General News
3 December, 2025
$50m for highway upgrades
A FLOOD-prone section of the Bruce Highway in North Queensland is set to be upgraded with $50 million of resilience works to improve a stretch of road between Innisfail and Ingham.
Detailed designs are now complete for improvements to the Gairloch to Ripple Creek section, in the Seymour River area, with the project scheduled to go out to tender in coming months with construction expected to get underway next year.
The crucial works will include safety upgrades, wide centreline treatment, replacing culverts to improve drainage, widening the road and reconstructing the highway to a more resilient standard.
Federal Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain said “by replacing ageing culverts and strengthening the pavement, we’re ensuring this stretch of highway can better withstand the floods that impact the region year after year,” she said.
Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister Brent Mickelberg said the works were a long-term, generational investment to help keep North Queensland communities open and moving during the next disaster.
“For more than a decade this section of road has been a choke point as it floods regularly during the storm season and holds up logistics, so we are going to deliver the road improvements the region has been asking for,” he said.
“Workers will be on-site in the next year building a more durable stretch of road that ensures safer and more reliable travel on the Bruce Highway.”
