New MP slams ‘extraordinary’ seven-figure traffic control bill
Traffic control in place now for 323 days at two sections of the Kuranda Range Road impacted by landslides is costing taxpayers an eye-watering $26,000 a day according to the new Cook MP.
Cairns
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More than 300 days of traffic control at two sections of the Kuranda Range Road impacted by landslides is costing Queensland taxpayers $26,000 a day, according to the newly-elected Member for Cook.
Stalled work to permanently repair the winding road damaged by the impacts of a historic deluge in December last year has to date racked up a bill estimated to exceed $8m, according to Cook MP David Kempton.
The notorious road is yet to fully reopen since a massive deluge brought by Cyclone Jasper led to waterlogged earth slipping down the hill and taking sections of roadway with it.
While emergency works to stabilise the mountain have been completed, two sections of the road have been reduced to single lanes at Streets Creek and the Henry Ross Lookout since late December 2023.
Mr Kempton said inability to fully reopen the main Tablelands access route from Cairns after months of dry weather was not good enough.
“It’s not acceptable at all, it wouldn’t happen in the southeast,” he said.
“If we get another big wet season, who knows what could happen.
“We need an evidence based approach with the engineers reports, it’s all very fine to say we are or are not going to do something but we need to make sure that decision was made at the proper level.”
In August, Transport and Main Roads told the Cairns Post “due to the scale of the reconstruction program” the range road “will not open to two lanes before December 2024”.
On Thursday, a TMR spokeswoman said contracts for the first four delivery packages to restore Far North roads to pre-cyclone conditions had been awarded.
“We are focused on repairing priority routes that connect regional communities including, Kuranda Range Road, Captain Cook Highway, Palmerston Highway, and Mossman-Mount Molloy Road and Mossman-Daintree Road,” the spokeswoman said.
“Reconstruction works on Kuranda Range Road are expected to commence from November 18, with contractors on track to mobilise sites for the additional priority packages before the end of 2024.
“All works are targeted for completion by mid-2026, site and weather conditions permitting.”
With a permanent fix not expected until after the wet season, the traffic control bill would continue to grow Mr Kempton said.
“I’ve heard it’s about $26,000 a day for the stop and go … and I’ve heard it from a lot of sources … which is an extraordinary amount of money,” he said.
Mr Kempton said a traffic control bill that could exceed $10m at the end of the wet season could have been put to better use by the former state government.
“They could have used some of that money to do some of the work already,” he said.
Altus Traffic has the contact for traffic management on the Kuranda Range Rd while preferred supplier for TMR’s RoadTek, PTS Traffic Management is doing control on the Captain Cook Highway.
PTS owner Ray Larnach said he was bound by confidentiality clauses and couldn’t comment on the daily outlay to manage traffic on disaster impacted roads.
However other transport sources stated equipment costs, insurance, wages, overtime, risk assessments and cultural heritage reports could comfortably add up to costs exceeding $26,000 a day.
A TMR spokeswoman said traffic control measures were needed to ensure road users and road workers’ safety when delivering works but declined to reveal the cost of traffic management.
“We are focused on repairing priority routes that connect regional communities including, Kuranda Range Road, Captain Cook Highway, Palmerston Highway, and Mossman-Mount Molloy Road and Mossman-Daintree Road,” the spokeswoman said.
Contracts for the first four delivery packages to restore Far North roads to pre-cyclone conditions have been awarded, according to TMR.
Reconstruction works on Kuranda Range Road are expected to kick off from November 18.
All works are targeted for completion by mid-2026.
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Originally published as New MP slams ‘extraordinary’ seven-figure traffic control bill
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