Georgiou establishes camp for Townsville ring road project

As many as 400 jobs will be created on a major road project in Townsville as a key contractor begins to establish on site.

AS many as 400 jobs will be created on a major road project in Townsville as a key contractor begins to establish on site.

Georgiou, a national construction company based in Western Australia, has started to establish its construction offices in portable dongers off Hervey Range Rd for the $230m Townsville Ring Road stage five.

The development is contentious with Condon residents and Mayor Jenny Hill recently raising concern about the design of planned on and off ramps to Beck Drive, an area where further residential development is planned in the Upper Ross.

Ring Road Offramps

The State Government’s Department of Transport and Main Roads awarded a contract to a Georgiou AECOM consortium last year to design and construct the project.

At the time, Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper said 395 jobs from the ring road project could not come at a better time for Townsville as it continued to respond to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project and a $107.7 million Bruce Highway Townsville Northern Access Intersections Upgrade project at Black River were being built by the north for the north and would bust congestion, make our roads safer and get people and freight where they needed to go, Mr Harper said.

The Townsville Ring Road is a section of the Bruce Highway route through Townsville.

Most of the ring road is four lanes but around 6km between the Vickers Bridge, Douglas, and Shaw Road, Bohle Plains, is still two lanes.

The $230m project will duplicate the remaining two-lane section to four lanes and is also planned to provide an interchange with Beck Drive to connect to the Upper Ross.

Also, at Riverway Drive an on-ramp for westbound traffic and an off-ramp for eastbound traffic are to be removed.

When complete, the 36km Bruce Highway link through Townsville from Stuart in the south to Jensen in the north will be four lanes — two lanes in each direction.

Georgiou said it could not comment because of contractual reasons and referred questions on the project to the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

A department spokesman confirmed Georgiou had established on the site and was undertaking some early works.

Construction of the ring road project is timed to start mid-year and be complete in early 2023.

The project is jointly funded, with the Federal Government committing $184 million and the Queensland Government $46 million.

Originally published as Georgiou establishes camp for Townsville ring road project