The $22 million new bridge over the lower Mitchell River at Dunbar represents a major forward step for the Tropical (Far North) Queensland region based on the regional city of Cairns.
The 450metre-wide river crossing, expected to be trafficable before this Xmas, has long represented a major barrier for linkages between the sub-regions of the Gulf country and Cape York Peninsula.
The Mitchell River basin is Australia’s second largest in water runoff, just behind the whole Murray Darling. The crossing was usually closed for many months during the wet season and even during the dry season and the causeway sand crossing represented a challenge for many vehicles and drivers.
Effectively, the new bridge is a major step forward in the development of a new transport and tourism route dubbed the Dixie Way after the name of an historic station along the route. The northern end of the Dixie Way links up the west side of Cape York from Normanton to link into the Peninsula Development Road near Artemis Station north of Laura.
This route provides a link from the Peninsula for cattle to come down to the Central West ‘Downs’country. It also creates a road link necessary for northern defence.
Importantly, for tourism development, it provides a route for road-borne visitors from the south to come up through the ‘Waltzing Matilda’ country of the central west and proceed through to Cape York and be able to return south via the Tablelands and coastal routes (or vice versa).
The Dixie Way also provides a route for tourists wishing to experience across the whole of northern Australia – up the west coast to the Kimberleys, Top End and the Gulf coming then up to ‘The Tip’ before returning down the east coast.
The new bridge is scheduled to open later this year. Funding for the Project came from the Disaster Recovery Betterment Fund.
Carpentaria Shire at Normanton has been pursuing the upgrading of the Dixie Way and Cummings Economics has been pleased to assist.
I hope the Shire installs a new waterproof flood camera at Dunbar so we can see the water height to see how close it is to going over the new bridge , I suspect that the approaches to either side of the new bridge will be washed away making the bridge impassable
Editor : Think of all the water that flows west of the Bloomfield Range that flow into the Gulf ,flooding out each side of the tidal reach of each waterway covering pastoral land drowning livestock while fresh water is blocked from entering the Gulf because of each incoming tide .
Those bridges will remain covered in fresh water until the Gulf country is drained and that is an expensive wait .
Nev, road won’t be floodproof but river crossing will open much sooner after wet.Ed
Last calculation we made from diesel prices we got from US correspondent was around $10-12 AUD for diesel in US. Which is why they are complaining loudly.Ed
Me: Looking at that photo it looks like the bridge deck is not high enough across the flood plain on either side of the river
Mug Punter: Normanton 271.3 to 286.9 .Kowanyama 3.30 for diesel
Hate to put a dampener on a positive story but travel requires fuel. At $2.65 a litre diesel now equates to 10.00 AU a gallon or 3.8 x $2.65 for the equivalent volume. Currently selling in the US @$4.USD a gallon.
That’s $14.00 in American dollars and more than three times the price they pay. With only twenty seven days supply left the diesel price is slowly rising price as it runs out. Expecting $3.00 by October.
Americans wonder how we can afford such a price but its sadly not the only barrel we are all bent over.
$4 US is $1.05 a litre in comparison so we should be paying $1.40 if we had enough refineries left.
What of the river crossings between Dunbar & Normanton that go under every wet , have they been raised above the flood level ?
Is The bridge when completed well above the height of the biggest flood ever recorded over that crossing. I do not know the area however several new bridges built up North in other areas to solve the flood problem have still been impassable when hit with record flood waters. Hopefully the brains in the planners office have deliberately built a high enough bridge.