Toowoomba council finished or under way with seven projects in $10m lower order roads program, including Oestreich Road

A Toowoomba road that couldn’t be accessed by ambulances and even swallowed a car due to its poor condition is finally being upgraded as part of a $10m slew of council works to fix terrible roads.

Residents living along Oestreich Road in Wellcamp have wanted the Toowoomba Regional Council to upgrade it for years, citing serious safety concerns. They’re finally getting their wish.

Construction is well under way on what could be Toowoomba’s worst stretch of road, as the council ramps up a controversial multimillion-dollar program to upgrade sections of its network in the poorest condition.

Oestreich Road in Wellcamp, which was famously so bad it swallowed a car and required a four-wheel drive to traverse, is halfway through being improved to minimum standards by council engineers and workers.

It is understood the second stage, which will traverse Spring Creek, is still being planned and will be finished in the next financial year.

Oestreich Road residents Jason Smith (left) and Dean Linke discuss the poor quality of the road reserve in Wellcamp.

The upgrade is the seventh road either completed or under way as part of the TRC’s $10m, five-year lower order road (LOR) program, which was passed by councillors in late 2022 following significant lobbying from residents.

Finished projects in 2023-24 include Volker Road at Mount Rascal, Corcoran Road in Googa Creek, Gerald Lane at Greenmount and Rocky Gully and Voll Roads in Emu Creek.

Oestreich Road resident Mikaela Smith said she and emergency services could now access her family’s property, calling it a win for safety.

“It’s 100 per cent better, I think we’re happy and the workers have done a good job,” she said.

“For us, it’s a great thing that emergency services can come to our house.”

Ms Smith noted hers and other residents’ roads would not have been upgraded if not for significant advocacy and agitation of councillors.

“There are a lot of these roads across the region in this conditions and it should’ve been happening 10 to 20 years ago,” she said.

“Our road was maintained prior to amalgamation so it’s disappointing council had to make it such fight.”

Oestreich Road resident Mikaela Smith.

Infrastructure general manager Mike Brady said $1.5m out of the first $2m would be spent in this financial year, due to most of the projects running under budget.

“Every road on that list has been looked at and some level of concept work has been developed for every one,” he told councillors during Tuesday’s meeting.

“The positive news is most of the projects are coming in under budget.

“Since we’ve kicked off this program, there’s been additional requests, so the aim is to give council an update of how this program has gone and how we’re progressing and checking councillors’ commitment ahead of the budget next week.”

Deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff said it was “pleasing” to see the program coming in under budget.

Several of the 12 most-requested road upgrades, which totalled about 24km, have not yet been completed.

The Toowoomba region has about 1500km of unformed roads, which the council estimated in 2022 could cost up to $600m to upgrade entirely.