Inside the ghost towns waiting for blown up Bruce’s revival

As Miriam Vale and Bororen business owners look down the empty highway that use to bring them 4000 vehicles a day, which was the main source of income for many, they still wait for news about when they might see traffic return to normal.

As Miriam Vale and Bororen business owners look down the empty highway that use to bring them 4000 vehicles a day through their little towns and their main source of income for many, they still wait for news about when they might see traffic return to normal.

The highway closed for the third time in a week after a truck carrying ammonium nitrate collided with a ute on Friday morning about 5am, spilt its load which then caught on fire and later caused a second tank of ammonium nitrate to explode.

It left a crater in the ground adjacent to the Bruce Highway near the Daisy Dell Rd intersection.

It was the third fatal on the Bruce Hwy in one week – the other two included a man in his 50s who died less than two hours later northwest of Rockhampton on Friday, and a truckie who died after an horrific crash at Miriam Vale on Tuesday.

Gladstone Region Mayor Matt Burnett was able to give some insight this afternoon, but it was as uncertain of a time frame for the highway reopening as it had been for the prior 48-54 hours since the fatal accident.

Roadworks on Sunday, September 1, 2024, at the site where a truck and ute collided two days earlier on the Bruce Highway near Daisy Dell Road, Bororen.

Mr Burnett told this publication TMR took over the site this morning after QPS and Queensland’s department of Mines carried out their investigations.

He said there are two options for the Bruce Hwy reopening – one single lane if the current road is deemed safe enough while repairs are carried out or a two-lane detour is built from scratch.

“If there’s no major damage, or no damage, to the culverts, they’ll be able to put in one lane of traffic probably in the next couple of days,” Mr Burnett said.

He said he does not have a timeline on how long it would take to build a two-lane detour.

Roadworks are continuing.

Mr Burnett said he was not hopeful it would be open before the work and school commute on Monday morning.

“The good news was, from a train line point of view, that the Daisy Dell overpass was deemed safe and the railway opened last night,” Mr Burnett said.

“If that was damaged, that meant the road would have been damaged as well, so at least it hasn’t gone that far.

“But there’s still culverts on that part of the road that could be damaged and we won’t know until the main roads finish their condition assessment.”

He said if the highway does open to one lane only, it would be reopened for everyone, not just locals.

However, Mr Burnett said he was not hopeful it would be open before the work and school commute on Monday morning.

“That does not mean people are not working around the clock,” he said.

Mr Burnett said there have been issues at checkpoints with some Gladstone region residents not being let through because their addresses were not for that exact road – for example, a Tannum Sands resident trying to get to Bororen Hotel Motel which had 100 people booked for a Fathers Day lunch on Sunday but no one was being let through the checkpoints to make their bookings.

He said those checkpoint issues – which had been with TMR employed controllers – have now been resolved.

Mr Burnett said it was Gladstone council’s stance that ‘local’ means Gladstone region, not street address.

He said Gladstone council’s four recovery committees will be meeting tomorrow to discuss what needs to be done in the aftermath of this event for the Bororen and Miriam Vale communities.

Gladstone Region Mayor Matt Burnett at the vacant land on the corner of Park Street and Palm Drive. Picture: Contributed

Mr Burnett said he, as the chair of the local disaster management group, will be travelling to those communities personally after those meetings with QPS Gladstone’s Senior Sargent Darren Somerville.

“I want to see first-hand what’s happened,” he said.

“But I’ve also wanted to stay out of the way and couldn’t get in while there was restricted zoning.”

Mr Burnett said he wants to meet with and talk with residents of the Daisy Dell area because he had heard reports of damage to property.

Originally published as Inside the ghost towns waiting for blown up Bruce’s revival