Bruce Highway, Cairns Southern Access Corridor (Stage 3), Edmonton to Gordonvale, construction
A total transport solution is being undertaken to provide long-term improvements to traffic flow and road safety through reducing congestion, highway travel time and improving road access.
A 10.5km upgrade and duplication of the Bruce Highway between Edmonton and Gordonvale is being delivered. The project is Stage 3 of the Cairns Bruce Highway Upgrade Master Plan released in 2010.
This project will deliver significant safety improvements along this section of the Bruce Highway, which is the busiest 2-lane section of the Bruce Highway between Brisbane and Cairns.
Under the 15-year, $13 billion Bruce Highway Upgrade Program, the department is continuing to invest in safety, flood resilience and capacity upgrades along the Bruce Highway between Brisbane and Cairns.
Benefits
- Improves safety
- Increases capacity
- Improves network efficiency
- Increases traffic flow
- Reduces peak hour congestion
- Better road access
- Contributes to regional growth
- Better active transport
- Contributes to economy
Key features
- Duplication of all existing 2 lane sections of the Bruce Highway between Edmonton and Gordonvale to 4 lanes.
- A new alignment for the Bruce Highway to the eastern side of the existing highway between Petersen Road and Warner Road.
- A new signalised intersection at Petersen Road and upgraded signalised intersections at Draper Road and Riverstone Road.
- Over 10km of new service roads to remove local trips from the highway.
- Realignment and upgrade of 4.5km of the Queensland Rail North Coast Line to accommodate the duplicated highway.
- Removal of multiple at grade rail crossings and upgrade of boom gates at other crossings.
- New road and rail bridges at Wrights Creek and Stoney Creek.
- New Bruce Highway road overpass south of Maitland Road connecting Pine Creek-Yarrabah Road and Maitland Road.
- Relocation of existing cane rail lines at locations to accommodate the duplicated highway.
- Gabay Gubudala pedestrian overpass south of Draper Road, a new pedestrian underpass north of Draper Road and pedestrian path on the Menmuny Overpass overpass south of Maitland Road.
- Luke Azzopardi Cycleway, a dedicated off-road high-speed cycleway from Riverstone Road to tie into the existing pathway at Thompson Road.
- Several intersections and direct accesses to the existing Bruce Highway will either be partially closed or removed to improve traffic flow and increase road safety on the highway.
- Changes to the highway completed through this project will allow the posted speed to be 100km/hr from north of the Draper Road intersection to south of Petersen Road intersection.
Infrastructure naming
We are proud to announce 10 new pieces of infrastructure have been officially named on the project, following more than 50 public submissions.
The new names recognise the Edmonton and Gordonvale area's local identities and rich Indigenous culture.
- Gabay Gubudala (ga-buy gooboo-daala) Overpass, for the pedestrian overpass at Gordonvale. Gabay means 'path' and Gubudala means 'to Gordonvale' in the local Yidinji dialect.
- Menmuny (MEN-murn-ih) Overpass, for the Pine Creek – Yarrabah Road / Maitland Road overpass. Menmuny was an Indigenous leader for the area.
- Bama (BUM-uh) Way Road, for the Jones Road / Pine Creek – Yarrabah Road connector. Bama is the Indigenous word for 'people', commonly used by the Yidinji-speaking Indigenous people of the Cairns area.
- Djarragun (JARRUH-gurn) Way, for the Old Bruce Highway / New Maitland Road connector. The Yindinji name for Walsh's Pyramid is Djarragun.
- John Davies Bridge, for the Wrights Creek bridge. Mr John and Mrs Eliza Davies are buried 200m upstream from Wrights Creek bridge. Mr Davies was an active and well-respected member of the Gordonvale community.
- Kamma (KAMM-uh) Road, for the Warner Road to Harris Road connector. The word 'kamma' has been associated with the area for thousands of years by the Yidinji people, and also for generations of more recent settlers, who named a railway stop in that area Kamma after the Indigenous word.
- Jashar Bridge, for the Stoney Creek bridge. The Jashar family were, and remain, respected and active members of the Gordonvale community.
- Clyde Coleman Bridge, for the Collinson Creek cycleway bridge. Mr Coleman lived close to the bridge and was a prominent naturalist, with 6 spider species named after him.
- Luke Azzopardi Cycleway, for the Gordonvale to Cairns cycleway. Mr Azzopardi was a Gordonvale resident who was well-respected and made significant contributions to sport and the community during his short life.
- Warren and Linda Pitt Way, for the section of the Bruce Highway from Gordonvale to Edmonton. Mr Pitt is a former long-serving member of the Queensland Parliament for the seat of Mulgrave. Mr and Mrs Pitt remain active and respected members of the Gordonvale community.
Thank you to everyone who put forward a submission.
Gabay Gubudala Pedestrian Overpass concept
Note: Certain aspects of the scope included in this concept design may change as design progresses.
Funding
The project is jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments on an 80:20 (federal:state) basis. Investment ID 383276
- Total investment
- $535 million
- Australian Government
- $428.01 million
- Queensland Government
- $106.99 million
Project flyover
Current status
Pavement works have been completed across multiple sections of the project. Realignment and upgrade of 4.5km of Queensland Rail's North Coast Line was completed in April 2022. Bridge construction is progressing at Wrights Creek and Stoney Creek, and works are progressing for the Gabay Gubudala and Menmuny Overpasses.
The first section of realigned Bruce Highway, between Riverstone Road and Draper Road, was opened to motorists on 23 June 2022.
The second realigned section of the Bruce Highway between north of Draper Road and Maitland Road was opened on 29 June 2022.
Project map
View Bruce Highway, Cairns Southern Access Corridor (Stage 3), Edmonton to Gordonvale, construction project map
