Death trap needs to go
$11 million to find alternative to Kuranda Range Road
If the Captain Cook Highway is blocked for any length of time Douglas Shire residents usually head for the tablelands and a trip down the death trap they call the Kuranda Range. But it’s the road from hell with horrific car crashes with tragic loss of life or blocked for hours as cranes lift out a mangled B-Double or two.
And it’s not just humans who suffer, it’s a place Cassowaries fear to tread because so many of them die on this nightmare route.
However, this dreadful road is like the weather, everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it. Reports seem to end up in politician’s drawers down in Brisbane or covered in dust on a shelf. But today could be the beginning of change with the seeking of an alternative way to get to and from Cairns and give this road the flick.
Meeting of minds
There was a meeting of minds today and a bundle of cash, $11 million to be exact, to finally get a little less talk and a lot more action. Present were Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch, Senator Susan McDonald, LNP candidate for Kennedy Bryce Macdonald, Douglas Shire Mayor and North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils chair Michael Kerr and Advance Cairns chairman Nick Tromp. They are all on the same page, something needs to be done and urgently. Senator McDonald, the Special Envoy for Northern Australia, said this money will be used to find an alternative to a road that’s, in her words, under pressure. “The road is at capacity, and you see that every day with the number of closures and this money from the Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, as Minister for Infrastructure, is an important piece of funding that needs to be matched by the State Government” she said. “That $22 million goes towards accessing the opportunities, the different engineering studies for an alternate route to go up and down to the tablelands”.
Unacceptable level of Cassowary deaths
Warren Entsch says this talkfest, that’s been going on for decades, must stop and positive action taken. “The solution is outside the Kuranda Range” he said, “there will always be problems with that road and you can’t teach Cassowaries to run faster and we’ve had an unacceptable level of Cassowary deaths in the past and that will continue”. Mr Entsch told Newsport it’s not a matter of doing another study on the Kuranda Range “We’ve got a bucketful of those, we’ve got all the information we need, I know of at least 3 viable alternatives, but they haven’t been costed and they haven’t been engineered, let’s not wait another decade and kick the can down the road, this can be done in the next 12 to 18 months”. North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils chair Michael Kerr also welcomed the announcement. “We’re very grateful for this, at least it gives us a step in the right direction and hopefully the State Government puts their portion in to make this happen”
Build above the road
Jax Bergersen from the Kuranda Conservation Community Nursery has welcomed the injection of funds to find an alternative to the Kuranda Range Road and news of a possible engineering plan. “I think the perfect solution would be a highway, an overpass if you like, above the ground on pylons, so that the ground remains untouched, and the Cassowaries and other animals are safe”. Ms Bergersen says that would also make the road safe, “they could call it the Cassowary Corridor” she said. The ball is now in the State Governments court.