Gympie will share in another $75 million of Federal funding to help increase accessibility during future flooding events.
Gympie, Toowoomba, Bundaberg, the Southern Downs and the Scenic Rim will all share in the money, called the Emergency Response Fund (ERF) which will be split among six infrastructure projects.
The Southside Transport Flood Detour Route Upgrade will be provided by the Gympie Regional Council and will mainly consist of widening a 220m section of Copp, Pritchard and Smerdon Roads on the Southside.
The move will, according to a release, improve the road geometry and intersection configuration.
“This will create a vital transport link connecting the growing Southside with the Gympie CBD if Exhibition Road and Power Road are cut by flooding in the Mary River,” the release, sent from the Queensland Acting Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government, Meaghan Scanlon’s office, said last week.
Other improvements will include a levee in Bundaberg East and upgrades to the Flood Warning Infrastructure Network across the south east.
“The Albanese Government is continuing to push ahead with initiatives that look to reduce disaster risk, help reduce recovery costs and build community resilience,” said Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt.
“We know that every dollar spent on disaster resilience and mitigation delivers a return on investment to governments and households nine times over, while also putting downward pressure on insurance premiums.”
“These significant resilience projects will help improve flood defences, while enhanced warning and evacuation routes will enable greater situational awareness in life threatening situations,” Mr Watt said.
“The Palaszczuk Government identified these longer-term resilience projects as ones that will provide maximum benefit to areas at most risk,” said Acting Minister responsible for the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Meaghan Scanlon.
“Projects such as the flood detour route upgrade in Gympie, a new bridge over Price Creek in the Scenic Rim, the replacement of the current Easey Street drain in Warwick, and a new culvert on Perth Street in Toowoomba.
“These projects will all be coordinated by our state’s dedicated disaster recovery and resilience agency, the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, which continues its work ensuring our disaster-impacted communities build back better,” she said.
“We can’t predict the future, but we can prepare for it, and these investments will put Queensland in a stronger position when we face natural disasters in the years ahead.”
