Kuranda Range roadworks set to increase with proposed additional safety works
The transport minister has proposed additional safety works for Kuranda Range, amid ongoing repairs from last year’s landslides, while shying away from an alternative route study.
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Far North motorists have been provided no timeline for ongoing Kuranda Range roadworks as the state government proposes additional upgrades in a bid to boost safety and resilience.
On Tuesday transport minister Bart Mellish and Barron River MP Craig Crawford announced a range of new upgrades for the road still under repair from Cyclone Jasper and the December 2023 floods.
The newly proposed upgrades included a concrete median barrier at the “largest hairpin” on the road known as “The Hairpin,” the installation of a further 10 Intelligent Transport Systems technology stations which provide real-time data of traffic and incidents, and the major the inclusion was the construction of a turn-around area.
The exact location of the turn-around area is yet to be determined but is expected to be suitable for trucks up to 19m long, is likely to be in the form of a roundabout and is anticipated to be built near Black Mountain Rd.
The works are set to be funded by the joint federal and state allocation of $262m towards Kuranda Range upgrades, which had been dormantly on the table since prior to the last federal election.
Mr Mellish said the federal government would now “be asked to approve and release funding for the project”.
As for current works, Mr Mellish would not be drawn on a completion stating he was “not about to direct people...how to reconstruct things to a safe manner.”
While welcomed, the additional safety works will drain the cash pool many Far North leaders were hoping would fund a $20m study into alternative routes.
“We’ve outlined what we want to spend that money initially on, in terms of these (safety) works; in terms of the future – if there is need for a study into alternative routes, we’re happy to look at that,” Mr Mellish said.
Asked what would determine a “need” for the study, Mr Mellish said “initial work that we’ve done has shown that it would not be needed until 2050,” referencing the lack of traffic on the range noted in the Cairns to Northern Tablelands Access Strategy.
“But if there is a desire to look at this, we’re happy to look at this if it can fit in with the funding package that we’ve got from the federal government.”
In 2022, the Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils noted the access strategy report should have been amended to recognise the population growth of the region, after it successfully lobbied to update the then 13-year-old Far North Queensland Regional Plan.
However, earlier this year while announcing the replacement of the Barron River Bridge, Mr Mellish noted it was busier than a local road.
“You can see by the traffic going past us, this isn’t just a local road,” he said in July while pushing for the Kuranda Range to be recognised as a national route.
Among those pushing for an alternative route study is Mr Crawford who said he wasn’t “cranky” on the minister's non-commitment of a study, and said adopting the Kuranda Range as a national highway was “the next logical step” towards funding for studying alternatives.
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