Planning for a new freight road linking the Bromelton State Development Area (SDA) with the Mount Lindesay Highway at Woodhill has been welcomed as a way to eventually help get more heavy trucks out of Beaudesert.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the $800,000 planning project for the new Bromelton North-South Arterial Road would assess options for a corridor between Josephville and Woodhill.
Beaudesert Chamber of Commerce President David Kassulke, who is Manager at AJ Bush in the Bromelton SDA, welcomed the news.
“I think it’s a positive thing – fundamentally, trucks and cars don’t mix,” he said.
“Without trucks Australia stops, but we have to consider safety and residential amenity too. And if there’s more opportunities for work, because freight supports industry and jobs, that’s got to be a good thing.”
AJ Bush Transport Manager Gary Bates said it would be a boost for efficiency and safety.
“It’d save us probably 40 minutes on a trip – 20 minutes each way – because you’re not fighting the traffic in through Beaudesert and it’s keeping everything away from the high school and Wongaburra and the service stations that are going to open up there,” he said.
Talks of the arterial road have been under way for some time.
In 2018, the Department of Transport and Main Roads referred to it as part of the Mount Lindesay Highway upgrade to be delivered as part of the SEQ Regional Plan 2017-2041.
In 2019, Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen wrote about the road too, in the context of the TransformingSEQ City Deal Proposition, which the Council of Mayors South East Queensland took to the Federal Government in Canberra.
More than half of the $800,000 announced by Minister Bailey on 4 October had already been spent by June this year, according to the Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program (QTRIP).
Member for Scenic Rim Jon Krause said it had been slow going.
“This is a step in the right direction, and frankly it’s about time. This planning project was announced over two years ago, and yet when I asked about it a few months ago there seemed to be nothing happening at all,” he said.
“Our area is growing. We need more jobs to go with that growth. Road infrastructure into our district, including Bromelton, is the key to growing jobs, encouraging more businesses into the region and making our roads safer.”
