Bruce, Isis highways on list of $308m Wide Bay Burnett road works

Hundreds of millions of dollars of work, including a bike and foot bridge across the Mary River, are among the big projects sitting in the state government pipeline.

State government transport network roads splice (Gympie Normanby Bridge and Bundaberg).

The Gympie and Tiaro Bypasses might be the headline grabbing projects in the region but they are far from the only works in the state transport department’s pipeline for the Wide Bay and Burnett.

More than $300m in upgrades and safety fixes are either underway or under investigation across the region, stretching from Gympie to Bundaberg and out west to Mundubbera.

The projects are jointly funded by the state and federal governments, with the exact split of the money varying for each one.

Here is the list of works outlined by the state transport department online which have either started, are under investigation, or been recently finished.

Bruce Hwy black spot turning lanes, $26.64m

Turning lanes are being installed on the Bruce Hwy north of Glenwood.

Dedicated right-and-left-turning lanes are being installed at the Deveron Rd, Molteno Rd and Sheehans Rd intersections to improve safety on the Bruce Highway north of Gympie.

The highway will be widened, including a wide centre line to increase the distance between motorists travelling in opposite directions between Gootchie Rd and north of the Sheehans Rd.

Bruce Hwy safety, Maryborough to Gin Gin, $9.35m

Rear-end crashes will become much rarer on the Bruce Hwy through Torbanlea under safety upgrades stretching from Maryborough to Gin Gin.

Improvements include the addition of guardrails and flattening of about 8km of the highway within a 16km stretch.

To date construction has started on the stretch through Torbanlea no north of Howard.

Gympie pedestrian and bike bridge, $1.3m

Plans for a new pedestrian and bike path across the Mary River at Gympie are in the works.

Plans for a new pedestrian and bike path across the Mary River and the Bruce Highway at Gympie are in the works, with the state government having started on detailed designs.

The bridge is proposed to be built parallel to the Normanby Bridge, which connects the northern side of the river with the Mary Valley Rd.

The network will allow users to safely cross the highway. No funding has been allocated for these bridges and paths to be built.

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Isis Hwy safety work, $41.8m

Extensive works are underway along the length of the Isis Hwy near Bundaberg.

A new 17km wide centre line along the Isis Hwy between Philips Rd and Hapsburg Rd in 2021 was the starting point for these extensive works which are ongoing.

Upgrades to the highway will be carried out at locations between Airport Drive and Park Estate Drive, Wattle Glen Lane and Wildora Dr, Hills Rd and Philips Rd, Foleys Rd and Logging Creek Rd, and Hapsburg Rd and the Bruce Hwy.

Time frames for these work are not yet known.

Maryborough to Hervey Bay road upgrades, $44.1m

The Maryborough-Hervey Bay Rd and Pialba-Burrum Heads Rd intersections are being made safer.

Better traffic flow and road safety is the name of the game for works along the Maryborough-Hervey Bay Rd and Pialba-Burrum Heads Rd intersections.

Traffic lights at the first intersection, and the duplication of lanes from two to four at the second, form the crux of these improvements.

Pedestrian and bike riding facilities will also be improved.

Detailed design for these works are underway.

No time frame is known yet.

Mount Monto Perry Rd sealing, $26.6m

The Mount Monto Perry Rd in the North Burnett is being sealed.

The Mount Monto Perry Rd in the North Burnett is being sealed to improve safety and cut down on future maintenance needs.

Two sections between Cattle Gully and Kerwee Rdd have now been sealed and work remains ongoing on the section between Eastern Creek and Cattle Gully.

The improvements include sealing to two lanes to allow overtaking.

Mundubbera bridge replacement, $25m

The John Peterson Bridge at Mundubbera will be replaced with a more flood resilient span.

The single-lane John Peterson Bridge will be replaced with a higher two-lane structure to make it more flood resistant.

The bridge was built in 1925 and crosses the Boyne River on Mundubbera-Durong Rd, south west of Mundubbera.

It has been designed to withstand a one-in-100-year flood, allowing the freight route to remain open in disasters.

Construction started in January 2022.

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Torbanlea manufacturing plant

The road network surrounding the future home of a $239m manufacturing plant at Torbanlea for the state’s new trains will be getting a major overhaul.

The road network surrounding the future home of a $239m manufacturing plant at Torbanlea for the state’s new trains will be getting a major overhaul ahead of the facility’s construction.

Upgrades which started in mid-January include improving key intersections within Torbanlea, upgrading drainage along Gympie St, and improving line markings at the Bruce Hwy near the site.

From late March there will be road widening and sealing on Ritchie Rd, extension of the footpaths on Robertson St (south along Richie Rd), and drainage improvements along Ritchie Rd.

Small trees and shrubs along the reserve will be cleared.

Torbanlea – Pialba upgrades, $30m

Sections of Torbanlea-Pialba Rd between Beelbi Creek and Takura are being upgraded

Sections of Torbanlea-Pialba Rd between Beelbi Creek and Takura are being upgraded to ensure better flood and road safety.

These include upgrades to three floodways, including a new bridge at Beelbi Creek able to withstand a one-in-100-year flood.

Other intersection upgrades including realignments and installing separated turn lanes to improve traffic flow.

These intersections include those at Old Toogoom Rd, Churchill Mine Rd, Antill Rd, Grabbes Rd, Gear Rd, Toogoom Cane Rd, Sanctuary Hills Rd, and Simmos Rd.

Bruce Hwy flood upgrades, $103m

A new high-level bridge at Deadmans Gully and Saltwater Creek has been constructed.

A new high-level bridge at Deadmans Gully and Saltwater Creek has been constructed on a new alignment to replace the old crossing.

The bridge will not be immune to a one-in-100-year flood event, with the pavement strengthened to provide a 20-year lifespan.

Work on the upgrades was finished in December 2022.

Bundaberg transport strategy, $1.01m

Bundaberg’s transport network is under the microscope as part of a wider strategy to improve it in the coming years.

Once finished the report will lay groundwork for how the region’s public transport, pedestrian and bike ways, parking demand, and freight movement will be developed.

Community input from people reliant on Bundaberg’s network is open to help identify performance problems in the system.

Rail corridor strategy, $1.5m

Gympie’s rail corridor linking it to the southeast corner and Brisbane is part of a wider vision through to 2051 being explored.

Future rail investment opportunities to improve network capacity, travel times, safety, resilience and passenger and freight efficiency will be at the centre of the strategy.

These works will new signals, better park and ride services, level crossing improvements and rail safety fixes.

The state’s website says the work will staged “according to the highest priorities across the transport and rail networks to meet population growth and service demand”.

Originally published as Bruce, Isis highways on list of $308m Wide Bay Burnett road works