Qld govt reveals details on plan for four-lane Bruce Hwy from Gympie to Maryborough
The Qld government has revealed details about the long-demanded four-lane upgrade of the Bruce Hwy north of Gympie as a shadow hangs over funding for the fix.
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Plans for a long-demanded four-lane upgrade to the “appalling” Bruce Hwy north of Gympie are one step closer to reality, but funding for the key project remains nowhere to be found.
Labor Transport Minister Bart Mellish said Friday, in response to a question on notice, preliminary investigations for the stretch have been completed.
The question now was where the money was to come from, with Mr Mellish saying the upgrade would be “considered during future program reviews and against competing statewide priorities”.
“As such, time frames are unable to be provided,” Mr Mellish said.
Mr Mellish’s comments were in response to a question from Gympie LNP MP Tony Perrett in April asking if detailed design work for the stretch had been completed, and what time frames existed around elements of the project which were not yet finished.
Mr Perrett asked a similar question of the state in March 2023.
Then-Transport Minister Mark Bailey said at the time the Transport Department had “completed early planning to understand better the physical constraints and opportunities for a four-lane highway”.
“However, no funding is currently available for detailed planning, or design work for this section of the highway,” Mr Bailey said.
The question of funding is further complicated by the federal government’s push for a more equitable 50-50 split with state governments on infrastructure projects.
This is instead of the previous 80-20 arrangement which existed on developments including the $1 billion Gympie Bypass.
The condition of the highway, and urgent need for its upgrade, was at the centre of a statewide campaign by The Gympie Times, Fraser Coast Chronicle and other News Corp mastheads calling for urgent funding to fix one of the nation’s most dangerous roads.
State government data released under Right to Information in 2023 revealed the road was in “appalling” condition.
Eight lives have been lost along this stretch of the Bruce Hwy in the last three years.
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