No clear plan for upgrade of Cunningham Highway three years after Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack committed $170m to project

The Cunningham Highway upgrade “people have been waiting a generation for” is no closer to becoming a reality with increasing development bringing more and more cars and trucks onto the much-maligned stretch of road.

The battle to fix the stretch of the Cunningham Highway between Yamanto and Ebenezer Creek, including the overhaul of key intersections at Yamanto and Amberley has been a long one.

THE Ipswich highway upgrade “people have been waiting a generation for” is no closer to becoming a reality with increasing development bringing more and more cars and trucks onto the much-maligned stretch of road.

It has been almost three years since Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack committed $170 million of federal funding to upgrade the stretch of the Cunningham Highway between Yamanto and Ebenezer Creek, including the overhaul of key intersections at Yamanto and Amberley.

The state government did not stump up the cash to match it, arguing the funding should be split 80/20 and not straight down the middle as it is a national route.

George Hatchman and Chad Hayes of the Willowbank Area Residents Group next to the Cunningham Highway.

A 2012 business case for the project was withdrawn by the state government from Infrastructure Australia five years later.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads says a new business case is expected to be finished by early next year but only for an “interim upgrade solution” of the Ipswich Rosewood Rd intersection at Amberley.

Getting the upgrade completed has been a long and exhausting battle for community champion Ian Dainer.

The Willowbank Area Residents Group secretary said the government published a detailed plan of the proposed upgrade more than 20 years ago and residents were still waiting.

“It included a very large traffic diversion at the Willowbank intersection that fed into what’s called the western corridor, which is a proposed dual lane road that runs between the Cunningham Highway and Warrego Highway,” he said.

“That would divert trucks heading to Toowoomba and onto Darwin so they wouldn’t have to go all the way down to River Road which is what they do at the moment.

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“Those plans were displayed publicly and there was some reasonable public consultation and meetings.

“Over the next 10 years at least we probably had another three or four iterations of that plan.

“Come to 2012 we were told a business case was being prepared.

“The federal government argued while it is a national highway and therefore their responsibility, it runs through an urban road so the traditional 80/20 split which is how national roads are funded should be a 50/50 split. That’s where the matter has sat.”

Mr Dainer said the “argie-bargie” between the two levels of government was risking lives with accidents a “monthly occurrence” and fatal crashes in the past.

He said the whole stretch of the highway needed an overhaul and not just the clogged Amberley intersection.

“In 2014 (Department of Transport and Main Roads) found $1 million in their bottom drawer about a month before the end of the financial year and spent it on that intersection,” Mr Dainer said.

“We got them to come and look at what a disastrous outcome their upgrade had been. When they came out and saw it they spent another $1 million and pulled it all down.

WAG secretary Ian Dainer.

“They promptly went and dig it all up and put it back to what it was.

“You can’t fix the intersection and ignore the rest of the road.”

Mr Dainer said about 17,000 vehicles a day go past the Amberley intersection with about 11,000 turning into RAAF Base Amberley or the army’s heavy vehicle training school.

More waste facilities proposed for the area would only put more trucks on the road. Lantrak’s proposal would add an extra 350 B-double trucks.

“Add to that the base now has 7000 uniforms and civilians and that’s expected to climb,” he said.

Federal Blair MP Shayne Neumann said the state and federal governments needed to sit down and talk about how they can work together to fund the upgrade.

“We’ve spent about $1.3 billion on the RAAF Base at Amberley and we haven’t fixed the road outside,” the Member for Blair said.

“It’s a roadblock on the economic development in our region.

“It’s terrible for the livelihoods, lifestyles and the health and safety of our people.

“It needs to get done.”

Blair MP Shayne Neumann.

Mr Neumann said some of the $170 million allocated by the federal government in 2018 has now been used for other road infrastructure repair work.

“The Deputy Prime Minister needs to sit down with the Minister for Transport and Main Roads (Mark Bailey) up here in Queensland and sort this issue out,” he said.

“It can’t go on forever.

“It’s a pinch point. The cost is about $45 million a year in terms of lost productivity.

“There’s thousands of trucks that go through that area. People bank up on that road for ages and little roads and other roads around there get clogged as well.

“It’s an absolute necessity to get this road done.”

A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesperson said the state and federal governments approved funding for a $1.65 million business case to establish an “interim upgrade solution” for the Cunningham Highway-Ipswich Rosewood Road intersection at Amberley in April last year.

“This business case is underway and expected to be complete by early 2022,” they said.

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“The Australian and Queensland Governments have also committed $212.5 million in joint funding (80:20 federal:state) for upgrades to the Cunningham Highway, including various safety works and future improvement projects.”

These include: $25 million for the Eight Mile intersection upgrade at Glengallan, $28 million for delivery of Cunningham Highway safety packages, $20 million for future planning on the corridor, including at Amberley and $139.5 million for delivering future priorities on the Cunningham Highway.

“Funding for further priorities on the Cunningham Highway, including at Yamanto, Willowbank and Amberley, will be informed by the $20 million planning package,” the spokesperson said.

“Project details, timing and potential for the planning and safety packages is subject to ongoing negotiation between the Australian and Queensland governments.

“Negotiations will accommodate the surrounding land use development, including expansion at the Amberley Airforce base.”

Scenic Rim MP Jon Krause said the stretch of highway was the “number one issue” for local residents.

“The worst thing of all is people have been waiting for a generation for this part of the highway to be upgraded,” he said.

“We’re still no closer to seeing a shovel ready plan come out of the Queensland Government. I think that’s an absolute disgrace that the state continues to drag its feet on designing, costing and funding an upgrade let alone the ideal upgrade that was first spoken of.

“The federal government is delivering a significant amount of funding at the moment for infrastructure.

Scenic Rim MP Jon Krause, Wright MP Scott Buchholz and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack in 2018.

“A lot of that is being delivered on a use it or lose it basis.

“I’m concerned with the way the Palaszczuk Government and the Labor party are going, the funding that’s presently on the table could be lost.

“There’s nearly $150 million on the table from the federal government at the moment for the Cunningham Highway, the state must make an upgrade through that section of the road a priority.”

Mr Krause said before last year’s state election he was told in a briefing with department officials that a concept for a different upgrade of the highway was due to be released to the public at the start of the year.

“After the election I had another briefing in December and that process is apparently being delayed,” he said.

“They need to get on with it.

“The RAAF growth and the (three dump applications before the council) will lead to more and more trucks going in there.

“There’s a new quarry that’s been approved in the Scenic Rim which will put even more heavy vehicles through that highway.

“The Queensland Labor Government is trying to push ahead and develop an industrial park on land it owns at Ebenezer.

“They’re failing to deliver anything when it comes to the highway but on the other hand they’re trying to push more development onto the highway.

“Ipswich City Council needs to make it clear to the state that if the state wants to develop at Ebenezer it first needs to fix the road. Ipswich City Council is the assessing body for that.”

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as No clear plan for upgrade of Cunningham Highway three years after Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack committed $170m to project