Major Australian roads to be upgraded

Plans for major improvement works to sections of the Bruce Highway and M1 Pacific Motorway in Australia’s Queensland State have been approved. In all the work is expected to cost more than US$1.4 billion (A$2 billion). The improvements to the Pacific Motorway are intended to boost capacity by as much 50,000 vehicles/day. This capacity upgrade work for the Pacific Motorway will be carried out on two stretches between Varsity Lakes and Tugun as well as Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill. Meanwhile the work for the Bruce Highway will be carried out between Edmonton and Gordonvale.

The road projects have been approved by Infrastructure Australia and are classed as high priority. The work is needed due to the increasing population in the South East Queensland State, with numbers expected to grow by 1.7 million by 2041. Vehicle numbers using the sections of the M1 Pacific Motorway planned to be upgraded are expected to reach 202,000/day, compared with over 150,000/day at present.