Just eight days to bridge gap in crucial access link
Ordinarily, truckies tooting their horns as they rolled through the main street of town in the middle of the night would not receive a hero’s welcome.
But Monday 10 February 2025 was no ordinary day and the 300 or so trucks driving into flood ravaged Ingham was certainly no ordinary convoy.
This arrival was a godsend, delivering badly needed supplies to north Queensland communities that had been isolated for more than a week after floodwaters split a crucial connecting bridge on the Bruce Highway and also cut the inland freight route.
That the convoy was able to get through was testament to the hard work of road crews from Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), and Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel.
Rewind to 2 February 2025 when Ollera Creek, roughly halfway between Townsville and Ingham, was swollen from days of heavy rain dumped by a stubborn tropical low that simply refused to budge.
Something had to give, and it did so that afternoon, spectacularly and disastrously.
Raging floodwaters washed away a section of Ed Kratzmann Bridge over Ollera Creek at Mutarnee, about 45 minutes north of Townsville.
Understandably with supplies to the north disrupted, including essentials like food and fuel, isolated communities were deeply concerned.
Once floodwaters receded to safe levels, TMR prioritised emergency works to reopen the crucial link.
Urgent inspections were undertaken on 3 February to assess damage and plan emergency repairs.
With assistance from the ADF, work commenced 5 February to build a temporary bridge structure to get critical emergency services and supplies into isolated areas.
The single-lane bridge opened the next day for emergency vehicles only, operating during daylight hours, with emergency works undertaken at night.
TMR fast-tracked repairs to the bridge to reopen it to heavy vehicles on 10 February, allowing the convoy, carrying its cargo of essential goods and equipment, to roll into Ingham and eventually Cairns.
After additional reconstruction works, Ed Kratzmann Bridge was reopened to general traffic the following day.
The effort to reopen the bridge was nothing short of herculean.
TMR crews worked around 1,200 cumulative hours, the equivalent of working 24/7 for nearly two months, in ongoing heavy rainfall to reopen the bridge.
More than 2,100 millimetres of rainfall was recorded at Mutarnee over the first 12 days of February, over four times the average for the entire month.
A day shift of 12 workers managed site operations and logistics while a night shift of 10 workers focused on preparing materials and equipment to ensure continuous progress.
Approximately 50 dump trucks were used in the repair, moving more than 13 cubic metres of concrete, 960 tonnes of 500mm foundation rock, 650 tonnes of 300mm embankment rock, 90 tonnes of sand, 400 tonnes of recycled crushed concrete, and 88 tonnes of asphalt.
Once Ed Kratzmann Bridge reopened, further improvements have been undertaken, including upstream rock placements to protect the reinstated approach embankment, with all recovery works following the flood damage jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
