Reliability of the Bruce Highway has been improved with updates in the Yeppen Floodplain
The federal government says productivity on the Bruce Highway has been assured with the commissioning of the $170 million Yeppen Floodplain project.
The Yeppen South project will keep the highway open during major floods in Rockhampton’s southern outskirts, federal infrastructure minister Warren Truss says, and involves 2.1km of new bridges, and a number major intersection upgrades.
“Here in Central Queensland, during times of natural disasters the Yeppen Floodplain has proven to be a weak link in the Bruce Highway,” Truss says.
“It was only as recently as 2012 that the highway was cut at the Yeppen Floodplain for nearly two weeks, resulting in millions of dollars of economic losses through reduced tourism and industry productivity and general disruption to the northern half of Queensland.
“With the Yeppen bridges open, access to the south of Rockhampton is now assured in all flooding scenarios up to a one-in-100-year event.”
While the major attraction of the project is the two new bridges, one measuring 1.6km, local member for Capricornia Michelle Landry says the project “encompasses much more”.
“The existing Bruce Highway has been completely rebuilt between the Yeppen roundabout and Scrubby Creek and the Egan Street intersections at Egan’s Hill have undergone major safety upgrades,” Landry says.
“The major Bruce Highway and Burnett Highway intersection has also seen significant flood immunity improvements and increased intersection capacity, with the addition of a slip-lane for motorists travelling into Rockhampton.”
Completed in two years, the Yeppen South project was jointly funded by the federal and Queensland governments, contributing $136 million and $34 million respectively.