Mackay council reveals plans to tackle Northern Beaches traffic woes via a duplication project
The Mackay Mayor has divulged how council plans to tackle the bugbear Mackay Bucasia Rd congestion as a new 15-year Transport Strategy is released.
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Upgrading one of the region’s most complained about roads for congestion is off the table for now, but plans are under way to tackle the traffic issue.
Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson said Transport and Main Roads had determined Mackay Bucasia Rd was not eligible for a major upgrade after finding peak hour traffic hit only twice daily.
But the council was working with the state government to address traffic issues on the main road linking the Mackay city to the booming Northern Beaches area.
He said the new Mackay Region Integrated Transport Strategy, adopted by the council and released on Wednesday, had longer term plans to ease congestion and commutes.
Cr Williamson said the council was hopeful state government funds of $150,000 would help develop plans to duplicate Mackay Bucasia Rd within the next five years.
“The good news is TMR is coming to the table,” Cr Williamson said.
“We will have a good interaction with TMR over the next 12 months so that we all understand what the time frame might be. At the moment we can’t say that.
“We don’t know where the duplication will be (but) we know there’s several opportunities.
“That might be the extension of Dawson Boulevard to hook into the extension of the Ring Road stage 2 and 3.
“It might also be Golf Links Rd around the back of the golf course.”
Cr Williamson said any plan must account for “bottlenecks” being created elsewhere with an overarching aim to spread traffic more evenly across all Pioneer River bridges.
“We are committed to fixing the problem,” he said.
The full transport strategy can be read via council’s website.
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