A major upgrade of the Mooloolah River Interchange at Mountain Creek on the Sunshine Coast is underway with the Queensland Government locking in $160 million for the project in the 2021-22 state budget.
The state government’s funding is matched by the federal government, bringing total investment in the project to $320 million.
The proposed upgrades on the interchange include a new Mooloolah River crossing connecting the Sunshine Motorway to Kawana Way at Parrearra amd a major new interchange connecting the Sunshine Motorway, Nicklin Way and Kawana Way.
An upgrade of the Sunshine Motorway from two to four lanes between the Kawana Way Interchange and the new Mooloolah River Interchange is also on the agenda.
The Mooloolah River Interchange is one of the Sunshine Coast’s most notorious bottlenecks, experiencing traffic at peak times.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the investment will create 290 jobs and join the pipeline of upgrades in the government’s $52 billion, four-year infrastructure program across the state that are supporting Queensland’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.
“We know fixing the Mooloolah River Interchange is a priority for Sunshine Coast residents,” the Premier said.
“This funding commitment adds to our infrastructure investment on the Sunshine Coast, which includes more than $3.9 billion worth of road and rail upgrades supporting thousands of jobs.
“We’ve significantly upgraded the Bruce Highway between Caloundra Road and the Sunshine Motorway in recent years, so our next focus is on transforming one of the major gateways to Sunshine Coast.”
The Queensland Government has been investing heavily on improving connections between tourism hotspots at Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast to Greater Brisbane. Earlier this month, the state government also committed an extra $46 million to a plan to build a four-lane Tiaro Bypass, taking the total joint funding commitment by state and federal governments to Bruce Highway upgrade to $13 billion.
Treasurer and Minister for Investment Cameron Dick said the Mooloolah River Interchange was one of the key road investments made in the Queensland COVID-19 Economic Recovery Budget.
“The Mooloolah River Interchange is part of a budget that sees us delivering a record investment in roads, with $27.5 billion over four years supporting 24,000 Queensland jobs,” he said.
Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said fixing the Mooloolah River Interchange would deliver major improvements to travel times between Maroochydore, Kawana and growing communities around Caloundra.
“More than 550,000 people are expected to be living on the Sunshine Coast in 20 years, so we need this upgrade to support the growth that is coming and take pressure off Nicklin Way,” Bailey said.
“From an engineering perspective, it’s tricky with needing to traverse rivers, and will have to be designed and delivered in multiple stages to keep traffic flowing.”
The $320 million in joint funding will allow progress on stage one of the project, which involves building a new Karawatha Drive connection to Mooloolaba to resolve the weaving traffic and fully separating local trips from the Sunshine Motorway. A new bridge linking Nicklin Way to Mooloolaba will also be built.
Member for Caloundra Jason Hunt said planning would also start this year for a future motorway parallel to Kawana Way between Parrearra and Meridan Plains, as part of the Southern Sunshine Coast Roads Improvement Study.
“The study will include planning to upgrade the Caloundra Road, Kawana Way Link Road and Bells Creek Arterial Road roundabout,” he said.
“The new 11.6 kilometre Bells Creek Arterial between Caloundra Road and the Bruce Highway should open in late 2022, so that will take some of the pressure off Caloundra Road too.”
For more information about the project, click here.
Related stories:
- Queenslanders asked to share views on Bruce Highway upgrade
- Four-lane Tiaro bypass on Bruce Highway receives federal funding
- Queensland budget outlines $27.5B investment in transport
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