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Minister Bailey to blitz Queensland’s iconic Bruce MAIN Roads and Road Safety Minister Mark Bailey is blitzing the Bruce – setting off today (Wednesday June 21) on a week and a half long road trip of Queensland’s iconic coastal highway. The journey will take in the full 1,652 kilometres from Brisbane to Cairns, and is set to include visits to many of the communities – big and small - that rely on the highway to prosper. Part of that prosperity is being created thanks to the jointly funded 10 year, $8.5 billion Bruce Highway Upgrade Program, which will support 2,394 direct jobs. “The Bruce Highway continues to be a key priority, thanks to the Palaszczuk Government’s commitment to continuously improving safety, flood immunity and capacity on our state’s road network,” Mr Bailey said. “The Bruce Highway Upgrade Program is being rolled out, successfully saving lives all the way up the Queensland coast, and I’m keen to not only see the work that is being done first-hand but also talk to people about our record roads program we’re delivering announced in last week’s Budget.” Mr Bailey said some towns were still struggling with the devastating impacts of Cyclone Debbie, and he wanted to make sure they knew they had not been forgotten and that recovery projects were continuing as fast as possible. “With the significant impacts from Cyclone Debbie felt earlier this year, funding of $105 million has been allocated across Queensland in 2017-18 to undertake restoration works,” he said. Among the locations Mr Bailey will visit are those earmarked for ongoing funding in the Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program 2017-18 to 2020-21 (QTRIP). “The Palaszczuk Government is delivering record funding for road and transport projects across the state as part of the four year QTRIP, which outlines close to $21 billion of investment. The QTRIP 2017-18 to 2020-21 outlines more than $500 million of works in 2017-18 on the Bruce Highway, with a number of key projects and programs underway, including*:
Furthermore, the recent federal and state budgets have seen over $1 billion in savings across the Bruce Highway program reinvested towards new works on the Bruce Highway, namely*:
“And QTRIP doesn’t just deliver great infrastructure, it will also support nearly 17,000 direct jobs over the life of the four year program,” Mr Bailey said. “This is in stark contrast to the Newman-Nicholls Government, which slashed roads funding by $600 million and stalled road infrastructure across Queensland when they were in power.” In addition, Mr Bailey, who is also Energy Minister, will discuss Queensland’s renewable energy boom kick-started by the Palaszczuk Government “In 18 months, Queensland has seen an unprecedented level of renewable energy investment activity with 17 large-scale projects in the pipeline worth $2.2 billion of investment, 2200 jobs and 1200 megawatts if clean power to the state, reducing emissions by 2.8 tonnes a year,” he said. “We’re also backing Queenslanders by investing $1.16 billion in our recently announced Powering Queensland Plan which will put downward pressure cost of living expenses, deliver new jobs and investment and lead the transition to a clean energy future.” (*funding amounts are estimated total project costs) |
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