Bruce highway bridge opens as part of $118.9M upgrade

A new bridge has been opened as part of the $118.9 million Cattle and Frances Creeks Upgrade project to improve freight connectivity, travel reliability, community access to essential services and improve flood immunity.

Traffic between Townsville and Ingham have now switched onto the Cattle Creek Bridge, around 10 kilometres south of Ingham.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure Michael McCormack said the Federal Government is investing in Australia’s country roads to ensure people can get home sooner and safer.

“Spanning the Cattle Creek floodplain area, the new 644-metre-long Cattle Creek Bridge is wider and higher than the old bridge, thereby improving safety for passing vehicles,” Mr McCormack said.

Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey said the upgrades would also help address the impact of flooding.

“The new Cattle Creek Bridge, built to a Q100 flood immunity, will substantially reduce closures of the highway during the wet season,” Mr Bailey said.

“To further reduce the impact of flooding, approximately 5.8 kilometres of highway is also being raised.

“This upgrade is expected to reduce the average annual Bruce Highway road closure time through the area from 29 to three and a half hours,” he said.

Mr Bailey said the bridge is now complete, with efforts now focused on the remaining works which include road widening, drainage and landscaping. The overall project is expected to be completed in late 2018.

The Cattle and Frances Creeks Upgrade project is part of the $10 billion Bruce Highway Upgrade Program.