Bruce Highway (Cooroy to Curra) Section D

The $1 billion Section D: Woondum to Curra project is a new 26km, 4-lane divided highway between the existing Bruce Highway interchange at Woondum, south of Gympie and Curra.

Visualisation video of final design

Video Transcript

Benefits

• Increases traffic flow
• Increases capacity
• Improves safety
• Improves flood immunity
• Reduces travel time
• Contributes to economy
• Contributes to regional growth

Key features

• Improve traffic flow, as the upgrade will avoid 53 intersections (including 9 signalised intersections) and 106 property accesses which contribute to current safety and congestion issues on the existing Bruce Highway
• Improve safety and capacity through the separation of long-distance traffic from local traffic. This will reduce traffic volumes on the highway travelling through Gympie, with around 50% less heavy vehicles
• Greatly reduce head-on crashes by providing a divided 4-lane highway
• Significantly improve flood immunity compared with the old highway, which has traditionally experienced frequent closures in the Gympie CBD and north and south of Gympie due to flooding
• Improve travel times by having the new highway posted at 110km/h (currently the highway is 80km/h and 60km/h through Gympie).

Funding

This project is funded by the Australian and Queensland governments on an 80:20 (federal:state) basis. Investment ID 686965

Current status

Cooroy to Curra (Section D) is being delivered in 2 major construction contracts:

• Contract 1: Woondum interchange to Sandy Creek Road (Bielby Holdings and BMD Group Join Venture) 
• Contract 2: Sandy Creek Road to Curra (CPB Contractors)

Since late 2020, work has included clearing and earthworks along the entire 26km project, with bridge works well advanced on Contract 1 and underway on Contract 2.

Once complete, there will be 43 bridges at 24 locations along the Gympie Bypass and more than 6 million cubic metres of earth will be moved from cuts to fill areas. This raises the new section of highway to a level that will increase the flood immunity to withstand a one-in-100-year flood event.

Both contracts will be completed, and the highway will open as 1 project in mid-2024, weather and construction conditions permitting.

New Penny Road interchange

An all movements interchange at Penny Road will cater for locals and industry, enabling heavy vehicles to access commercial and industrial areas east and west of the new highway.

New Gympie interchange

An all movements interchange will be constructed at Gympie Connection Road to cater for commuters travelling to Gympie or the Cooloola Coast from the new highway. Traffic signals will be located at each exit ramp and entry ramp intersection with Gympie Connection Road to manage safe flow of traffic between the new highway and the local road network.

New Curra interchange

An all and construction conditions movements interchange will be constructed just north of Curra to connect the new 4-lane highway with the existing 2-lane Bruce Highway. The interchange will be to the north of the existing Harvey Siding Road and Bruce Highway intersection. Connections will be made back to Harvey Siding and Ashfords roads for local traffic.

Drone video of construction of the Six Mile Creek bridge: July 2021

Video description

This video shows the following scenes:

View from a drone looking south along the construction site of the Gympie bypass project and directly onto bridge construction of the Six Mile Creek bridge.

The drone flies south over the bridge piling works and a large crane.

Environmental erosion and sediment ponds can be seen to the right.

The drone flies over Six Mile Creek which is a sensitive environmental area. The 250m long bridge will span this creek which is flood prone.

At the southern end of the bridge site excavators can be seen moving dirt, and footage shows bridge piles under construction.

The view is then up the wide highway alignment showing where the Gympie bypass will travel once complete.

 

Bruce Highway (Cooroy to Curra) Section D—Earthworks update: September 2022

Video description

This video shows the following scenes. 

First section is vision looking south then north of mining equipment such as 777’s (large mining dump trucks) carting earthworks within the Gympie bypass corridor. In the background is piling works on the bridges under construction. It includes a label that reads ‘In total over 6 million m3 of earth is being moved’.

The second section is a drone video looking south towards the new highway corridor showing all the different types of machinery required to undertake the bulk earthworks such as Moxie’s, excavators, dozers, scrapers and water trucks. It includes a label that reads ‘That’s about 20,000 m3 of earth moved a day’.

The third section is drone video shot above the new 260m long Six Mile Creek bridge site and shows the 777’s carting earth. It includes a label that reads ‘That takes a lot of hands and specialist equipment’.

The final section is drone video looking south towards the North Coast Rail Line. A train travels through the bridge site where the new Bruce Highway is being constructed over the rail line. The shot also shows the completed pavement/bitumen that has been laid on a completed section of earthworks. It includes a label that reads ‘To build the bypass high enough to withstand a one-in-100 year flood event’.