Drone footage has been released showing progress on the Mackay Ring Road – part of a project pipeline hailed as bringing unmatched transformation for the city’s road network.

The jobs pipeline for Mackay road projects will stretch further with Infrastructure Australia adding the Walkerston Bypass to its ‘priority projects’ list last week.

In Mackay to inspect progress on the Mackay Ring Road and the Mackay Northern Access upgrade, Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the city’s roads were undergoing a transformation unmatched by any time in its history.

“There has been a massive amount of construction and activity on Mackay’s roads in the past couple of years, but it’s fair to say we’re really still at the start, in terms of what’s coming online this year and beyond,” Mr Bailey said.

“We’ve struck agreements with the Federal Government that have locked funding in to build four major road upgrades that will make Mackay’s road network safer, less congested and more freight friendly.

“Stage one of the Mackay Ring Road has been the main game in town, and that’s coming along very well.

“More than 1,400 workers have been inducted on the project to-date, and the project is on track to finish at the end of this year.

“The piling works for the 13 bridges and overpasses are complete, as are the three spans on the Peak Downs Highway overpass, and the centrepiece – the Pioneer River Bridge – is starting to take shape.”

Member for Mackay Julieanne Gilbert said the start of works this month on the $120 million Mackay Northern Access project would support 150 jobs more jobs.

“That project, which will add new lanes to the Bruce Highway from Ron Camm Bridge to Bald Hill Road, also includes intersection upgrades, a central median, new bridge overpasses and a creek crossing,” Mrs Gilbert said.

“That work will run until 2022, so I think we’ve successfully been able to plan a series of major projects in Mackay that will keep local people in work and deliver real improvements to the local road network.

“The Walkerston Bypass, now a national infrastructure priority, will start in early 2021 and planning has started for the Mackay Port Access upgrade, which will be a 9.5km, two-lane, road parallel to the rail line, from the Bruce Highway to Harbour Road.”

“Those projects are a key part of the Palaszczuk Government’s $1.3 billion pipeline of roads and transport projects over the next four year for the Mackay Whitsunday region.”

A drone fly-through of the latest progress on the Mackay Ring Road can be viewed HERE