Gympie Connection Rd to shut as Gympie Bypass progresses

Drivers are being warned to find an alternate route for the next few weeks with a major arterial into Gympie from the Cooloola Coast temporarily closing.

Drivers headed between Gympie and the coast are being warned to seek an alternate route with the Gympie Connection Rd to be shut as works continue on the $1billion Gympie Bypass.

Closure of the road, which links Victory Heights and Veteran with the Tin Can Bay Rd, will be in two stages, starting late June and remaining partially closed until mid-July.

The closures will allow for construction of two 130m dual-lane bridges across the Gympie Connection Rd.

A section of the road at Victory Heights will be upgraded in the works, too.

The Gympie Connection Rd between Browns Rd and Tin Can Bay Rd will be shut from Saturday, June 24 to Sunday, July 9.

The first stage of the closures will block access to Gympie Connection Rd between Browns Rd and Tin Can Bay Rd from Saturday, June 24 to Sunday, July 9.

Access will remain open via Ascot Rd (which becomes Goomboorian Rd), with the crossover to be reduced to a single lane.

A portion of the Gympie Connection Rd will also remain shut to traffic from Sunday July 9 to Sunday July 16.

“The required work involves removing and replacing a concrete drainage culvert on Gympie Connection Road near the Ascot and Old Goomboorian Roads intersection, and completing an upgrade of the intersection, including median and kerbing works, installation of lighting, traffic signals and permanent signage,” Wide Bay federal LNP MP Llew O’Brien said on Thursday.

“Traffic control will remain on Gympie Connection Road following this work to ensure motorists and roadworkers are safe while work continues in the area.”

The section of Gympie Connection Rd between Tin Can Bay Rd and its intersection with Ascot and Goomboorian roads will reopen from July 9.

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The stretch running west from this intersection to Browns Rd will stay shut for a further week, reopening on July 16.

The current works, Section D, which is the four lane 26km realignment of the Bruce Highway between Cooroy and Curra, is set to open in mid-2024 and will bypass Gympie, eliminating eight sets of traffic lights.

“$800m was allocated for the Gympie Bypass in 2018 by the former Coalition Government because the Cooroy to Curra section of the Bruce Highway is rated as one of the deadliest along our national highway.”