On the road to recovery...

Reconstruction of safer and more resilient road network

Over 300 kilometres of state-managed roads across the Mackay-Whitsunday-Isaac region are set for major reconstruction works over the coming years, though Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA).

Although the wet season just passed was, for the shires of Mackay, Whitsunday and Isaac, even milder than predicted, roads across the region are still showing the effects of the severe wet season experienced in 2010-11. During that drenching, over 500 kilometres of the region's 2600 kilometre state-controlled road network was damaged.

A Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) spokesperson said that, by May last year, the department had carried out $35million in urgent repairs to return the roads to operational standard.

"Our focus is now on reconstructing a safer and more resilient road network," she said.

"Works will mainly include pavement stabilisation and overlay to ensure the state-controlled road network is better able to cope with similar weather events in the future.

"This work will mean many damaged roads will be reconstructed to modern standards, with thicker road pavement and often a widening of the surface and sealed shoulders."

The $490 million reconstruction program of works, a part of the former ALP government's massive Operation Queenslander initiative, has been made possible through the NDRRA, under which the Federal Government provides 75 per cent of funding for works, with 25 per cent coming from the State Government.

Works will be occurring on 300km of state-controlled roads, including major arterial routes such as the Peak Downs Highway, Bruce Highway, Suttor Developmental Road, Fitzroy Developmental Road, and Bowen Developmental Road, and around thirty other roads across the region. Planned works will be occurring progressively until mid-2014.

Reconstruction work on the Peak Downs Highway alone is valued at $74million.

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