Australian highway project starting

Work is due to start on an important highway project in Australia’s Queensland State in mid-2020. The second phase of the improvement works for the M1 Pacific Motorway will cost an estimated US$528.3 million (A$749 million). Although the work is only for an 8km stretch, the project is costly as this wide section of the route carries heavy traffic, around 150,000 vehicles/day on average. The improvement project will add facilities for buses. A stretch of motorway will be widened to five lanes in one direction and four in the other. The aim of the project is to boost capacity as the traffic volumes are expected to reach 202,000 vehicles/day by 2041 due to steady population growth in the area.