Central Queensland jobs boosted by $1.4B road building investment

A $1.4 billion road building boom is being delivered by the Queensland Government to support more than 1500 jobs.

The state government has committed $50 billion over four years as part of the Unite and Recover for Queensland Jobs plan.

In a visit to Rockhampton Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the region would play a pivotal role in the state’s economic recovery.

“Our focus now is on getting our economy back up and running and delivering critical infrastructure projects that support local jobs,” Ms. Palaszczuk said.

The 50 billion commitment includes a pipeline of road upgrades in central Queensland, including the Rocky Ring Road which will be the largest road project in the region’s history.

“It’s not just the construction sector but the businesses that support these projects, the whole supply chain, that play an essential role in leading that economic recovery,” she says.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said Central Queensland was in line to benefit from a solid pipeline of major roads investment.

“The upgrades we’re delivering in Rockhampton today on the Bruce and Capricorn highways are already sustaining hundreds of jobs,” Mr. Bailey said.

He said 70 per cent of the workforce on the Bruce Highway upgrade north is local, involving 16 local businesses.

“That guarantees income for local earthmoving and crane hire businesses, for traffic managers and landscapers, for local quarries and fencing companies.”

Member for Rockhampton Barry O’Rourke said jointly-funded projects like the $14.5 million Bajool-Port Alma Road upgrade and the $19 million investment in new overtaking lanes on the Capricorn Highway from Rockhampton to Emerald were also underway.

“These two important road upgrade projects alone are supporting almost 120 local jobs for Central Queensland,” Mr. O’Rourke said.

“Last month, the Palaszczuk Government also pledged $35 million to duplicate Lawrie Street and fix the bottleneck there, so that’s another project we’ll see coming online in the future.”

Central Queensland road and transport projects underway are:

Rockhampton Northern Access Upgrade
$157 million – 425 jobs
Capricorn Highway-Rockhampton to Gracemere Duplication
$75 million – 187 jobs
Road train access to Rockhampton abattoirs: Rockhampton-Emu Park Road
$20 million
Bajool-Port Alma Road upgrade
$14.5 million – 59 jobs
Capricorn Highway overtaking lanes
$19 million – 60 jobs

Projects in planning include: