Building back better transforms Mount Sylvia Road
Mount Sylvia Road is the lifeline for rural farming communities south of Gatton in Queensland's Lockyer Valley, a region known as Queensland’s food bowl due to its rich agricultural production.
This critical connection supports farmers with the transport of essential supplies, crops, and equipment while also providing access for social and emergency services.
But its proximity to nearby Tenthill Creek and Blackfellow Creek has made Mount Sylvia Road highly vulnerable to damage.
Repeated flooding of the adjacent water courses, swollen by seasonal rain, has taken a heavy toll on the road.
A series of flooding events during 2022, including a soaking of 201mm of rain over just 10 days in May at Upper Tenthill, severely impacted Mount Sylvia Road.
The deluge washed away Robinson’s Crossing and badly damaged multiple floodways along the road.
Emergency repairs allowed traffic to resume by June 2022, but more permanent reconstruction was required to bolster the road’s usability and resilience.
With support through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) employed a “build back better” approach to increase the resilience of the road and region guided by key principles of safety, resilience, and cost-effectiveness.
Starting in July 2024, reconstruction and betterment works included extending five key floodways between Left-hand Branch Road and Lunds Road to improve their water-carrying capacity and prevent overtopping during floods.
Concrete batter reinforcement and culvert enhancements were also added to future-proof the road against severe weather events.
These measures were meticulously planned, with sediment removal, table drain cleaning, and repairs to damaged drainage systems ensuring consistent water flow during seasonal creek surges.
In March 2025, the resilience of these upgrades were tested as rainfall from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred caused flooding throughout South East Queensland, including the Lockyer Valley.
Remarkably, the newly reinforced Mount Sylvia Road withstood the flooding with only minor silt cleaning required, a testament to the robustness of the betterment measures.
Completed in September 2025, the upgraded Mount Sylvia Road now offers a flood-resilient and safer route for the farming community.
The project’s success highlights the DRFA Betterment Fund’s significant role in strengthening regional infrastructure to withstand Queensland’s challenging and dynamic climate.
By rebuilding a flood-prone asset with innovative, resilience-enhancing solutions, Mount Sylvia Road has been transformed into a reliable, year-round connection for the Lockyer Valley community.
Crucially, it will minimise disruptions caused by future extreme weather events.
