Mark Bailey says Bruce Highway better under Labor
Labor has defended its Bruce Highway record after a $42m bridge was rendered useless and hundreds were stranded as the road was cut at multiple points during this week’s floods.
Mackay
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The $42m bridge designed to improve access to Mackay’s major public hospital was yet again rendered useless after heavy rains flooded the Fursden Creek crossing just metres away.
When pressed on why this was still being allowed to occur almost 23 years after the replacement Edmund Casey Bridge was opened, Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the Labor Government had provided Mackay residents with alternative options like the Mackay Ring Road.
But the Ring Road exit ramp leads on to the Peak Downs Highway and from there the closest route to the Mackay Base Hospital is via Horse and Jockey Rd, and that was flooded during the weather event which delivered between 600mm and 1m of rain across the region.
And so, like three months after the Edmund first opened, and on many occasions since then, Mackay region residents still face longer routes to the hospital every time there is heavy rain.
Adding to frustrations is the Bruce Highway being cut off at multiple points between Townsville and Rockhampton during downpours, which occurred this week including at Bowen, just south of Proserpine, and Calen.
“I’ll be looking at the Bruce Highway in terms of where it was impacted with my staff and the Transport and Main Roads this afternoon,” Mr Bailey said.
“It’s important to be on the ground to see how things are.”
Mr Bailey rejected opposition leader David Crisafulli’s criticism the Bruce was in “absolutely farcical state”.
“We have 45 Bruce Highway upgrades on the ground happening at the moment,” he said.
“That compares to only four under Campbell Newman.”
Joining Mr Bailey with the Bruce Highway as their backdrop was Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert.
Mrs Gilbert said people were rejoicing in the return of the “wet season” which would get the paddocks ready for agricultural use.
“It’s good to see that our roads have held up as well as they have,” she said.
“Growing up just over in North Mackay, I can remember when you could always guarantee a couple of days at the start of the school year where you couldn’t get across the Gooseponds bridge but now look at these wonderful bridges that we’ve got here.”
Mrs Gilbert said “hundreds of millions of dollars” had been invested in the region including on the Mackay Northern Access Upgrade and the Ring Road.
She did address the potholes – which are claiming tyres, rims, and in some cases totalling cars, saying TMR crews were actively working to repair them.
“We have been improving our roads across Queensland as we have those funding negotiations with the federal government to be able to look at the Bruce Highway … to make sure that we can continue to upgrade those roads … it’s very expensive.”
Mrs Gilbert said she remembered having the conversations with former Dawson MP George Christensen whose image was splashed on billboards along the highway.
“Now that we’ve got a new member (Andrew Willcox) maybe we can get things moving,” she said.
Mr Willcox released a statement saying Labor had “failed to make a firm funding commitment” to the Bruce.
Mr Bailey said it “should be interesting to see what his colleagues think of that comment,” stating it “seems like Andrew Willcox has gone rogue” like his predecessor.
Mr Bailey slammed the LNP’s decade of inaction and funding cuts.
The joint federal and state Bruce Highway Upgrade Program is slated to deliver $13 billion of works over a 15 year period from 2013 to 2027.
Yet how all the slices of the highway funds pie will be divvied out remains to be seen.
“We’ve got a business case in terms of improvements of the Bruce north of Mackay around Proserpine and that sort of area,” Mr Bailey said.
“It’s a very flat area and very complex hydrology.”
Mr Bailey said the business case would be finalised this year.
“Whenever we get extreme weather events, roads will be cut,” he said.
“We are a state of extreme weather.
“And we are upgrading (the Bruce Highway) in a way that no previous government ever has before.”
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