INDUSTRY NEWS
AROUND THE GROUNDS NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE Building industry review targets developers The Queensland Government is set to examine the role of property developers as part of a review of industry fairness reforms, following a recommendation from the Queensland Parliament’s Transport and Public Works Committee. The review will consider the benefits of ensuring everyone is accountable for the financial security and sustainability of the state’s $47.4 billion building industry, and the range of options to achieve this. The panel will be chaired by Alison Quinn, who has more than 25 years’ experience as a chief executive officer and senior executive in the property development and aged care sectors and include property investment firm chief executive Adrian Pozzo, construction advisory firm managing director Gina Patrick and respected lawyer John Payne. Haughton River Floodplain upgrade almost complete The $514 million Haughton River Floodplain upgrade is surging towards completion this year. The project includes safety and flood resilience upgrades to 13.5km of the Bruce Highway at Giru, midway between Ayr and Townsville, involves building five bridges and two cane rail overpasses, intersection upgrades and installation of wide centreline treatments. The upgrades are designed to prevent flooding closing the Bruce Highway over the Reed Beds area, which typically closes every couple of years during the wet season, forcing transport operators and the travelling public to wait for waters to recede.
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The Haughton River Floodplain Upgrade project is jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments on an 80:20 basis. Archer River Crossing tenders open Tenders were called in November for a project to upgrade one of Cape York’s well-known waterway crossings. The Archer River Crossing project is jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments as part of the $237.5 million Cape York Region Package Stage 2. Every wet season, the Peninsula Developmental Road is closed for long periods at Archer River when the current low-level crossing is inundated by the swollen river. The new crossing will reduce the average annual time of closure to less than two days, improving access for road users and connectivity for some of Queensland’s most remote communities. The road stretches for 527km between Laura and south of Weipa; when Stage 2 is completed, only 149km will remain unsealed. The successful tenderer would need to demonstrate a strong commitment to supporting local indigenous workforce and subcontractors. Mount Mee Road trial targets motorcyclist safety A new safety trial started in November at Mount Mee in the state’s southeast to improve the safety of motorcyclists, following a shocking 30 per cent increase in lives lost. The trial aims to reduce the number of tragic incidents involving motorcyclists on mountainous roads. This year is likely to be the worst year
ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS | DEC 2021
on the roads in over a decade, with 242 deaths recorded as of 4 November 2021, including 60 motorcyclists. The two-part trial involves setting up safety cameras at selected curves along Mount Mee Road where new lane markings have been installed, to monitor how this changes a motorcyclist’s position in the traffic lanes. Findings will be provided to Austroads, the association of Australian and New Zealand road transport and traffic authorities, a major partner in instigating the trial. The line marking trial is being delivered by the Centre for Automotive Safety Research and is expected to be completed by mid-2022. The trial coincides with a RideCraft campaign to encourage riders to tune up their craft to reduce their chances of being involved in a crash. Biofuelled buses for Mackay Emerging Gold Coast manufacturer BusTech is building two state-of-the-art bioethanol-fuelled buses to be rolled out on the Mackay bus network. The two buses will soon hit the road as part of a 12-month trial and will run on bioethanol fuel produced by Wilmar Bioethanol Australia at their bioethanol refinery in Sarina from locally grown sugarcane. Research indicates that bioethanol buses can reduce carbon by up to 90 per cent and biofuels can play an important role as a stepping-stone to zero emission transport technologies by 2050. The trial is being funded by Scania, a Swedish manufacturer
