The Bruce Highway has been earmarked for a large funding injection in tonight’s (Tuesday 14 May) Federal budget.
An extra $467 million has been pledged to improve the safety and capacity of Queensland’s major coastal link.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says both he and the budget back the Bruce Highway.
“Billions already in our budget and now hundreds of millions more to come,” Mr Chalmers says.
“As a Queenslander, I take absolutely no convincing that this is the right road to support and the right thing to do.”
Federal Member for Dawson Andrew Willcox has put a dampener on the announcement.
“The section of the Bruce Highway that runs through the electorate of Dawson has been rated the most dangerous section, and this announcement by the Albanese Labor Government sees funding provisions for everywhere but the area that needs it the most,” Mr Willcox says.
“The Prime Minister is on record this week confirming that the Bruce Highway ‘should be’ as good as the M1 between Brisbane and Sydney, so why isn’t he actually doing something about it instead of yet again, hiding behind promises that are entirely political and full of potholes.
“This comes after the Prime Minister cut more than $200m worth of road projects in Queensland following his infrastructure review, as well as lowering the funding contribution provided by the Federal Government to help complete these projects.”
The Bruce Highway north corridor will receive extra funding including $154 million for improvements and an additional injection of funding to support the delivery of a number of existing upgrade projects.
