‘It could have been a school bus’: Grim warning on Kuranda range
The head of a Tablelands group lobbying for a new highway to replace the notorious Kuranda range stretch fears a school bus tragedy if something is not done.
Cairns
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THE head of a Tablelands group pushing for a new highway fears a repeat of the Gillies Range tragedy if residents are forced to continue commuting on the Kennedy Highway from Kuranda to Cairns.
A bus carrying students from Cairns State High School rolled off the side of the Gillies Range on February 4, 1987, killing eight students and injuring 32 others.
Mareeba resident Ken Harley heads a group of about 34 Tablelands and Kuranda residents pushing for a solution they call the Reddicliffe Highway – which would start at Davies Creek and end at the Cairns Western Arterial Rd.
Mr Harley, who began a campaign in 1991 for a high school at Kuranda, which was opened in 1988, said school traffic on the treacherous road was increasing.
“Kids used to go to Smithfield and Cairns, and the Gillies Highway disaster was in the back of our minds and we are very proud Kuranda High was built – but there’s more school traffic on the road now than there was in 1991,” Mr Harley said.
“With the population growth here in Mareeba, there’s a lot of school buses in the range with kids going to other schools to study particular subjects, to go to private schools, and then there’s buses and cars bringing kids up to the Steiner school.
“The semi-trailer that rolled last week could have been a school bus.”
Mr Steiner said a serious accident occurred in 2019 when a car driven by an international tourist collided with a truck, which went over the edge with the driver suffering serious spinal injuries.
“All it would take is for a car to collide with a school bus like that,” Mr Harley said.
He said Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter and State Member for Hill Shane Knuth had proposed 11 different routes in five different names.
“They are grasping for votes and what they are doing is really irresponsible, there are others desperate to solve a safety, economic and environmental problem,” Mr Harley said.
Mr Katter has proposed a Bridle Track road from Davies Creek to Redlynch but State Transport Minister Mark Bailey has been scathing of the plan.
The state government recently released a $1.6m transport study on the Kuranda Range Rd that was met with widespread disbelief.
Mr Harley said he was among locals to lobby for guard rails and a reduced speed limit on the notorious section of road.
He said the Reddicliffe Highway was first proposed in 1965.
Federal MP for Leichhardt Warren Entsch confirmed this was the case.
“The Reddicliffe Highway Group has spent years on this, they are very qualified, and we should be focused on that proposal,” Mr Entsch said.
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