Russell Robertson, Matt Burnett, Catherine King announce upgrade for Gavial-Gracemere Road

The Central Queensland election campaign cash splash has continued with Labor making a multimillion dollar commitment to upgrades for an arterial intersection on the Bruce Highway. Here’s what’s planned.

An election campaign cashplash on Central Queensland has continued with a multimillion dollar commitment for upgrades to an arterial intersection south of Rockhampton.

Opposition spokeswoman for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Catherine King was in Rockhampton this week where she met with Labor candidates Matt Burnett (Flynn) and Russell Robertson (Capricornia) to announce $200 million for upgrades to the Bruce Highway, including the Gavial-Gracemere intersection.

The upgrades would include new passing and dual lanes, new overtaking lanes on the Gavial-Gracemere link and a range of safety-related improvements.

Mr Burnett said the Gavial-Gracemere road was an important link for connecting the Bruce Highway to Gracemere.

“Talking to locals I hear again and again how important it is to invest in the Bruce Highway,” he said.

“I’ve driven that road many times when I worked for Queensland Rail and particularly in the last few months as a candidate.

“I’ve been advocating long and hard for this project and am very proud to be here announcing it today.”

Mr Robertson said commitment showed the importance of the Bruce Highway to Central Queensland.

“This is a real win for us and it shows a Labor Government would produce increased productivity, increased safety and making sure we can grow the region,” he said.

Ms King said the opposition had been working closely with the Labor State Government to make the commitment.

“It will see an increase in passing lanes and safety measures and particularly attention given to the Gavial-Gracemere section which we know can be a site of some major accidents,” she said.

“We know investing in the Bruce Highway is investing in the economy of Central Queensland, we know increasingly the freight task along this road has been something that has become quite difficult when you’ve got recreational vehicles, people travelling trying to get to work between Rockhampton and Gladstone or people travelling to see family.

“This investment from a Labor Government will increase road safety and also increase the efficiency of the Bruce Highway.”

Rockhampton Regional Council spokeswoman for Infrastructure Ellen Smith said the announcement was “wonderful news”.

“The Gavial-Gracemere Road carried a lot of traffic, it goes into Lawrie St which is still in the middle of upgrades, which leads into our beautiful four-lane highway between Rockhampton and Gracemere,” she said.

“Anything that improves the traffic flow into Gracemere is wonderful news and this announcement is great for the people of Gracemere.

The main issue with Gavial-Gracemere Rd at the moment is the amount of traffic, there’s more and more traffic coming that way and when we get the Ring Road we’ll probably see more traffic again.”