‘You don’t pay it, you don’t cross’: $1000 Burdekin bridge toll shocks Renewable Homes truckie

A woman who was recently charged over $1000 to get her truck and trailer across the Burdekin bridge says the current state of the narrow two-lane passageway is ‘just not on’.

Jo Veneman's truck with an old Bowen house onboard prepares to cross the Burdekin bridge

A woman who was recently charged over $1000 to get her truck and trailer across the Burdekin bridge says the current state of the two-lane passageway is “just not on”.

Renewable Homes operator Jo Veneman said oversized trucks are charged $66 to get across the bridge - but in November when she applied, she was quoted over $1000.

“We use the bridge multiple times a year, both laden and unladen. I would say anything bigger than a garbage truck needs to be piloted across,” Miss Veneman said.

“The bridge gets closed 10 to 15 times a day because of that.”

The 67-year-old bridge is notoriously narrow, consisting of two traffic lanes and a railway line.

All three are tight for space on the bridge.

Jo Veneman's truck with an old Bowen house onboard crosses the Burdekin bridge.

Because of this any truck classed as oversized - more than 3m wide or 25m long, must close the bridge down and organise a pilot vehicle.

Miss Veneman, with a wide load and a NHVR permit, also legalled needed to seek approval from a ‘train protection officer’ at Queensland Rail (QR) to cross.

Miss Veneman said normally she deals directly with a QR train protection officer who rings to make sure no trains are coming for $450, but in November the government-owned company didn’t have anyone to help her.

Jo Veneman, director of Renewable Homes in Townsville. Picture: Supplied

“We were told QR couldn’t supply a staff member and we had to engage the only approved contractor,” she said.

This contractor happened to be based outside North Queensland and quoted Miss Veneman over $900 to do the job.

“They (the contractor) sent us back a quote for over $900 and pretty much said ‘if you don’t pay it, you don’t cross’,” Miss Veneman said.

“They quoted us $900 but we received a bill for over $1000. That is just not on. QR shouldn’t be sending us off to a contractor to deal with their own asset.”

Miss Veneman said the responsibilities of a train protection officer was to call train control, confirm there were no trains coming, and give train control an estimate of the truck’s travel time.

Jo Veneman's truck creeps across the Burdekin bridge, carefully keeping in the middle of the bridge with one road lane to the truck’s right and a railway line on the left.

In this case, Miss Veneman took 15 minutes to haul an old Bowen home across the bridge.

“It was an 1885 home we were trying to save from landfill. We were trying to save our history and when these things happen to a small operator like us it just gets harder,” she said.

The home originally belonged to Bowen’s first green grocer, a Chinese man known as ‘Chango’ who is considered one of Bowen’s first residents.

Miss Veneman was relocating the old house to her storage yard in Townsville.

The next closest bridge that allows trucks to cross the Burdekin river is the Macrossan bridge - accessible by diverting inland and driving 550kms via Collinsville and Charters Towers.

Miss Veneman said it was phenomenal what the bridge was costing trucking operators in money and locals in lost time, and in her opinion the Burdekin did need a second bridge.

Originally published as ‘You don’t pay it, you don’t cross’: $1000 Burdekin bridge toll shocks Renewable Homes truckie