Rockhampton Ring Road plan, preserve and construct
This project is currently being reviewed and will be updated when the revised project timeline is confirmed by the Australian Government.
The objective of the Rockhampton Ring Road plan, preserve and construct project (Rockhampton Ring Road project) is to provide a western link of the Bruce Highway, extending from the Capricorn Highway (at Nelson Street) in the south, through to Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road/Bruce Highway intersection in the north. This will include a new crossing of the Fitzroy River.
The Bruce Highway is Queensland's major north-south freight and commuter corridor, connecting coastal population centres from Brisbane to Cairns over 1,677km.
The existing Bruce Highway through Rockhampton is one of the remaining pinch points between Brisbane and Cairns, with 19 sets of traffic signals to navigate.
Traffic volumes on the Bruce Highway in Central Queensland ranges from 2,600 vehicles per day in rural sections to 35,000 vehicles per day in urban centres.
It is also a key heavy vehicle route with an average of about 2,640 heavy vehicles travelling through Rockhampton daily.
Benefits
- Improves safety
- Increases capacity
- Improves network efficiency
- Increases traffic flow
- Reduces peak hour congestion
- Better road access
- Reduces travel time
- Contributes to regional growth
- Improves ride quality
- Improves flood immunity
- Contributes to economy
Key features
- New crossing of the Fitzroy River between Pink Lily and Kawana.
- Reduced congestion and improved safety through the city by providing an alternative route for heavy vehicles.
- Improved connectivity to key facilities, services and precincts within the Rockhampton region.
- Continued access to the road network during major flooding.
Funding
The Rockhampton Ring Road plan, preserve and construct project is funded through the Bruce Highway Upgrade Program. Investment ID 1167108
- Total investment
- $1.065 billion
- Australian Government
- $852 million
- Queensland Government
- $213 million
Current status
In March 2022, 2 proponents were selected to progress to the development phase of the collaborative project agreement, following an Expression of Interest held in November 2021 as part of the construction tender process.
Timeline
Planning for the project is complete. The business case was assessed at the Infrastructure Australia board meeting held on 15 April 2021 and released on 7 May 2021.
The road and rail corridors were gazetted in February 2019. Resumption package 1 for the road corridor was gazetted on 17 June 2022. Resumption package 2 was gazetted on 16 September 2022, with 5 additional land parcels.
The detailed design was completed by Jacobs SMEC Design Joint Venture in March 2022.
Design
The Rockhampton Ring Road design extends from the Capricorn Highway in the south to Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road in the north, and contains both rural and urban sections of road.
A key objective of the Rockhampton Ring Road project is to improve connectivity to Rockhampton by increasing the number of access points to the city. The concept and detailed design for the Rockhampton Ring Road were developed with a high level of flood immunity, similar to a 1 in 100-year flood event and equivalent to 9.86m on the Rockhampton flood gauge in the Fitzroy River (a 1% annual exceedance probability).
The design includes a number of features such as bridges and culverts at key locations along the Rockhampton Ring Road to manage water flow and minimise the impacts of changes in anticipated flood levels as far as practicable.
The detailed design phase refined the concept design in consideration of traffic efficiency, improved safety, increased resilience to flooding, improved connectivity and accessibility, and environment and cultural heritage.
Environment
Protecting the environment and its history is an important part of the project. To ensure the Rockhampton Ring Road is designed and delivered in an environmentally sensitive manner, the department is ensuring that comprehensive environmental investigations are being undertaken, as well as consulting with a range of stakeholders.
Since planning started in 2017, extensive surveys have been conducted along the corridor including wildlife, flora, ecological and water quality monitoring.
On 10 March 2022, the department commenced public notification on the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) preliminary documentation for a 2-week period, closing on 23 March 2022. During the public notification period the department did not receive any submissions regarding the draft preliminary documentation.
Rockhampton Ring Road EPBC draft preliminary documentation
- EPBC Preliminary Documentation without appendices
- Appendix A: Environmental Management Plan
- Appendix B: Supporting documentation
- Flora and Wetlands Technical Report
- Hydraulics of wetland connectivity
- Water quality modelling report
- Migratory shorebird survey report
- Terrestrial fauna and migratory birds technical report
- Eucalyptus raveretiana population survey
- Migratory bird survey
- Threatened turtle and fish habitat assessment
- Turtle habitat survey
- Wetland impact assessment
- Eucalyptus raveretiana and Brigalow threatened ecological community (TEC) data
- Appendix C: Preliminary Documentation request for information
- Public consultation phase for assessment via Preliminary Documentation outcome.
Cultural heritage
The department recognises the significance of different cultures and the importance of managing Indigenous, historical, shared and natural heritage. Engagement with the Darumbal People is a priority to ensure cultural considerations are appropriately addressed. All reasonable practical measures to avoid harming Aboriginal heritage and the conservation of places and areas entered in the Queensland Heritage Register will be taken.
Rockhampton Ring Road—overview map
Rockhampton Ring Road—design map
View Rockhampton Ring Road - design map