The Department of Transport and Main Roads has claimed that now-infamous works on Port Douglas Road will be finished within a week, with works on the Captain Cook Highway at Craiglie to be completed by the end of this weekend. 

A department spokesperson said operations to lay the final seal on the Port Douglas Road works began yesterday, with each lane of the 1.1-kilometre stretch of works expected to take three days to seal, weather permitting. 

Motorists will face longer delays for this phase of the works as traffic needs to be routed around the recently-applied seals. 

Works at the 600-metre section of road through Craiglie should be all finished by the weekend bar line-marking, which will be completed later in schedule with other line-marking works in the region, according to the spokesperson. 

The works had originally been scheduled to be completed by the end of August but the worse-than-expected condition of the roadbase and interruptions to operations caused TMR to push back the completion date to mid-September when quizzed by The Newsport. 

Business operators and residents are breathing a sigh of relief at the news, with Port Douglas Motel manager Bernie Nagan saying it’ll make life easier, especially for parents. 

“It’s definitely good news,” Mr Nagan said. 

“It’ll be quite good now that there’s not a 20 minute delay just to get in or out of Port Douglas. 

“It’s also good that it’ll be done for the September school holidays.”