General News
14 July, 2026
October completion date for Kuranda Range Road landslip
WORKS to rebuild a major landslip at the Henry Ross Lookout on the Kuranda Range Road will be finished by October, according to the latest update on the project.
To finish the works, which includes reinstating the road bitumen surface and installing a new guardrail, the Department of Transport and Main Roads has advised that night closures on the range road will start again on 2 August and continue through until 24 September.
“Repairs are on track to be completed and two-way traffic restored in October 2026, site and weather conditions permitting,” the update advised.
“An 11-metre-high gabion basket wall has been completed as part of reconstruction of the major downslope slip below Henry Ross Lookout.
“Work is now focussed on rebuilding the traffic lane and rehabilitating the access track.”
TMR said work was ongoing at a second site, 1.5km towards Kuranda from the Henry Ross Lookout, where three downslope slips were being stabilised.
“Emergency repairs and a reduced speed limit allowed TMR to initially reopen this section to two-way traffic until permanent repairs started,” the update advised.
TMR has also defended wait times for traffic using the Kuranda Range Road, releasing data that showed 96.3% of journeys uphill had a delay of less than five minutes; 3.5% of journeys uphill had a delay of 5-10 minutes; and less than 1% of journeys uphill had a delay of more than 10 minutes.
For downhill journeys, the data showed 98.4% of journeys had a delay of less than five minutes; 1.5% of journeys had a delay of 5-10 minutes; and less than 1% of journeys had a delay of more than 10 minutes.
The longest delay uphill was 12 minutes on 2 June due to a vehicle incident, and on 5 June and 19 June due to “increased traffic flows”.
The longest delay downhill was 12 minutes on 19 June due to “increased traffic flows” and 10 minutes on 12 June due to a vehicle incident.
“TMR uses real-time travel data to fine-tune our works program and investigate when there are longer delays than we would expect. This data is provided by an independent third-party,” the update advised.
“We acknowledge that while the aim is to keep delays along the entire length of Kuranda Range Road to an average of 10 minutes, there are times during peak traffic flows where this is not being achieved.”
As of this month, TMR says it has completed works at 30 sites (25 sites on Kuranda Range Road and five sites on Kennedy Highway from Kuranda to Mareeba).
There were four downslope sites currently under repair, with works to continue until the end of 2026, TMR said.
Meanwhile, the Barron River bridge at Kuranda will be reduced to single-land traffic again to allow for the quarterly Barron River bridge inspection and maintenance program to coincide with the scheduled night closures.
Works will start on 3 August and end on 28 August.
The bridge will be reduced to single-lane traffic over the four weeks, with short, intermittent full closures for the final two weeks (17-28 August).
Full closures will be halted for the midnight let through until all queued traffic has cleared.
The bridge maintenance works will be carried out every night, including Friday and Saturday when the range road is open.
TMR has also advised that geotechnical investigations will be carried out at night from 19-21 July between the Barron River bridge and Black Mountain Road to support planning and design for the bridge replacement project.
Single-lane closures will be in place between 7pm and 6am and motorists should allow additional travel time for up to five minutes.
