General News
8 July, 2025
Crucial bridge approved
THE start of the new $25.4 million Casuarina St bridge at Holloways Beach has been given the go ahead by Cairns Regional Council.
The project was officially launched at last week’s fortnightly meeting and will replace a temporary causeway which was installed after Cyclone Jasper in December 2023.
Division 8 councillor Ronda Coghlan told the meeting that she had been “putting her hand up for this for the past 15 to 16 months”.
“I can’t wait to see it go ahead. The community every week asks me when it will commence,” she said.
Cr Coghlan said the money was in the budget and it was “good to go”.
A council report said a Australian Government Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) grant of $25.4m had been allocated for the new bridge after Richter Creek (a distributary of the Barron River) broke out through the road formation and foreshore dune, creating a secondary creek mouth and isolating 56 properties in December, 2023.
“Construction of the bridge by the council’s works department is expected to provide a significant reduction in flood levels to approximately 100 properties in future large storm events,” it said.
The new bridge will be 80m long and 15m wide and includes an off-road shared path.
