Driving ahead with region's biggest road works

Construction crews are on track to finish the two largest road projects in Moreton Bay Region next year.

The $163.3 million Bruce Highway-Deception Bay Road Interchange is on course for completion in early 2023.

And the $662.5 million highway upgrade from Caboolture-Bribie Island Rd to Steve Irwin Way is expected to finish in late 2023.

A Transport and Main Roads (TMR) spokesperson said both projects are currently supporting an average of more than 930 jobs.

Entry loops

The Deception Bay upgrade, which started in November 2020, saw 44 girders for the second bridge - which is 110m long - installed over the last two months.

In coming months, the new highway entry loops, for both northbound and southbound vehicles, will open to traffic.

The TMR spokesperson said construction of the 11km upgrade from Caboolture to Steve Irwin Way had reached the halfway point.

Priority is being given to ‘flood resilience’. The new bridges are being built to withstand one-in-100-year floods and avoid delays to travel and freight during weather events.

Lane switch

Delivered under two contracts, drivers going south were switched to a new section between Six Mile Creek and Pumicestone Rd on July 15. and two weeks later, the southbound Steve Irwin Way entry ramp was realigned.

The same month northbound traffic moved to lanes on the new southbound carriageway. The diversion will remain until early next year as three northbound lanes and two bridges are built.

Huge projects have huge logistics and more than 60 construction vehicles are currently active on site, with most coming from South-East Queensland.

Already more than eight kilometres of steel barriers and 1500 concrete barriers have been placed, along with 450 deck units and 3.5km of piles.

Check out the time-lapse video below

Work hours

To date, more than 776,500 hours have been worked on the highway upgrades, with about 48,800 hours attributed to Indigenous employment.

Having reached the halfway point, similar quantities of equipment/material and jobs are expected for the rest of the project.

For updates on the Deception Bay Road interchange click here

For information on the Caboolture-Steve Irwin Way upgrades click here

For more on roadworks across the state click here, call 13 19 40 or download the app.