The Queensland Government will invest almost $3 million to progress planning for Six Mile Creek Bridge and the Cooroy Noosa Road-Beckmans Road intersection in 2020.
Queensland Transport and Main Roads MinIster, Mark Bailey, said the funding would support final design work and pre-construction activities for both projects.
“The importance of these upgrades has been regularly raised with my office by Noosa MP, Sandy Bolton, and the Noosa Regional Council,” Mr Bailey said.
“They’ve made it clear that replacing the old one-lane timber bridge is one of the top road safety priorities for their communities.”
Mr Bailey said more than 4000 vehicles use the bride daily and it has closed 13 times since 2010 due to flooding.
“Those numbers leave little doubt that a larger and more flood resilient two-way bridge is needed there.
“Installing a new roundabout at the increasingly busy Beckmans Road intersection has also come up frequently in my discussions about roads up there.
“Fixing that intersection is really the first stage of delivering the Tewantin Bypass, which is a project that has been talked about for 20 years or more.
“We will invest $1.8 million on a design for that upgrade and seek to enter into an agreement with council so the project can move ahead.”
Mr Bailey said work to determine the final designs and costs for each project would start by mid-2020.
“We believe the total cost to deliver both projects will be about $30 million, so securing the full level funding will be a decision in a future budget.
“However, we need to do this final stage of planning to determine the costs, so this is an important step for each upgrade.”
The announcement comes shortly after the release of designs for the next Bruce Highway upgrade between Cooroy to Curra.
“Early works have started on the $1 Billion Cooroy to Curra Section D upgrade, which will see 26 kilometres of new four-lane, divided highway constructed east of Gympie,” Mr Bailey said.
“That project is a major highlight in the Palaszczuk Government’s $3.13 billion investment in Sunshine Coast road infrastructure over the next four years.
“We’ve also introduced lower speed limits on a number of hinterland roads in the Noosa region over the past 12 months following feedback from the local community.
“We’ll keep that conversation going with the community about its roads and transport priorities, and we’re pleased we could provide some good news on these projects with them ahead of the Christmas break.”
