General News
14 August, 2021
Funding for road projects
The government has announced major funding for the $5 million first stage of the Captain Cook Highway widening project along with other critical road infrastructure upgrades and improvement.
The $44 million funding for the Road Safety Program is subject to ‘use it or lose it’ provisions and will deliver life-saving treatments on regional roads and protect vulnerable road users across Queensland while also supporting local jobs and providing a welcome boost to local economies.
The ‘use it or lose it’ provisions require states and territories to use their notionally allocated funds within a timeframe, or the funds can be reallocated to projects in other jurisdictions.
Other projects listed as part of the $44.1 million funding boost include:
Stage 1 of the Mossman-Daintree Road upgrade will receive $8 million, Malanda-Atherton Road overtaking lanes will receive $3.6 million.
The Palmerston Highway between Innisfail and Ravenshoe will receive $2 million for safety upgrades.
In Cairns, the Mulgrave and Balaclava Roads intersection will receive $3.25 million and $5.2 million is allocated to widen Mareeba-Dimbulah Road.
Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport Scott Buchholz said road safety was a key priority for the Government and this investment in road upgrades would provide a boost to the economy while ensuring Australians can get home sooner and safer.
“Making our roads safer is a critical component of our work to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads and move towards achieving vision zero—that is zero deaths or serious injuries on our roads by 2050,” Mr Buchholz said.
“We are also investing significantly in other life-saving road safety initiatives including the Black Spot Program, Targeted Road Safety Works initiative and Road Safety Innovation Fund.
“This additional funding complements that work, resulting in an even greater roll out of improved infrastructure and roads right across the nation.”
