Newsroom

June 13, 2024

Member for Hill, Shane Knuth, has used state parliament to call on the Government and Opposition to show some vision and commit to constructing a fast-track inland highway between Kuranda and Cairns.

Knuth's call comes after Professor Delwar Akbar, director of CQ University's Centre for Regional Economics and Supply Chains, highlighted the lack of transport options between the Tablelands and Cairns as a critical bottleneck on growth that must be addressed if the region is to use its agricultural and mineral assets to transform into an economic powerhouse of the Pacific.

Professor Akbar identified the bridle track, a $1.5 billion alternative inland route, as a potential solution.
"The KAP has championed the bridle track for over a decade and former leaders, visionaries and the tablelands community have been pushing for this for over 40 years," said Knuth.

"The Kuranda Range Road stifles economic growth and hinders the Tablelands from realizing its true agriculture and mining potential."

TMR data reveals the road closes on average 44 times per year, with each closure lasting an average of 6.6 hours.

"The road is a traffic bottleneck, causing daily frustration to 10,000 road users every day, due to constant closures and long stoppages," Knuth stated.

"It's disgraceful that the Governments best solution is to install speed monitoring cameras."

Knuth highlighted that an estimated $450 million will be needed to rebuild or replace the Barron River Bridge.

"While reopening the bridge quickly is essential in the short-term, it doesn't address the long-term issue of the Kuranda Range Road.

For an additional $1 billion, we could bypass the Barron River entirely with an inland highway, providing a direct route to the coast," Knuth argued.

Knuth asserts that the Tablelands could be an agricultural and mining force in the region, but the lack of government vision has held it back significantly.

"It's unbelievable that the Government can lavishly spend $6 billion on a cross-river rail project in Brisbane, yet refuses to fund a fast-track inland highway ," Knuth said.

"We are missing out on billions in gross revenue due to the Government's lack of vision and urgency in linking the Tablelands to the coast."

"We can rebuild the Barron River Bridge, but it won't solve the issues on the Kuranda Range Road," Knuth concluded.