After having travelled on the new Gympie bypass in both directions, I feel compelled to highlight to the public, the appalling lack of planning and competence by the responsible body, main roads.
Despite the main roads having almost 2- years to plan and design this bypass, (yes they were resuming properties that long ago,) a largely green field site, (engineers and draftsman heaven) and a seemingly unlimited budget, in their combined highly paid wisdom they could not construct any sort of pull off/rest area for north or south bound traffic.
This is the same body who spent $311,000 plus on an open day that community clubs offered to organise for free.
This is the same body who recently closed the volunteer driver reviver site, just north of Gunalda, together with 50 others statewide, without any explanation or replacement.
This is the same body who always tells us, don’t drive tired, stop every 2 hours.
But where?
This is the same body who relentless hounds truck drivers for thousands of dollars for log book offences, yet fails to provide suitable pull of areas.
Travel south of Tweed Heads on the newly upgraded pacific highway, and witness regular, clean, shaded rest areas with clean toilets and ample parking space for cars, caravans, buses, truck and B-doubles.
Is our department that inferior to NSW that it is a laughing stock?
To access our you beaut 2020’s highway off hall road, you must first cross the railway line over a narrow one lane 1920’s overhead bridge.
While not really part of the bypass project, common sense we demand this bridge be upgraded at the same time, with contractors, plant etc are available delivering best bang for our taxpayers buck, but sadly it appears common sense was missing on huge parts of this project.
Perhaps some of the exorbitant $311,000 open day fiasco could have gone towards this project?
Main roads failure to fully do this project properly leaves me in dread of what they plan for the Olympics, as they have only 8 years to ‘plan’ for that project.
Yours in disappointment in disgust,
Peter Tobin,
Jones Hill
