Works to begin on Western Arterial Road four lane upgrade
After sitting in a holding pattern since the completion of the detailed project design, the $300m four-lane upgrade of Cairns Western Arterial Rd has at last built up a critical head of steam.
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After sitting in a holding pattern since the completion of the detailed project design, the $300m four-lane upgrade of Cairns Western Arterial Road has at last built up a critical head of steam.
Preparation works to kick off next month are expected to include the removal of trees, the demolition of two houses on land previously resumed by Transport and Main Roads, relocation of electricity and telecommunication cables, as well as the demolition of the historic Marino Barracks.
Key features of the project that’s been on the drawing board for more than five years include the duplication of the Cairns Western Arterial Road between the Barron River and Captain Cook Highway, the duplication of the rail overpass at Redlynch and the duplication of Kamerunga Bridge over the Barron River.
Advance Cairns chair Nick Trompf said though the start of the project was “well overdue”, the last piece of the four lane ring road puzzle was “welcome”.
“For a number of years Advance Cairns has been pushing to get that money spent,” he said.
“The federal government going slow on a number of road projects and they have never been able to say which ones will be delayed until when, but we are just grateful that people will soon see the graders and excavators at work.
“What people want to see is concrete being poured to make a difference to their everyday lives.”
A federal infrastructure review in late 2023 had the project on pause leading up to the breakthrough announcement by TMR this week.
Though pre-construction work is imminent no tender has been awarded for the major civil construction project.
The project is to be funded in an 80:20 federal/state split and at the last state budget top-up funding worth $15m was secured after $300m was pledged by both governments in 2020 and 2021.
Cairns Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer Patricia O’Neill said shovels in the ground on the landmark project would mean an end to frustrating traffic delays along the 3.5km single lane bottleneck through Caravonica.
“We are delighted to see it get off the ground,” she said.
“It has held back production because of the hold ups that have (impacted) that road for many years.
“We are delighted that they are starting to treat us as a serious city and not just being out in the boondocks or treated like a second class city.
“We can now look at getting, from a business perspective, increased production and people can get to work on time and safely.”
Ms O’Neill said the next infrastructure focus of the Cairns business community was replacing the beleaguered Barron River bridge at Kuranda.
“The focus now needs to be on fast tracking the business case to prove it’s time to put engineers to the task of building the bridge,” she said.
“As a city we have worked hard to bring wide-bodied planes into Cairns but to export produce however still remains difficult.
“Until reliable Tablelands access is secured we will continue to see produce going to the southeast and flying over the top of us into Asia.”
The Caravonica works form the western leg of the Cairns Ring Road and at completion will result in four-lane highways connecting Cairns at all points of the compass.
The major road upgrade will be carried out in three parts, including Lake Placid Road to Captain Cook Highway as Section 1, Redlynch Connector Rd to Harley St, including duplication of the rail overpass at Redlynch as Section 2 and the final section from Harley St to Lake Placid Rd, including a new Barron River bridge.
The work is expected to be completed by late 2025.
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Originally published as Works to begin on Western Arterial Road four lane upgrade
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