New safety focus for major Toowoomba region highway

New signs alerting motorists to traffic dangers are set to be installed at a dangerous intersection on a Toowoomba highway.

NEW signs alerting motorists to traffic dangers are set to be installed at a dangerous intersection on a Toowoomba highway.

NEW signs alerting motorists to traffic dangers are set to be installed at a dangerous intersection on a Toowoomba highway.

The news comes after Condamine MP Pat Weir asked a question on notice to Transport Minister Mark Bailey in the Queensland Parliament.

"Will the Minister advise if there are any planned roadworks to upgrade the intersection of the New England Highway and the Greenmount-Etonvale Road other than to announce a reduction to the speed limit from 100km per hour to 80km per hour completely disregarding the unsafe and hazardous nature of intersection itself," Mr Weir asked.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said while there had only been a small number of crashes at the intersection, it was similar to other intersections that had seen serious crashes. 

"The first 20 kilometres of the New England Highway, south from the centre of Toowoomba, is one of 26 road sections across Queensland that the Department of Transport and Main Roads has classified as a high risk road, due to high crash rates resulting in fatal and serious injuries," Mr Bailey said.

"The intersection with Greenmount-Etonvale Road lies at the end of the High Risk Roads section of the New England Highway. 

"The crash history on this individual intersection shows one minor injury crash in the last five years. This does not indicate that there is a significant safety problem at the intersection. However, the unconventional layout of the intersection has been associated with serious crashes at other similar intersections in the past."

Mr Bailey said the speed limit reduction from 100km/hr to 80km/hr near that intersection recognised "there was a safety risk present". 

"New signage will be installed by the end of June 2020 to highlight the crash risk and alert drivers to the reduced speed zone, where an 80km/h speed limit will replace the current 100km/h zone," he said.

"This is a proactive initiative to reduce the crash risk. It will add a few seconds to a person's journey time, but it may also save them from being hospitalised with serious injuries, or worse."

Originally published as New safety focus for major Toowoomba region highway