Peak Downs Highway safety upgrade works completed
It’s dubbed the artery to the state’s economic engine room and now more than $18m in upgrades making the Peak Downs Highway safer have been completed, with more in the works.
Mackay
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More than $18m in upgrade works on the Peak Downs Highway have been completed in a major safety boost for the freight corridor to the Bowen Basin.
The extensive works between Eton and Mackay will help safeguard motorists travelling to the “principal freight corridor” to Central Queensland and its mines.
Works included widening sections, upgrading intersections and fixing roadside hazards and were funded through an 80:20 federal and state government partnership.
Despite the works, Capricornia MP Michelle Landry said she wanted more money for the highway.
“A lot of people travel along this road,” she said.
“The wealth of the nation comes along this road.
“This project complements several projects under way on the Peak Downs Highway, totalling more than $71m.
“This project is a fantastic example of our commitment to get Queenslanders home sooner and safer.”
The highway serves as the artery of the Mackay and Bowen Basin economy, funnelling fuel, fertiliser and explosives from the port to the pit and linking the Paget industrial estate with the mines.
Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert said maintaining safety was paramount and the widened roads were particularly welcome.
“There is always someone that wants to overtake,” she said.
Ms Gilbert said 58 local jobs were created during construction.
The completed works form part of the wider $71m commitment to improve the Peak Downs Highway that state Transport Minister Mark Bailey described as the “principal freight corridor” supplying the mines.
“It is also the principal corridor for drive-out mine workers,” he said.
“The project focused on high-priority sections between Mackay and Eton Township, about 26 kilometres west of the city.”
The federal and state governments funded the upgrades on an 80-20 split, part of a wider $71m commitment to improve the Peak Downs.
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