Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads Brent Mickelberg says the reset to an 80:20 funding split with the federal government to upgrade the Bruce Highway is welcome, and that the recently announced funding package is a “win for Queensland”.
The federal government announced it would commit to spending 80 per cent of a massive $9 billion package to improve safety outcomes on the most dangerous parts of the Bruce Highway and raise parts of the road from a one-star safety rating to a three-star safety rating.
Such an increase would put the major freight route on par with the likes of the Pacific Highway and Hume Highway.
“The return of an 80:20 funding split is a welcomed commitment from the federal government to enable our delivery of a safer Bruce,” Mickelberg says.
“Queensland deserves better than a second-class highway … this is a win for Queensland.”
Prior to the initial convening of the re-established Bruce Highway advisory council multiple large-scale, key stakeholders banded together to push forward a ‘Fix the Bruce’ campaign targeted at improving the state of the crucial highway.
Organisations including RACQ, the Queensland Trucking Association (QTA), Queensland Farmers Federation (QFF), Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Qld and Qld Tourism Industry Council have met with decision-makers at the state and federal level on behalf of members to secure fair funding.
Although parts of the Bruce Highway currently have a five-star safety rating, RACQ CEO David Carter says it is totally unrealistic for this round of funding to upgrade the whole road to five stars, but that it is entirely necessary to improve safety outcomes.
“It would be unrealistic for a highway the size and scale of the Bruve to get five stars across the whole highway,” he says. “But a five-star highway has multiple lanes in each directions, lots of rest stops, very large shoulders, and traffic is separated.
“At the moment the Bruce Highway has a very large sections that is two stars, it just makes that road incredibly unforgiving.
“A significant volume of the fatalities and serious injury accidents on the Bruce Highway are a result of head on collisions. Those collisions may well be the result of one driver making a mistake, but the road is just so unforgiving if someone makes a mistake, and if it’s not head on, the risk of rolling off the side of the road because the shoulders have a steep slope on them, is also very high.”
For Carter, though, this newly announced round of funding needs to lay the foundation for future works on the highway.
“Queensland has 180,000km of roads, and while the 1673km-long Bruce Highway makes up less than one per cent of that network, it accounts for more than 10 per cent of the road toll.”
“Moving from two stars to three stars is a good first step that will likely reduce the volume of fatal and serious injury accidents by more than half.
“We then need to see sections of the road continuously invested in to get to four and potentially five stars, but certainly to four so we get to a dual carriageway, particularly around those bigger, built-up urban areas down the Queensland coastline.”
QFF CEO Jo Shepherd is pleased that ensuring a safe and secure highway for Queenslanders has not turned into a political squabble between the federal Labor and state Liberal governments.
“We are really pleased to see the federal government and the [state government] have now committed to the 80:20 funding split when it comes to the Bruce Highway,” Shepherd says.
“The Bruce Highway cannot be a political issue. It is bigger than politics, we are losing lives, we are losing community confidence and liveability.
“What we need to see now is bipartisan support and a federal and state government that are absolutely committed to working together to fix the Bruce and get the job done.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, this is a big job ahead. We’re going to have to plan, prioritise and all work together at all levels of government to fix the Bruce and get these priority upgrades underway and completed as soon as possible.”
Carter adds that although the works will likely take some time to complete and cause disruption along Queensland’s coast, it is needed to help improve safety and industry outcomes across a variety of sectors in the state.
“We are looking at many, many years, and we know that will create some disruption in areas that are subject to the works, but the result will be worth it,” he says.
“This is really about saving lives. It’s about reducing the number of families impacted by road trauma. It’s about improving the movement of goods and people throughout this state, and it’s about really restoring what we call the backbone of Queensland.
It’s a road that’s used not just for tourism, not just for movement of produce. Emergency services use it. The armed services use it. This is a really critical piece of infrastructure in Queensland, and we need it to get put into a place that is viable and sustainable for the 21st century.”
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