- Construction now underway on a dual-purpose emergency airstrip at Dunbar to strengthen emergency response capability.
- The new facility will keep communities connected and support freight and emergency services during severe weather events.
- Project is part of the Queensland Government’s commitment to delivering practical resilience upgrades across the Burke Developmental Road corridor and investing in Far North Queensland after a decade of decline under Labor.
The Queensland Government is getting on with the job of strengthening disaster resilience in Far North Queensland, with construction now underway on a new emergency airstrip at Dunbar on the Burke Developmental Road.
The dual-purpose facility will operate as part of the road network during normal conditions and function as an emergency aircraft landing strip when required, helping maintain critical access during emergencies and severe weather events.
For too long, critical resilience infrastructure in regional Queensland was left in the too-hard basket under the former Labor Government while communities continued to face disruptions caused by severe weather.
The project will provide safer and more reliable access for regional communities, freight operators and emergency services, improving connectivity and ensuring the region is better prepared when flooding impacts transport routes.
Works include widening and strengthening the pavement, sealing the facility for all-weather use and creating clear zones to meet aircraft safety requirements.
The new airstrip forms part of a broader package of flood resilience upgrades on the Burke Developmental Road following significant monsoonal flooding between December 2022 and April 2023, which caused repeated road closures, overtopping of crossings and prolonged disruption to communities and freight movements.
“The Dunbar emergency airstrip is a practical investment that will provide safer, more reliable access for regional communities when they need it most,” Transport Minister Mickelberg said.
“Whether it’s supporting emergency responses, keeping freight moving or maintaining access during the wet season, this project will deliver lasting benefits for Far North Queensland.
“During Labor’s decade of decline, too many regional communities were left waiting for the infrastructure needed to strengthen disaster resilience and keep communities connected.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section) CEO Meredith Staib said reliable access infrastructure played a critical role in supporting emergency response operations across remote and flood-prone parts of the State.
“Improved access options can make a significant difference during emergencies, particularly when flooding or severe weather impacts road connections,” Ms Staib said. “Projects like the Dunbar emergency airstrip help strengthen response capability and support communities and those in need during challenging conditions.”
Getting in and out of there in the wet will be a bit of a problem even though there is a bridge being built over the Mitchell River at Dunbar Station ,all those tidal rivers will still be impassable when cyclonic rains cross the east coast and head inland flooding the Mitchell and the Norman River catchment areas .
An engineering mystery is that the road heading north from Normanton during the wet are the river crossings in that the bridges are always underwater , a vehicle can drive up to each water crossing during the dry and find they have to drive down onto the bridge because the bridges were not built at the height at the top of the river banks and those crossings being tidal it takes forever to cross while waiting for the catchment areas to drain which could be an awful long time and this is what causes a lot of mercantile suffering in Far North Qld waiting and waiting for the rivers to drop .
I propose a simple solution of raising the bridges using the existing bridge foundations to support installing Bailey Bridges across each gap and that can be accomplished by Army engineers and paid for from the defence budget seeing that road is of national importance and to help pay off the cost in the long term each tidal river crossing be converted into hydro power weirs stopping the tidal reach impeding gulf river run off into the Gulf of Carpentaria to supply permanent tidal power to Normanton & Kurumba & Burketown and any one else nearby.
Another earner that should seriously be considered to help pay for it all would be to dredge the sand of the Mitchell River and sell it via shipping from the Gulf of Carpentaria seeing there is a big shortage ;so much so that supply is expected to run out by 2050 in the northern hemisphere so selling sand to China and Vietnam and those other countries that are always pouring concrete in that geographical zone would be a long term project supplying sand and employing the black fellas from nearby communities would be a big win for the State of Qld and those locals surviving on Federal Government Centrelink payments would be earning wages instead which should instil a working mindset into the younger people seeking to lift them out of depending on Centrelink to exist .