Advocates for the reopening of Duck Creek Road are a step closer following the news of a Federal Government grant for the design of the road.
Jodie O’Reilly said the $76,086.10 grant was welcomed, but it still leaves a shortfall of $50,000 in funding to get the project shovel ready.
“We were all excited to hear about the grant, but it is not enough for the design work to be finished,” she said.
“We are very grateful that Scenic Rim Regional Council received this grant.”
Jodie walked the road at the end of 2022 and said there were two or three areas that would require significant work to reopen the road.
The funding has been received from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.
An estimate for the design is in the order of $200,000.
A Council spokesperson said a detailed design is required to better understand the cost to reopen the road.
“Council has a design budget within the recently approved budget that can be utilised to fund the shortfall.”
“Council will proceed to calling quotes for the detailed design in the near future.”
Approximately $30,000 is being held by Beaudesert Chamber of Commerce from donations received via a donation box when the road was open.
The reopening of Duck Creek Road was discussed at the recent Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport’s (DTIS) Tourism Resilience Platform (TRP) Workshop for Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Logan, Ipswich and Scenic Rim regions.
Managing Director of O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, Shane O’Reilly said Duck Creek Road was identified as the top priority for Ipswich and Scenic Rim Councils at the workshop.
Shane said the closure of Duck Creek Road doesn’t affect the Retreat’s business, but severely impacts accommodation businesses in the Kerry Valley.
If the road was reopened it would also enable the Retreat to attract more staff from the Kerry Valley and Beaudesert.
“We could employ 10 to 12 more people from the area who find the travel through Canungra to be too onerous,” he said.
Division 3 Councillor Virginia West, who also chairs the Scenic Valleys Regional Road Group and is a member of the Local Government Association of Queensland’s Roads and Transport Advisory Group said the Australian Government’s support through its Disaster Ready Fund towards the detailed design for the reconstruction of Duck Creek Road will be welcomed by the local and wider Scenic Rim community as well as visitors to our region.
“The eventual re-opening of this road will provide an alternative evacuation route for the area and enable bushfire mitigation measures, such as back burning, to be carried out in the future.”
