Bauple group, TMR clash over $268m Tiaro Bypass plan

Residents of a small town affected by the $268m Tiaro Bypass fear the project poses safety risks for their community. See why they’re concerned.

Bauple Progress Association members Marianne Pink, Dani-Lee Kershaw, Lynne Stratford and Ron Stratford are claling for a review of the proposed design of the $268m Tiaro Bypass, saying there has been almost no consultation with the town and the plan has safety problems.

The state government has defended its consultation over the $268.1m Tiaro Bypass amid claims from residents of a nearby township they are being left out of the loop.

Members of the Bauple Progress Association say they feel like they are beating their heads against a brick wall over the bypass, which they believe will only create safety issues for their town located at the project’s southern end.

The group is calling for a review of the decision making around the proposed design, saying it has several problems.

Among these are it will block the northern Bauple Dr highway exit and instead funnel vehicles along a new service road to Tahiti Rd before sending them through Tiaro to access the highway north of Chinaman’s Creek.

This would force drivers to pass through three flood zones, it said.

A Transport Department spokesman said the Bauple community had been part of extensive consultation over the plans for the Tiaro Bypass and how traffic will access the highway from the township.

The group wanted wider consultation, saying in a media release local emergency services “had not been consulted”.

“We support the (idea of the) bypass entirely,” member Marianne Pink said.

“It’s about the safety of our community.”

She said the plan would still direct heavy traffic from Bauple, an agricultural region, through Tiaro.

A Transport Department spokesman defended the process saying it had “undertaken extensive consultation with Tiaro and surrounding communities, including Bauple … since 2019”.

This included “a project working group that includes two Bauple community members, project updates and flyers, a public meeting in Bauple, meetings with community representatives and public displays in Tiaro on 22, 23 and 24 July 2022”.

“We consulted Queensland Ambulance Service, Queensland Police Service and Queensland Fire Service in June 2022 and they had no concerns with the proposed design,” the spokesman said.

The Bauple Progress Association has said the design will build a service road in an area which floods once in 20 years, moving traffic from an area which only flooded once every 100 years.

The design was “developed by an expert team of engineers from a multinational company”, he said, and “subject to scrutiny by external specialists in road design, engineering, hydraulics, delivery risk, environment, pavement, and road operations”.

The design would direct traffic through Tiaro “although with significantly less traffic and congestion”.

‘The proposed service road would be built to withstand at least a one-in-20-year flood event,” he said.

“The service road’s location was constrained by the likely location of the future, four-lane Bruce Highway south of Tiaro and the need to minimise impacts on land owners.”

However the association said the service road’s location would move traffic from an area which flooded only once every 100 years into one which was five times more likely to be submerged.

“All we’re asking for is some consultation,” Ms Pink said.