150 extra jobs to upgrade priority sections of the Bruce Highway

The $9 billion rollout details of the Bruce Highway upgrade have been released highlighting the key sections to be prioritised. Is your postcode getting fixed? Where, when and how.

The Bruce Highway after a truck exploded near Bororen last year Photo – TMR

• Editor: Bruce upgrade here at last

The state government will hire 150 full-time employees to deliver the $9bn Bruce Highway upgrade plan, now backed by a newly released priority list that aims to see Queensland’s deadliest road fixed by 2030.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the bulk of the investment — about $5.5bn, or 61 per cent — will go toward wide centre line treatments including road widening and rumble strips to reduce the extraordinary number of head-on collision along the 1700km stretch.

It comes after Queensland recorded its worst road toll in 15 years in 2024, with 301 lives lost statewide – the dangerous Bruce Highway taking 43 lives.

On average, 31 people die on the Bruce Highway, mainly on the stretches of road with a one or two-star-rating on the Australia Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) five-star safety rating scale.

Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said the Bruce upgrade plan aimed to have the highway brought up to modern safety standards by 2030 following years of neglect and underfunding.

“This is the most significant investment in the Bruce Highway in over a decade, and it’s being delivered strategically – targeting high-risk sections north of Gympie with wide centre lines, overtaking lanes, intersection upgrades and more,” he said.

“We will continue to push forward with more projects in procurement as we head towards targeted completion in 2030.”

A Program Management Office will be established to coordinate the rollout made up of regional teams of project managers, engineers, and safety specialists, with 150 additional full time employees to oversee the upgrades.

Construction is already underway on five of the initial 16 fast-tracked projects announced in March, funded under a $300m early works package.

Another six are in procurement, with three more to follow in mid-2025.

Photographs taken in the immediate aftermath of a horror fatal Greyhound passenger bus crash at Gumlu on the Bruce Highway south of Ayr. Picture: Supplied

Premier David Crisafulli said works on Bootooloo Road between Bowen and Ayr and the Toomulla Intersection at Townsville and Ingham would begin “within weeks”.

“We promised we would restore 80:20 funding, and now we are delivering it,” he said.

“We’ve got our foot on the accelerator after a decade of inaction, and from a standing start rubber is now hitting the road.

“Shovels have hit the ground on five priority projects, with another two underway within weeks, as part of the 16 fast-tracked priority safety projects.”

The $9bn commitment follows the Courier-Mail’s “Help Our Highway” campaign to fix the Bruce, with an 80:20 federal funding deal locked in January by the Albanese government.

Across all road areas, the Department of Transport and Main Roads has projected $5.5bn would be spent on centre-line widening, $900m on fixing narrow bridges, $860m on new overtaking lanes, $670m on pavement strengthening and $360m each for intersection upgrades and new rest areas.

The remaining $400m will be set aside in a reserve.

A project priority list has been created based on safety hotspots, crash data, community feedback and planning by the recently re-established Bruce Highway Advisory Council.

Highway areas between Maryborough and Gin Gin, Rockhampton and St Lawrence, Mackay and Proserpine and Ayr and Townsville are next in line and are currently in pre construction design phases.

Emergency services at the scene of a crash on the Bruce Highway at Innisfail. Pic: Elisabeth Champion

Mr Mickelberg said upgrades would be delivered in rolling phases, with tenders issued incrementally to maximise market competition and engage local contractors.

Final project packages for each section of road would remain subject to federal funding approval, allowing works to be rescoped if new safety issues are identified along the corridor between now and 2030.

Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King said construction would not stop until the Bruce Highway was finished.

“Queenslanders have been crying out for something to be done about the Bruce Highway for decades,” she said.

“It’s not just a commitment of funding, we’re getting on with the work, with construction already underway on a number of critical projects on sections with the poorest safety record, and we won’t stop until it’s done.”

A total $412m has been dedicated to the Bruce Highway Safety Program this financial year in the LNPs first budget.

Originally published as 150 extra jobs to upgrade priority sections of the Bruce Highway