Dangerously underfunded and outdated: Bruce Hwy upgrade could take decades
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to reveal a long-term plan to fix the Bruce Highway, as crews work to repair a section after a devastating chemical explosion.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to reveal a long-term plan to fix the Bruce Highway or commit to a date on when it would be finished, after three Queenslanders were killed on the dangerously underfunded and outdated road this week.
It follows a horror chemical explosion on the highway at Bororen, south of Gladstone, on Friday, where a truck carrying ammonium nitrate collided with a ute, killing the driver and closing the highway until at least Monday – and potentially longer.
The section of road has an abysmal two-star safety rating, prompting calls for an urgent upgrade plan and funding commitment from the federal government to finally fix the Bruce.
But Queenslanders could be waiting decades for the Bruce Highway to reach national safety standards, despite major federal roads in other states, including the Hume and the Pacific Highways receiving dual carriageway upgrades years ago.
Speaking in Brisbane on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to tell Queenslanders when safety upgrades to the 1700km deadly stretch would be finished, saying it was the state government’s job to tell the commonwealth what to prioritise.
“The Commonwealth Government doesn’t manage road projects, the Queensland Government will manage it, and we’ll work those issues through,” he said.
Pressed on what deadline the government could give to finishing the highway Mr Albanese said infrastructure projects didn’t work that way.
“What you don’t do is finish it by making a declaration or a media release,” he said.
“What you need to do is to have proper planning, have the labour, the contracts in place and get it done, that is the way the infrastructure projects work.”
And when asked whether an infrastructure plan would be finalised, the Prime Minister said, “it’s a program of delivery”.
The federal government has committed $10bn towards the highway, but it remains unclear on what exactly the money will be put towards.
It is understood Transport Minister Bart Mellish has been liaising with Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and will be providing her with a list of Bruce Highway priority projects.
Premier Steven Miles said while he would welcome any additional funding for the deadly highway, he would continue lobbying the federal government to reverse its decision to reduce the road’s funding split to 50:50.
“My position is clear, I believe that 80:20 funding arrangements should be retained for our critical regional roads and I will continue to call on the Australian Government to reinstate that,” he said.
The highway between Calliope and Childers has so far been closed for two days following the Bororen explosion, with drivers diverted two hours around the crash zone while police carried out investigations.
Shocking aerial footage of the crash site was released on Saturday morning, showing a smoking crater where the Bruce Highway blew apart.
The timeline for the Bruce Highway to re-open by the start of next week is looking grim with Transport and Main Roads (TMR) only able to begin their damage inspections on Sunday morning, two days after the horror crash occurred.
Rescources, Safety and Health Queensland (RSHQ) completed a survey of the area to collect data on ground conditions before releasing the area to TMR.
“Data captured by RSHQ will be assessed to understand the impacts to road infrastructure, public utilities and services, and the surrounding landscape in the vicinity of the explosion,” a TMR spokesperson said.
“Upon completion of damage assessments, TMR will commence clean-up activities to enable a visual inspection of road and culvert infrastructure.
“Further inspections will then be undertaken to determine the testing required. This includes structures, geotechnical, pavement, cultural heritage and environmental inspections.”
After these inspections the department is set to determine the depth and length of damage to the Bruce and develop repair methods.
“Once a solution is determined, TMR will be in a position to provide advice about interim traffic management and the potential timeframe to re-open the Bruce Highway to traffic.”
Diversions will remain in place for light and heavy vehicles.
Premier Steven Miles said the Transport Minister would visit the site on Monday.
“The latest update I have is that the impact on the highway is very significant, but that we don’t yet know how long it’s going to take to repair,” he said.
“I look forward to hearing in more detail from him (Mr Mellish) about what the next steps are.
“There will be freight disruptions and we have a supply chain committee that works particularly with the supermarkets and their logistics providers to ensure that we make sure every community has their essentials and that committee will be stood up and activated.”
Gladstone Mayor Matt Burnett earlier speculated the highway section could be closed for longer than anticipated.
“If the culvert (close by the explosion area) is significantly damaged a side track will need to be established and the highway could be closed for a significant time,” he said.
The tragedy just after 5am on Friday at Bororen was one of three fatal crashes on the highway this week alone – including a man in his 50s who died less than two hours later northwest of Rockhampton, and a truckie who died after an horrific crash at Miriam Vale on Tuesday.
Commuters travelling between Brisbane and Rockhampton, including hordes of freight trucks dependent on the route, will have to drive through Monto and Biloela, adding about two hours.
Federal Member for Flynn Colin Boyce has called for “a total reassessment” of the importance of the highway to the hundreds of thousands of residents in Central and North Queensland reliant on it.
“There’s a saying in Central Queensland, everybody drives on the left hand side of the road, but we drive on what’s left of the road and that’s the fact,” he said.
“It’s all very well for the Prime Minister to say that there is funding, there’s always funding for a national highway route around Australia, however, there needs to be a total reassessment of the importance of that highway.
“And with the greatest respect to the people that patch and repair the road, there needs to be a different standard as to the way they do that because it’s just simply not adequate.”
With 29 fatalities along the stretch of the Bruce Highway in his electorate, Mr Boyce said both state and federal governments needed to step up.
“Any fatality is just simply not acceptable, it’s that simple – we can do better,” he said.
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