Drivers Dob In ‘Unroadworthy’ Roads

February 8, 2023

A string of South Burnett roads – and the D’Aguilar Highway – have been nominated by motorists in the RACQ’s annual survey of Unroadworthy Roads.

The results of the motoring group’s 2022 survey were released late last month.

More than 1500 nominations were received from drivers who were asked to pinpoint problem stretches of road in their communities.

Drivers highlighted issues on 556 roads across Queensland, with the Bruce Highway receiving the most nominations (267).

Kin Kin Road, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, received the second highest number of mentions, followed by Old Maroochydore Road, Mount Mee Road and the Cunningham Highway.

In the South Burnett region, Arthur Street East, Old Esk North Road, Kingaroy-Barkers Creek Road and Tingoora-Chelmsford Road all received more than one mention.

RACQ spokesperson Gregory Miszkowycz said the most common problem highlighted by drivers was rough road surfaces, making up 78 per cent of responses.

“All the roads in the top 10 list have many things in common: rough surfaces, poor shoulders, narrow lanes and a lack of overtaking opportunities,” he said.

“We had plenty of wet weather in 2022 leading to more potholes and road damage which is frustrating drivers.”

The RACQ has provided the survey results to the Department of Transport and Main Roads and relevant councils in a bid to identify and fast-track upgrades.

• External link: RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey Map 

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Highlighted Local Roads 

Motorists highlighted a number of roads in the South Burnett, Toowoomba and Gympie regional council areas, although not all are a Council responsibility:

• Brooklands-Pimpimbudgee Road – From Kingaroy-Cooyar Road to Maidenwell-Bunya Mountains Road. Entire road is dangerous, narrow, with heavy vehicles traversing regularly. Many accidents and several deaths have occurred.

• Krugers Road, Kooralgin – All Krugers Road. Flood prone, rough corrugated, poor drainage, dusty.

• Kearneys Road, Kumbia – From Haly Creek to Kumbia. Just one of many roads within South Burnett causing vehicle damage and a danger to users.

• Kumbia Road – From Kingaroy-Cooyar Road to Burnett Highway. Absolutely full of potholes and causing damage to vehicles.

• Deep Creek Road, Benair – As it has not been drained and  finished properly it continues to wash out.

• Blackbutt-Crows Nest Road – From Blackbutt to Haynes Kite Millar Road. Holes in road on blind corner.

• Bowman Road, Blackbutt – From Blackbutt Showground entry to Langton Road. Ditches overgrown, water runs down road, narrow and falling to bits with big potholes.

• Nanango-Brooklands Road – The tar-seal is broken at the edges as the lanes are not wide enough. The road is used by heavy traffic such as logging trucks, stock trucks, tankers and buses. The sealed surface is not thick enough and suffers from big potholes.

• Arthur Street East, Nanango – From King Street, Nanango, to George Street, Nanango. Road is the first to flood when it rains and this often causes potholes to appear.

• Arthur Street East, Nanango – Bitumen breaking up.

• Old Esk North Road, Nanango – From South Street. Poorly maintained, road collapsed, narrow floodways, three places where you need to cross double lines due to the road surface collapsing.

• Old Esk North Road, Nanango – From the end of South Street, Nanango, to where you can no longer drive as the road is impassable. It needs to be completely redone, except for 20m only recently done. It is graded incorrectly, forcing us out of lanes. The corrugations are so bad we often need to drive on the incorrect side! There are three flooding areas.

• Hamilton Road, South East Nanango – From Muir Drive to Greenwood Creek Road. Less than 15mm of rain washes out road. It is never permanently fixed. Blocks access from Muir Drive.

• Muir Drive, South East Nanango – No proper drainage. causes washouts. No guardrails with a steep drop-off. Never fixed properly.

• East Nanango Road – Very rough surface corrugations, rain channels across road, potholes, very bad dust hazard.

• Edenvale South Road, Kingaroy – From D’Aguilar Highway to Peterson Drive. Flood damage, potholes, poor gravel, broken bitumen. The road is used for the aerodrome, motor track events, antique machinery events, glider events etc plus local residents.

• First Avenue, Kingaroy – From River Road to Haly Street. Potholed, flood prone and poorly repaired road surface. Some potholes are 30cm deep.
  

• Kingaroy-Barkers Creek Road – From the Wattle Camp Road intersection to Burnett Highway, Sandy Ridges. An incredibly dangerous section of road, with narrow bitumen, very steep edges and poorly maintained for the amount of traffic on this classified main road.

• Kingaroy-Barkers Creek Road – From Haly Street, Kingaroy, to Redmans Road intersection. Busy connection road from the east to Kingaroy, used by school buses, parents with children, workers heading to Kingaroy.

• Tingoora-Chelmsford Road – From Tingoora to Chelmsford. Poor drainage, rough surface, many potholes, poor shoulders, rough edges.

• Tingoora-Chelmsford Road – From Tingoora to the intersection with Wondai-Proston Road. Potholes and springs are breaking up road surface, flood prone.

• Redhill Road, Greenview – From Lysdale Road to Fairdale Road. Road is gravel in sections that is washed away from flooding, on to very narrow overgrown bitumen in very poor condition and back to gravel again. This is a dangerous road used as a school bus run and postal service vehicles.

• Gayndah Road – From Murgon to Windera. The road has so many potholes and sink holes you have to cross to the other side of the road. A few kilometres before Cloyna School the road is so bad it nearly bounces you off the road.

• Kilkivan-Tansey Road – From Kilkivan to Tansey. Hazardous, busy road being rough, narrow and large drop-off on shoulders.

• Rossmore Road, Kilkivan – From Wide Bay Highway intersection to Rossmore Road, Kilkivan. For the volume of traffic, including trucks and farm equipment, this road has very narrow sections with jagged edges particularly after rain, no line markings, potholes, poor visibility and no lighting.

• Bunya Highway – From Goomeri to Murgon – Rough road, can have huge potholes.

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A number of survey responses also flagged issues about the D’Aguilar Highway:

• From Blackbutt to Kilcoy – Potholes not repaired, cattle waste from trucks

• From Moore to Benarkin – More potholes than road

• Most of the road – Deep potholes all along the road

• From Yarraman to Nanango – Rough surface and potholes and uneven sloped sections

• From Nanango to South Nanango – Continuing potholes, constantly being badly patched

• From Nanango to Fernvale – The main problem is lack of overtaking lanes. One of the only ones travelling south is only short, around a bend with a bad camber and downhill!

• At Knight Street – A road intersection that nobody seems to understand and causes accidents and near misses all the time. Two give ways, a stop sign and a go through. It really needs lights or roundabout.

• From Caboolture to Kingaroy – Badly in need of maintenance, has become badly damaged. It has always been insufficient for the amount of traffic that uses it daily.

NB. The submitted comments by road users have been edited.