Bruce Highway - Upgrades

Upgrades

One of the largest and major deviations of the Bruce Highway was the Bald Hills to Burpengary Deviation. Beginning construction in 1972, the new route took traffic from Gympie Road at Bald Hills to Uhlmann Road at Burpengary along a much more superior alignment which was also constructed to four lanes. The new route was officially opened on 10 November 1977 at a total cost of $20 million.

Due to the nature of wet weather and tropical cyclone prone areas of North Queensland, Bruce Highway is prone to frequent flooding in a number of places. Following the catastrophic Queensland floods in 2010–2011 the Australian Government have commissioned a feasibility study on flood-proofing the Bruce Highway. The feasibility study is to be completed by the middle of 2011.

Bruce Highway is set to undergo redevelopment, realignment, flood-proofing and extension of dual carriageway sections on numerous stretches of the Highway. Ex Premier Anna Bligh announced the plans while launching the Queensland Infrastructure Plan. The works are expected to total A$2 billion and include 60 projects over a period of two decades.

A stretch of road between Cardwell and Tully, which is prone to frequent flooding in the wet season, is set to undergo realignment. A new route for the highway through Townsville was under construction with the first stage of the Townsville Ring Road (now called The Ring Road) already completed.

Upgrade to a stretch of the highway north of Townsville has been given approval, and will see the existing dual carriageway to the north extended by another 5–10 km. It will also include installation of traffic lights at Mt Low Parkway, and will be the final stage of the Ring Road link up to this section by 2015. The Queensland Main Roads Department's ultimate concept map of the development also shows that the highway will also progressively become Motorway standard by 2015, with the implementation of interchanges at various junctions.

The highway south of Cairns will also see sections of the highway to the suburb of Edmonton become six lanes, with progressive dual-carriageway redevelopment of the highway to Gordonvale. Labour candidate Jim Turnour has also put ahead that stage 1 of the Cairns Southern Motorway will begin with overpasses at Ray Jones Drive and Sheehy Road if elected.

To improve flood immunity of the highway south of Childers, a new and improved road alignment and a higher bridge over the Isis River were completed in September 2011.

Between Caboolture and the Gateway Motorway, the highway has been widened to eight and six lanes since 2001, including the Dohles Rocks Road to Boundary Road section in October 2004, the Boundary Road to Uhlmann Road section in March 2007, and the latest section Uhlmann Road to Bribie Island Road in November 2009. Further upgrades are under review.

A new interchange is destined to be constructed at the notorious intersection of Roys Road at Beerwah. It will also connect to the nearby Bells Creek Road, another dangerous intersection. This follows a similar situation at Buchanans Road in Morayfield, the intersection of which was replaced by an interchange in October 1996.

The Nambour Bypass has recently gone through a process of rehabilitation due to the extremely rough surface and dangerous pothole appearances during wet weather. This work was completed in 2009.

As of 2010 part of a federally funded 61 km bypass of Gympie has commenced early works, as part of the larger Cooroy to Curra upgrade of the highway. Due to the new highway change (peaking completion in 2012), one of the schools, Federal State School, was relocated.