The Federal Government has committed to funding the bulk of a whopping further $9 billion of upgrades on Queensland’s Bruce Highway to raise the minimum safety standard of one of the state’s most important and dangerous freight thoroughfares.
Priority sections for the funding include Maryborough to Benaraby, Rockhampton to St Lawrence, Bowen to Townsville and Ingham to Innisfail.
The funding will aim to raise crucial sections of the highway to a minimum three-star safety rating, with much of the road north of Gympie currently only rated two states. As it stands, the Bruce Highway has an average fatal and serious injury crash rate of three to five times higher than any major highway in NSW or Victoria.
The improvement of the highway to a three-star standard will align it with roads like the Pacific Highway and Hume Highway.
The installation of safety barriers, widening of centre lines, tactile liner markings, wider shoulder construction and increased run-off areas, overtaking lanes and rest areas will all be covered by the funding.
“I’ve driven the Bruce Highway many times, and I know the critical role it plays for Queenslanders, tourists and freight,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
“Today’s announcement takes the total investment in the Bruce Highway to more than $17 billion.”
Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King says the major focus is to improve the rating of the Bruce’s most dangerous sections to a minimum three-star rating.
“Upgrading the Bruce Highway from a one star to a three star will really improve significantly the safety of this road,” King says.
“We know that too many people lost their lives on the Bruce Highway last year, and in particular, we have seen, unfortunately, an increase in fatal accidents on this road, particularly that stretch from Gympie onwards.
“You get the biggest single road safety improvements when you increase the road from one to three stars.
“What that means is you’re putting in a wider centre section, you’re putting in shoulder sealing, you can put in more overtaking lanes so when you do get people who are trying to overtake slower vehicles, they’re not doing that in a risky way, and you put in more road safety barriers.
“The biggest single improvement you do get in road safety is from one to three [stars].”
The commitment from the federal government to fund 80 per cent of the project defies the previous expectation laid out by King that the cost of the upgrades should be split evenly between the federal and state governments.
She says the unique characteristics of the project and its importance to Queensland and Australia’s freight operations has necessitated a more one-sided split.
“This road is quite unique. It is the really only major freight route through Queensland,” King says.
“It’s seen increasing traffic volumes and in order to get this done, it needs the Commonwealth to step in as part of the National Land Transport Act, the national highway, to really partner significantly to get this road up to three stars.”
The new funding comes ahead of a federal election later in 2025, and after the re-convening of a Bruce Highway advisory council implemented by Queensland’s state government.
King has rubbished talks that the announcement is the early crow of a federal election campaign.
“What we’ve done is looked at where do we need to lift productivity in the nation? Where do we need to look at things such as road safety, liveability and sustainability, and made sure we put our infrastructure investments in those,” she says.
“If you look up and down that corridor, there are not a lot of seats that Labor holds or would expect to hold along that corridor. We’re investing in Queensland. We’re investing in the productivity of the entire state. And this project and this investment really will improve road safety for all those communities along the highway.”
In 2024, several key industry bodies including the Queensland Trucking Association and RACQ banded together to urge the government to ‘Fix the Bruce’ and upgrade the dangerous section of road between Gympie and Cairns.
The 1673-kilometre road connects well over half of Queensland’s population between Brisbane and Cairns.
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