Bruce Hwy farce: Four-year-old election promise yet to be delivered

No major construction work to build a billion-dollar alternative to the Bruce Highway has been completed four years after it was first promised.

Former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with her successor Steven Miles

No major construction work to build a billion-dollar alternative to the Bruce Highway has been completed four years after the state government first promised to build the critical project.

While a bridge upgrade and section widening is under way, the full scope of works are unlikely to be finished before 2030, a decade after the government committed cash to it.

The glacial progress to build the 1185km inland freight route – dubbed the “second Bruce” by politicians – was again put under the spotlight when Friday’s massive chemical explosion in Central Queensland obliterated the Bruce Highway.

The highway closed for the third time in a week when a truck carrying ammonium nitrate collided with a ute about 5am Friday, spilt its load which then caught on fire and later caused a second tank of ammonium nitrate to explode.

A lengthy detour was established, which a 53-year-old pedestrian from Eli Waters died on after being struck on the Burnett Highway, west of Gayndah, about 12.30am on Sunday.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads said on Monday it was hoping to open a single lane of the Bruce Highway under traffic control from early Wednesday morning.

The 2020 state election campaign was used by then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to promise Labor would build the Inland Freight Route between Mungindi and Charters Towers to halve the number of trucks on the Bruce Highway.

In announcing the plan, Labor rubbished the LNP’s proposal to widen the Bruce Highway to four lanes between Gympie and Cairns.

Repair crews at the explosion site on the Bruce Highway

The government pledged $200m towards the $1bn project under an 80-20 funding split with the federal government and allocated $107m in November to accelerate early works delivery.

Some $30m of a fast-tracked $107m works package announced by the state government in November was allocated in the June budget.

There is $75.4m allocated in 2025-26, $298.7m between 2026 and 2028 and the remaining $575.9m of the beyond 2028 – with experts tipping the works will roll out over six years.

An upgrade to the Dawson River bridge and pavement strengthening and widening in some sections of the Gregory Development Rd is under way, with the Transport and Main Roads department noting it was “continuing to develop program details for the remaining funding for delivery in due course”.

Transport Minister Bart Mellish did not comment on the lengthy delay to build the project, but attacked the LNP’s record on roads and said the state government would deliver the project.

“The Miles government is delivering the ‘second Bruce’, an inland route that will take heavy vehicles off the Bruce Highway and make it safer for everyone,” he said.

“We have $6bn in committed projects along the Bruce, as well as a billion for the Inland Freight Route.”

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli questioned whether the state government would attempt to sell a “second Bruce” to Queenslanders at this election.

“I’m interested to see if they’re going to reheat this again, this would be the third reheat, there’s been nothing done on that – there’s been some scratching,” he said.

Separately, he called for the state to “not be a patsy for Canberra” and demand an 80-20 funding split to upgrade the existing Bruce Highway.

The crater on the Bruce Highway following the chemical explosion. Picture: TMR

“You’re gonna have a scramble in the next couple of weeks, all of a sudden the Bruce Highway will be Steven Miles’s No.1 issue until the next crisis comes forward.

“We’re serious about a long-term plan to fix the Bruce we are also serious about going to Canberra and getting the money that is required.”

In the three years since pledging to build the second highway, the state government has spent just $19m amid funding uncertainty from Canberra.

The route was one of those in limbo as part of the federal government’s infrastructure review, but it survived the chopping block to remain at an 80-20 split.

One Nation’s candidate for Keppel James Ashby took aim at Transport and Main Roads for including cultural heritage investigations in its effort to re-open the highway, claiming it would take extra time.

“The fact that one of the hold-ups on repairing the Bruce Highway is due to Main Roads having to do a cultural heritage report is just insane,” he said.

“Stuff the cultural heritage report and get the repair crews in and fix the Bruce Highway so vital freight like medicines and fresh produce aren’t being held up any longer.”

The eerie quiet in Bororen and Miriam Vale remained three days after the devastating fatal crash and explosion.

A pub had closed its doors for the day, while a grocery store was running low on fresh bread and milk and other products.

Other locals had either stayed home from work or taken the long detour to get to work in Gladstone or Boyne Island – a commute that would mean a three-hour round trip.

Originally published as Bruce Hwy farce: Four-year-old election promise yet to be delivered