep motorists safer, voting real time weather, flooding and pothole warnings as the top technology solution.”

Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto has long pushed for urgent floodproofing measures at four separate locations north of Ingham, including Gairloch and the Dallachy Rd area south of Tully.

He said is was inconceivable why the two fully funded projects were yet to start, with heavy rainfall often severing the highway, leaving motorists stranded.

A tiny stretch of the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Cairns known locally as the “S-bends” is continually a problem, Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo said.

Transport and Main Roads, in a statement mirroring one made in 2022, confirmed that “planning has commenced” on the Gairloch Floodway safety-improvement project at the flood- and accident-prone black spot just north of Ingham.

“The project scope, cost and timing are subject to further planning, consideration and negotiation with the Australian Government,” the statement said.

Mr Jayo revealed that he himself had nearly come to grief at the same spot after heavy rains after attending Dawn Service on Anzac Day.

Drone images of flooding at Thompson's Creek on the Bruce Highway looking north. Photos: Robert Murolo

“I hit water there hard … I experienced a situation there and I communicated that to police immediately as it was a dangerous situation,” he said.

“It was pitch black, there was no moon or stars because of the torrential rain and the water, you couldn’t see it; I’ll tell you what, it knocked me around.”

“I don’t know why it’s happening but the tendency for accidents is increasing.”