Bruce Highway Gympie Bypass opens to Qld traffic

Thousands of cars vanished from the centre of Gympie overnight, with the final section of the Cooroy to Curra Bruce Highway Bypass opening the day after the polls, and 15 years after construction began. See the videos:

Thousands of noisy, smelly cars and trucks vanished from Gympie overnight as the $1.162 billion final section of the Bruce Highway Bypass opened just in time to celebrate the city’s 157th birthday.

It also coincided with the second day of pre-polling in the state election, something not unnoticed on social media.

Concrete barriers blocking access to the new 26km stretch and sheets covering exit route signs came down after midnight, with late night travellers the first to drive on the new route running east of the city.

Two videos shot five days apart on the “Old” Bruce Hwy between Lake Alford and the Channon St intersection revealed a 55 per cent reduction in traffic volume.

Where 285 cars can be counted headed south through Gympie on Friday, October 11, only 128 can be seen in the video filmed Wednesday morning, the day of the opening.

Those who shifted their route out of the city are saving on time.

Driving from the Bypass’s northern end to its southern takes about 16 minutes, shaving about 10 minutes (depending on traffic light stops) off the original trip through the city.

The long-awaited final section of the Cooroy to Curra Bruce Highway Bypass finally opened on Wednesday after four years of construction.

Its opening ends a four-year construction period, with eyes now turning to the next needed upgrade: the Tiaro Bypass, about 40km north of where the Gympie Bypass ends.

There are not yet known any plans to upgrade the Bruce Hwy between Curra and Tiaro but construction of the four-lane Tiaro Bypass is mooted to start in early 2025.

The Gympie Bypass opening was celebrated online with multiple posts of jubilation, and some noting it coincided with the date James Nash wrote his letter to claim a viable gold field near the Mary River on October 16, 1867 – the date Gympie was founded.

For some it was a welcome change.

Traffic on the Old Bruce Highway running through the city dropped by more than half, with congestion no longer a problem at several of the city’s major intersections regularly known to cause delays.

“There are a lot of happy truck drivers getting around today,” Steve Toyer said.

Graeme Jensen was optimistic about the future, saying “Gympie will be a boom town again, just wait for the rush”.

“All the businesses will be more accessible with less congestion.”

Evelyn Bonnick was less enthused, fearing the city would “die just like the Nambour business centre did”.

Eyes were already on what new traffic bottlenecks might now emerge in the city.

“Stewart Tce and Old Maryborough Rd intersection was already a nightmare and just going to be 100 times worse now,” Barbara Gwillim said.

The 26km-long stretch runs east of Gympie, and shaves about 10 minutes off the drive between Traveston and Gunalda.

The intersection was one of several roads identified by the Gympie Regional Council and Transport Department as potential headaches from newly redirected vehicles.

Julian Landsmith pointed to another obvious issue, saying the failure to upgrade a single-lane rail overbridge at Hall Rd ahead of the Bypass opening was “ludicrous”.

Taya Vick took another view on what the Bypass meant for the city.

“Peace and quiet,” she said.

In a released statement, Federal LNP MP Llew O’Brien, who was instrumental in bringing the Bypass forward by five years, said the opening was a win for drivers who could now “travel safely on this new section”.

“This is literally groundbreaking infrastructure that has now transformed one of the deadliest sections of the Bruce Highway into one of the safest,” Mr O’Brien said.

MP Keith Pitt, former Deputy PM Michael McCormack, Wide Bay Burnett News Corp editor Shelley Strachan and MP Llew O'Brien celebrate at the announcement of the Bypass funding in 2018.

“This four lane divided highway will improve Gympie’s amenity by removing heavy haulage from the town’s centre and benefit everyone travelling between Cooroy and Tiaro, and beyond.

“Securing funding for this project wasn’t an easy win.”

Mr O’Brien thanked several people whose efforts he said were crucial to delivering the road, including former transport minister Michael McCormack, Hinkler MP Keith Pitt, retired police forensic crash investigator Steve Webb, and Wide Bay Burnett News Corp editor Shelley Strachan.

“I worked with the community, including people who shared their own personal experiences along this notorious stretch to take the case to then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and treasurer Scott Morrison.

“Sadly, it took the tragic toll of crashes and serious injuries to win the fight, and today more than six years after the funding was announced, I remember them and their families for their losses,” Mr O’Brien said.

“We can all now travel safely on this new section, but the danger of the Bruce Highway in Wide Bay will remain for so long as we have unforgiving lanes of opposing directions of traffic travelling at speed without concrete barrier separation.”