Mareeba Shire Council coy about support for a new ‘bridge to nowhere’ at Kuranda

By staff writers

The Queensland LNP and federal Labor governments have promised half a billion dollars for a new bridge over the Barron River at Kuranda which a majority of Tablelands residents and the transport industry do not want.

Opinion polls and public meetings for years have not favoured a new bridge because it connects to one of Queensland’s most dangerous highways, the winding and steep Kuranda Range Road with its inherent major, traffic accident record.

Most motorists favour a separate new road and there are four options to choose from which have been circulating in the Tablelands and Cairns area for several years.

Neither Mareeba Shire Mayor Angela Toppin or councillors answered questions from Cairns News as to why the council endorsed a new bridge when it would seriously disadvantage farmers and the transport industry which are presently hampered by having no B-Double access to Cairns and the Bruce Highway.

Member for Kennedy Bob Katter does not support a new bridge which he said was a “bridge to nowhere” forcing motorists to use the dangerous Kuranda Range Road.

He said a new road tunnel should be built considering the cost of maintaining Kennedy Highway, the bridge and Kuranda Range Road over the past 10 years “could be up to $1 billion without any benefit.”

“How are they going to improve the (Kuranda Range) road; are they going to cut down all the trees and start bulldozing?” he asked.

“There’s no point in building a new bridge because you can’t get traffic off it.

“The pylons on the bridge are alright why don’t they replace the deck, which would be a much cheaper option.”

Cairns Economist Bill Cummings has been in favour of a new road because of long-term cost benefits to Tablelands industry and motorists.

“There are no distance savings for Mareeba traffic by upgrading the range and there could be a cost benefit to Tablelands motorists of $1.5 billion over 30 years by constructing the Reddicliffe or Smith option, but we haven’t finalised that research yet,” Mr Cummings said.

Road haulage operator Will Lamont of Lamont Transport, Dimbulah told Cairns News the state government should be planning long-term for an access to Cairns which should cater for heavy transport and natural population growth.

“A new bridge will not help heavy vehicles getting to Cairns because it will be connected to the dangerous Kuranda Range Road,” Mr Lamont said.

“The study that said the range road would not be at capacity until 2051 is bulls..t.”

“The range has long gone past its use-by date and there should be a new road to Cairns suitable for heavy vehicles and other traffic.”

A $1.6-million study in 2022 carried out by consultants investigated alternative transport routes between Cairns and the Northern Tablelands and found the Kennedy Highway is not at capacity, so there was ‘no need’ for alternative routes.

The State Government study, which had been delayed several times, found there would be sufficient capacity on the Kuranda Range until at least 2051.

A member of the Steering Committee for Kuranda Range Bypass Road spoke to the Main Roads Department consultant and study author at the time, offering assistance to inspect the route of the proposed Reddicliffe Road which leaves the Kennedy Highway at Davies Creek east of Mareeba and exits alongside Boral Quarry at Redlynch via an overpass at Reservoir Rd to the Western Arterial Road.

The designer of the alternative road, Mr Ron Reddicliffe offered to take the consultant along the route which has an existing track almost to the escarpment overlooking Redlynch Valley.

The consultant took details but did not contact Mr Reddicliffe at any time leaving doubts that the investigation was a public relations exercise with a foregone conclusion devised by then Labor Transport Minister Mark Bailey.

Bailey claimed the Reddicliffe route would disturb rainforest although there was a gravel- sealed track following the proposed new highway alignment which had been a logging road.

He did not divulge that much of the area in question was gazetted as a mining field and had been extensively logged and hand-mined over years.

“What this study tells us is there is currently no clear technical justification for a major upgrade of existing routes, or construction of a new road along a new alignment,” Mr Bailey said.

It is of note that the mad rush to inefficient renewables by the federal government allows for unmitigated, wide-scale destruction of forests including rainforests and entire ecosystems which have been damaged beyond repair by installing hundreds of 250 metre-high wind generators and thousands of acres of solar panels throughout the state and nation.