$50 million to boost Bruce Highway resilience in north Queensland

Flood resilience on the Bruce Highway will be boosted by a $50 million project to upgrade a notoriously flood-prone section of the route between Ingham and Innisfail in north Queensland.

For more than a decade, the dangerous stretch from Gairloch to Ripple Creek, known locally as the ‘S-bend’, has regularly flooded causing serious crashes, disrupting vital supply services and leaving communities isolated.

Upgrades to the highway will address these long-standing challenges and help keep north Queensland connected and functional during extreme weather events.

With detailed designs now complete, the resilience building project will shortly go to tender. Construction is expected to commence next year.

Essential works including wide centreline treatments, upgraded culverts to improve drainage, and road widening will create a safer, more durable transport route that will reduce the impacts of severe weather on local communities. 

The upgrades form part of the Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Program (QRRRP), a $450 million initiative jointly funded under the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) and administered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA).

This project is a continuation of recent improvements along the highway, following the $48 million Gairloch Floodway project currently in the design stage. 

Alongside this project, the Queensland and Australian Governments are progressing the $205 million DRFA Betterment program, which includes further upgrades to the Bruce Highway and other critical state-owned roads impacted by the North and Far North Queensland flood event earlier this year.