The entire Kuranda Range road and Bridge has been a sore point here for a decade or more.
Most locals want a tunnel up there, great environmentally but Qld cant afford anything atm let alone a $2 Billion tunnel, with Anna's Games hoovering all the cash up.
There are one or two alternate proposals for traditional roads but they are not much cheaper and will kill trees so they get no airtime.
A resort was proposed before Covid up that way, DTMR (Qld Transport) said NO the range road is AT CAPACITY, no development allowed.
Prior to the last election the tunnel calls came again, DTMR said NO the road is good for another 30 years??
Just after the election the bridge (in the photo) was restricted to one lane while they investigated major cracking and faults, it is 60 years old, after 12 months of traffic jams and repairs it was opened to 2 lanes again, for about 2 months before being reduced to one lane again...
They spent $500000 on a study asking locals would they like a NEW bridge or repair the old one...any guesses what the answer was?
They decided to spend $40 million and dig 7km of cables to enable changeable traffic speed limit signs and traffic cameras so they can raise (yeah right) and lower the speed limits depending on conditions...with 2 speed cameras attached as well to fund the olympics. This should be active soon. I used to 100kmh in the dry up that hill in my HQ Kingswood back in the day...now its all 60kmh max, with a brief squirt of 70 on the straight to overtake that annoying Southerner in his van...who miraculously speeds up???
All tourists, locals and most freight goes on these roads...freight on the railways up the hill doesnt really happen up here, again Queensland Rail says the tracks are not good enough...so same argument as the road...spend Billions and destroy trees or leave it for the next govt to worry about...they always pick the second one.
The locals are thoroughly sick of the political games with this road, they just want a road that gets them to the tablelands, we have seen the view before, so we can drive over 20kmh unlike the tourists and their caravans poking along and refusing point blank to move over where the road allows in several spots. There is often a mobile speed camera "for safety" in these spots but.
Then every time it rains, and also sometimes when it doesn't, some wombat will go over the edge meaning the road will be shut for 4-6 hours while the crash is cleaned up and invesigated.
RB didnt say how busy it was...but I reckon he could times it by 4 in the peak periods of June/July and see how he likes the drive then.
For those that dont know there are 4 main bitumen roads "up" the hill from the coast around here. Cairns has the Kuranda Range, which we are talking about, one hour North near Mossman is the Rex Range which RB did the other day to Mount Molloy and Cooktown, then 30 minutes South of Cairns at Gordonvale is the Gillies Range, twice as long and twisty as Kuranda but a bit less traffic, Then one hour South at Innisfail is the Palmerston range. So if your preferred road is closed due to accident/flood/roadworks etc it will be 2 hour detour. All suffer from the same problems of regular closures. They are mostly one lane each way and limited overtaking. Though not a road "up" the scenic Cook Highway from Cairns to Port Douglas should be on this list too as it has exactly the same problems.
Cossie these are the only legal roads from tablelands to the coast, 4x4 or not. The Quaid Road from Southedge Lake to Hartleys Creek is gated and has boulders etc blocking it but often the lock is smashed by 4x4 ers and trail bikers, so you may get on it but when you get to the other end it is blocked there or somewhere in the middle. The road was bitumen but never maintained (or built to a good enough standard in the first place according to govco ) and many years of floods and erosion have taken their toll. I am not sure of the current conditions but it is closed and illegal but adventurous people still go on it at their own risk.
There are 4x4 tracks through the forest in various points all over the tablelands but most are circular or to waterfalls/views etc and there are no publicly accessible tracks to the coast...one 4x4 track comes down to Lake Morris Dam and goes across the gated spillway but you need keys from the Water Dept or National Parks. There used to be a tour company with permission for this track but not sure if it still goes. Mountain Bikers and hikers can get away with just jumping the gates but. Then you have the problem of getting back to the top where you left your car...
