Community & Business
2 March, 2022
State’s engineers to assess road proposal
ENGINEERING experts from the Department of Transport and Main Roads will assess the Reddicliffe Highway for its viability as a future alternative road from the Northern Tablelands to Cairns.
The news comes after the Reddicliffe Highway proponents managed to secure a meeting with Member for Barron River Craig Crawford to discuss the option and left feeling buoyant.
Mr Crawford met with Steering Committee members Ken Harley, Greg Williams and Ron Reddicliffe, who designed the proposed route back in the 1960s, to hear the details of their proposal.
Steering committee spokesperson Mr Harley said the meeting with Mr Crawford was very encouraging and he seemed to take great notice of the work the committee had done.
“It was very encouraging that we were able to talk on a number of aspects including the non-viability of the Kuranda Range road – you cannot just keep flogging a dead horse,” he said.
“Number two, that we desperately need an alternative route decided, the land quarantined and investigations and studies done to proceed with a motorway from Cairns to the Mareeba area.
“We need worldwide environmental experts and motorway experts to become involved.” During the meeting, Mr Harley stressed that their proposal did not include any tunnels as they were not suitable as part of an alternative route due to their cost and restrictions on freighting dangerous goods.
“Definitely no tunnels, they are not viable, the construction cost of a tunnel is way out there, but the real killer of the maintenance cost really rules them out,” Mr Harley said.
“You cannot run dangerous goods through a tunnel so we cannot run the bulk of our trucks, we have got to run them in open air.
“At the moment 1000 trucks a day are using the Kuranda Range Road, with an increase every year of 4.4 per cent.”
Mr Crawford said while the recently released Cairns to Tablelands Access Strategy found there was no need for an alternative route in the foreseeable future, he was happy to meet with the Reddicliffe Highway Steering Committee and listen to their proposal.
“The Cairns to Tablelands Access Strategy, made public last month, found there are no viable alternate route proposals that don’t involve billions of dollars in tunnels or the destruction of thousands of trees in World Heritage-listed rainforest,” he said.
“I’m all for ideas and solutions for the Far North, but they need to be realistic and well thought out, guided by experts, and that would actually work for motorists.
“I am impressed with their research, experience and knowledge and I will be putting this forward at my next DTMR meeting for their engineers to consider.
“I’ll leave it up to the experts to assess and comment on the viability of the proposal.”
The steering committee only just recently met face-to-face with FNQROC Chair Michael Kerr last Wednesday to further discuss the proposal and according to Mr Harley, the meeting was also very productive and encouraging.
They have also previously met with Federal Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch who described the proposed route as the “most practical thing I have seen” and that it warranted “serious consideration”.
