The renewed interest in upgrading north Queensland’s Hann Highway to offer a floodproof inland route all the way from Cairns to Melbourne has lifted the spirits of struggling rural communities.
As well as providing a boost to those working in livestock, mining and freight, grey nomads and other adventurous travellers could be the big beneficiaries of new funding pledges.
“We are hoping now, once this is completed, that the tourists will do a loop, that they’ll either come up the Bruce and then back down through us or vice-versa,” Flinders Shire Mayor, Jane McNamara, told the ABC. “Last year we had 21,000 people come through our information centre in Hughenden and I would guess only about 500 of them would have come up through the Hann.”
The Coalition has just committed $42 million from a pool of money announced in last year’s Northern Australia White Paper to upgrade two sections of the Hann Highway (Kennedy Developmental Road).
It would see 36 kilometres of the remaining 100 kilometres of unsealed road between The Lynd and Hughenden progressively upgraded, and more than three kilometres of existing single-lane sealed road between Mount Garnet and the Lynd widened to two lanes and strengthened.
The work would take about five years to complete. A fully upgraded Hann Highway would potentially cut up to 15 hours off the driving journey from Cairns to Melbourne.
The RACQ is calling for bipartisan support for the upgrade.
“Regionally Queensland needs a lot of not just upgrade works but maintenance works, so it’s not just a one hit that will solve the problem,” said Lauren Ritchie from the Queensland motoring organisation. “We’ll need to see continual funding for regional Queensland.”
* Have you travelled the Hann Highway? Would you travel that inland route if the road was better? Comment below.
