Keppel Member Brittany Lauga has accused the LNP and One Nation of trying to derail the $80 million Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road upgrade, saying they need to “get behind the 11,500 drivers who use this road every day”.
Speaking in Parliament during Private Members Statements on 11 May, Ms Lauga said she was pleased the contract for long-awaited upgrade had been awarded to Queensland company Civil Mining and Construction.
“The LNP Shadow Minister for Local Government, Ann Leahy, and One Nation’s Stephen Andrew are stalling the delivery of this project because they do not agree with the engineer’s designs for the Artillery Road-Dairy Inn Road intersection,” she said.
Ms Lauga said putting traffic lights or a roundabout at this intersection, as suggested by Ms Leahy and Mr Andrew, would only impact the travel time between Yeppoon and Rockhampton.
“I am calling on the LNP and One Nation to get out of the way of this critical road upgrade and to stop criticising and hampering the delivery of this $80 million upgrade – an upgrade which has been assessed and endorsed by RACQ engineers.”
Ms Lauga tabled a letter from Ms Leahy to Transport Minister Mark Bailey calling on the design to be changed and reconsidered following concerns from residents in relation to safety, environmental impacts and local road impacts.
The project is located on Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road between Iron Pot and Hedlow Creek and is expected to begin construction in mid-2023.
The upgrade has been divided into three sections of work.
These sections have been identified as a priority based on the community feedback received in 2020: Section 1: Artillery Road/Dairy Inn Road intersection with Yeppoon Road section 2: Iron Pot Road east to Artillery Road/Dairy Inn Road intersection and section 3: Artillery/Dairy Inn Road towards Hedlow Creek.
The Yeppoon Road upgrade project is jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments, with the Australian Government contributing $64 million and the Queensland Government contributing $16 million under the Roads of Strategic Importance (ROSI) initiative.