State Election: Mike Brunker says Bruce Highway upgrade would kill off the Burdekin
A Bruce Highway duplication could be the ‘death knell’ for small towns in the Burdekin that rely heavily on passing traffic, a Labor candidate has said.
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A BRUCE Highway duplication could be the “death knell” for small towns in the North that rely heavily on passing traffic, a Labor candidate has said.
Mike Brunker said Home Hill, Ayr, Proserpine and more small highway-side towns could be the hardest hit if the LNP’s plan to improve the Bruce Highway received the green light.
Last month, LNP leader Deb Frecklington announced the plan to duplicate the highway from Curra to Cairns.
The $33bn road upgrade is expected to be funded in an 80:20 split with the federal and state governments — with the federal budget revealing a $20m investment in working out which part of the highway would be upgraded first.
Mr Brunker has called on the LNP to let farmers know who will be losing prime agricultural land and businesses know where they will be forced to move.
“This is going to have to bypass the Burdekin,” Mr Brunker said.
“So you’re going to have every business in the Burdekin (affected).
“You won’t have any small towns if you bypass them.
“You’re going to kill off the (small) towns … you should have a lot more passing lanes, as far as four lanes — it’s fanciful.”
He said an upgrade was proposed almost 15 years ago, and it went down with the locals “like a ton of bricks”.
The former Bowen mayor said the requirements for road reserves would vary depending on if the highway was widened or north and south were separated by a barrier.
Burdekin MP Dale Last said road reserves were already in place along much of the old highway.
“There is ample space for the duplication of the highway along the existing corridor and these comments are nothing but a desperate attempt by a candidate who has nothing to value add and has had to resort to outlandish claims like this to try and claim some credibility,” Mr Last said.
A Burdekin farmer suggested the four-lane Bruce Highway plan would “be a disaster” for crop irrigation.
Farmers United director and Clare-based farmer Russell Hall said while the North was overdue for infrastructure upgrades, consideration would need to be given to the district’s irrigation infrastructure.
“You would have to see the detailed plan,” he said.
“If they follow the same highway it would be a disaster.”
Mr Hall suggested leaving the Bruce Highway as it is for local travellers and constructing another highway which would follow boundary lines further west, for truck drivers and interstate travellers.
He said it would eliminate the problems of having to move vital irrigation pipelines if land purchases were required.
Originally published as State Election: Mike Brunker says Bruce Highway upgrade would kill off the Burdekin