August 30, 2013
The South Burnett Regional Council has been allocated more than $500,000 to improve River Road in Kingaroy – which was badly damaged during the January floods – to reduce the risk of future road closures.
The grant, announced on Friday, brings the total amount of funding received by the South Burnett under the joint State and Federal Government “Betterment Fund” to about $2.2 million.
Other local projects that have been funded are:
- Mondure-Wheatlands Road, Mondure – $181,926
- Pound Street, Kingaroy – $498,000
- Geritz Road, Kingaroy – $629,000
- Heading Road, Sunny Nook – $395,600
“Our government has certainly recognised the amount of significant road damage that was caused by the floods of 2013 in the South Burnett. This further announcement shows we just how determined we are to fix our roads and make them more able to withstand further flood damage,” Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington said.
“In the past, the guidelines for replacing infrastructure have been so rigid and bureaucratic that councils were only allowed to rebuild structures to the same standard in the same location.
“This funding will definitely make a difference to helping improve the road infrastructure in our region.”
South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann welcomed the news.
“I have been intensely lobbying for further releases of Betterment Funding to the South Burnett region and due to the wonderful support from the Member for Nanango, this has come to fruition,” he said.
“This is an example of the great working relationship that has been formed between my Council and the State LNP Government and I cannot thank the Minister David Crisafulli and Deb Frecklington enough.”
The River Road grant of $517,870 will cover work to make the road better able to withstand intense rainfall and greatly reduce the risk of future damage and closure.
The improvements will also save Council the cost of continual repairs and maintain important access for emergency services during and after extreme weather, reducing a possible 40km round-trip detour when the road is closed.
The project proposes increasing protection for two floodways along the road by replacing the existing bitumen road surfaces with reinforced 200mm concrete pavements and protecting the approach road batters with reinforced 150mm concrete aprons.
