Bruce Highway: Greyhound bus latest to fall foul of ‘goat track’
A regional LNP politician has slammed the “appalling” condition of the Bruce Highway after a Greyhound bus bound for Brisbane crashed through a barrier and into a ditch in the early hours of Monday.
QLD Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A regional LNP politician has slammed the “appalling” condition of the Bruce Highway after a Greyhound bus bound for Brisbane crashed through a barrier and into a ditch in the early hours of Monday.
Pictures taken of the crash scene show the large bus tipped on a 90-degree angle on the side of the road near Gunalda, north of Gympie, with three of the 20 passengers on board taken to hospital with limb injuries.
The Courier-Mail has partnered with NRMA Insurance and regional news mastheads across Queensland this year to drive positive outcomes through the Help Our Highway advocacy campaign.
Among top items on the “finish the Bruce” list of demands is implementing dual carriageways – the notoriously narrow stretch home to a horrific number of fatal crashes each year.
Member for Gympie Tony Perrett said he had been calling for a proper Bruce Highway funding plan for years, with current planning and investment at least a decade behind.
“The Bruce is well over its design capacity and it needs to be a top priority for every level of government,” he said.
“After the Gympie bypass is complete, issues we have seen will be pushed north and create an absolute bottleneck; you’ll come off a beautiful 110km/h stretch to basically a goat track and that’s exactly where the bus crashed.
“And every time the highway closes, it affects the business flow in the state, it disrupts it significantly.”
A Bruce Highway shame report last week shows just 10 per cent of the road was regarded as safe under the Australian Road Assessment Program star rating, with the bus crash spot rated among the most dangerous stretches at just two out of five stars.
Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig said crashes were so frequent, it was discouraging migration.
“It’s happening far too often, particularly on that stretch of road,” he said.
“We’re grateful for the added lanes between Cooroy and Curra but when you get off, you are taking a step back in time for road safety.”
A former contractor, Mr Hartwig said the government needed to look into better funding models to help “march the highway forward”.
“Major contractors having these large active and inactive fees, it’s impacting progress and state funding ability,” he said. “Year-on-year funding for smaller stretches of road would make people know there’s consistent government attention rather than reacting after a series of serious or fatal crashes, and the planning would then be five years in front of the activity.
“If you’re a contractor and it gets too far you can pull out or relocate further up the road.”
Further north on Monday, a 41-year-old man died after a single-vehicle crash at Takilberan, 27km north of Gin Gin.
More Coverage
David Crisafulli declares he will fix the Bruce Hwy
David Crisafulli has declared, responding to a question from a Courier-Mail reader, that if the LNP wins goverment at the October 26 election, he can get the Bruce Hwy fixed.
How much are Queensland politicians paid?
With the election campaign now well under way we’re seeing a lot of our politicians out and about. But you might be wondering, just how much are they being paid?