Gladstone, Monto, Agnes Waters and 1770 will have safer travel routes during flooding after the State Government fast-tracked cash to build and protect stronger infrastructure in the region.
Premier Campbell Newman announced a raft of new projects for the area after Community Cabinet in Gladstone.
It’s great news that local drivers will benefit from $71,300 towards automatic systems that will warn when there is water over the road in flooding hot spots such as Baffle Creek and the Boyne River.
The money will allow Gladstone Regional Council to install remote cameras linked to flood monitoring stations so that drivers can be warned when roads are cut.
I’ve listened to what people told me about what they want for this region and by far the most repeated ambition is to have the infrastructure and facilities in place to get ahead.
These projects show this is a government that will build the roads, mitigate for floods and improve on what’s already in place.
We’ll stay true to that vision.
The projects include a new 3-kilometre road to bypass the Gladstone-Monto Road during flooding, which will be fully funded by a $1,348,320 Royalties for the Regions grant.
The bypass will ensure access to the Boyne Valley area if Awoonga Dam overflows. Up to nine communities were cut off and left without essential services and supplies for up to a week when the dam spilled earlier this year and flooded the vital road link.
Community Recovery and Resilience Minister David Crisafulli also announced two Betterment Fund projects for the region worth more than $650,000.
The Betterment Fund, which was a State Government initiative, was established after this year’s floods to break the cycle of replacing the same vulnerable infrastructure. Instead, councils can vie for money to build the asset to a more resilient standard.
The Gladstone funds will be used to strengthen the Sandy Creek Road bridge, which is the only road access to Turkey Beach and for concrete batter protection for a Round Hill Road culvert on the sole approach to Agnes Waters and 1770.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel with these projects, but we do need to find ways to make what we’ve got stronger and less susceptible to flooding.
Past governments have foolishly replaced the same things in the same place to the same standard and somehow expected a different result.
The LNP doesn’t think in election cycles; we are a grownup government that plans for the long term.
This is smart use of your money.