Billion dollar Rockhampton Ring Road construction to commence 2023
Posted on December 13th, 2022
Construction of the ring road will now start in 2023 as originally planned, after the Australian and Queensland governments reached a new funding agreement of $280 million to continue the first phase.
On Friday 9 December, the Queensland government confirmed a deal had been struck with the Australian government that in exchange for capping the price of coal, the Rockhampton Ring Road project would be revived.
In October the Ring Road was indefinitely delayed by the federal government after cost blowouts in the tender process.
This caused outrage across the community, as many businesses had already hired new staff and bought new equipment for the expected boom that would come with the major project.
The community-led campaign, Start the Rockhampton Ring Road and stop the politics, held protests, travelled in a convoy to Canberra and painted messaging on silos in the hope of getting a start date out of the federal government.
Capricorn Enterprise in partnership with the Capricornia Chamber of Commerce hosted the Rockhampton Ring Road Forum which progressed the issue a great deal.
The project is jointly funded by the Queensland and federal governments and includes more than 17 kilometres of new road, including 6km of bridges, to be built through the Fitzroy River floodplain connecting the Bruce Highway south and north of Rockhampton.
It is important to note that the following completed major road upgrades are integral sections of the overall plans for an alternate bypass route for Rockhampton and provided the solution to the flood issues preventing access on the southern Bruce Highway into Rockhampton.
- The Rockhampton Northern Access Upgrade
- The Rockhampton to Gracemere Duplication
- Stage 2 of the Yeppen Bridge Project
The early works include upgrades to Boundary Road, McLaughlin street, Monier Road Overpass and the Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road intersection.
The project will also provide a connection for the future project to West Rockhampton which will include an upgrade to Lion Creek Bridge, plus connections to local roads.
Early works for the project are underway with the standing up of power poles underway at Pink Lily this week to ready the new road corridor for construction.
13 December 2022 Queensland Government Media Statement – Rockhampton Ring Road agreement reached
16 November 2022 Rockhampton Ring Road forum a success
1 November 2022 Start Rockhampton Ring Road, stop the politics
27 October 2022 $800 Million Rockhampton Ring Road delayed exasperating local leaders and businesses
