Major Cairns Ring Road shortfall blamed on toxic firefighting foam
UPDATE: In a major budget blowout a multimillion dollar super highway, to link the Cairns CBD with Smithfield, will now only offer a fix to Cairns North pinch points.
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UPDATE: IN a major budget blowout a multimillion dollar super highway, to link the Cairns CBD with Smithfield, will now only offer a fix to Cairns North pinch points.
It has been revealed the $360m budgeted to complete the Cairns Ring Road project from the CBD to Smithfield will only fund a 5km Cairns section between James St and the Barron River bridge.
Following the inclusion of the Captain Cook Highway in the national road network in 2019 the federal government committed $287.2 m in an 80:20 split with the state which combined to make $360m available for the congestion busting upgrade.
Barron River MP Craig Crawford has blamed expensive challenges presented by highly toxic subterranean fire retardant foam at the site of an old firefighting depot adjacent to the airport.
Firefighting foam containing toxic chemicals perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are known to be present at contaminated areas of Cairns Airport.
However, a war of words has erupted surrounding disputed allegations of financial mismanagement levelled at state government planners.
Now the section north of the Barron River to Smithfield has been relegated to the backburner.
“In order to fix the congestion, it’s going to be a lot more than expected. I have said I would prefer to spend what it takes to make Cairns North function,” Mr Crawford said.
“It costs what it costs and if we have to stick the whole $360m (into Cairns North) I am OK with that and I think northern beaches motorists will be too.”
Asked about a cash shortfall that now meant a 8km stretch between the Airport Av and Smithfield was off the table Mr Crawford was unclear on how the cost estimate was worked out – he stated the query was best put to Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch.
“I don’t know what (formula was) behind picking of the number, I can only assume it was a number selected in an arbitrary guess,” he said.
Mr Entsch said the only role of the Commonwealth was to stump up the cash.
“The state main roads guys do all the planning, all the costing and contracting and all we do is supply 80 per cent of the money,” he said.
“The shortness of funds is more about the capacity for state main roads to manage their funds and manage these projects.
“I don’t have an issue if there is a deficit but at some stage these clowns have to get something right.”
Mr Crawford said he had made it clear to TMR the focus was the Cairns North bottleneckand the onus was now on the Commonwealth to stump up more cash for the section north of the Barron River to Smithfield.
“The federal government have an obligation to update the Captain Cook Highway north of the Barron River but that’s not the priority right now,” he said.
JUNE 1: MAJOR changes are in the works for the Captain Cook Highway as planning boffins arrive at the pointy end of a clear timeline to connect the Cairns CBD and Smithfield via a northern super highway.
Transport and Main Roads is currently planning the $359m Cairns Ring Road project and by the end of the year staged sections of the 12km route between James St Cairns North and the Caravonica roundabout will be released.
A TMR spokesman said project will identify, investigate and install priority upgrades to improve safety, capacity and connectivity between Cairns and Smithfield.
“A detailed program of work timelines will be developed once the staging options have been finalised,” the spokesman said.
“The Cairns Ring Road master planning project will examine the wider city network to inform the options evaluation, as well as the prioritisation and staging framework for improvement works along the Cairns Ring Road corridor.
“Traffic modelling to develop the preliminary master plan includes forecast population growth north of Cairns and the Tablelands until 2046.”
Stage one of the project has been identified as the 1.5km stretch of the Captain Cook Highway between James St and Airport Av.
According to TMR investigations in 2021 complexities with drainage and road alignment along this section were identified.
The creation of a third lane is proposed between Airport Ave to Lily Street that will operate as a clearway for inbound traffic at morning peak times for two to three years to allow for completion of master planning.
A clearway is a stretch of road where it is forbidden to stop a vehicle for any reason.
“The project includes a package of works for a section of highway, between Airport Av and James St, which will improve traffic flow for southbound traffic, particularly during the morning peak,” he said.
The TMR spokesman said planning currently underway was similar to the Bruce Highway Southern Access Corridor master plan that kicked off in 2010.
Traffic lights are expected to temporally replace roundabout turn-offs at Machans, Holloways and Yorkeys Knob beaches ahead of overpasses to be installed as traffic volumes increase.
“Traffic volumes do not warrant grade separation or overpasses at these locations. However we are examining requirements for preserving the land to allow for grade separation in the future if required,” the TMR spokesman said.
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