Historically, investment in road freight has focused on the Bruce Highway but relying on a single coastal link brings challenging issues such as heavy congestion, limits on Freight Efficient Vehicles and inaccessibility in severe weather events.

Growcom said that it has been impressed to see a collaborative group consisting of 33 local governments, eight regional roads and transport groups, four Regional Development Australia (RDA) committees, the North Queensland RDA Alliance and RACQ has set a common goal to improve the inland road network in order to improve productivity and drive economic and job growth in the State. The Alliance has developed the Inland Queensland Roads Action Plan (IQ-RAP), which identifies and prioritises upgrades on the inland road network of Queensland.

The plan has identified that more than 3000 kilometres and more than 300 bridges in rural and regional Queensland require ‘fit for purpose’ standards over the next 18 years. The investment required to deliver the plan is $5 billion. That is roughly equal to about 4 per cent of the annual Department of Transport and Main Roads budget.

The inland road network is of vital significance to a number of industries, including horticulture. The upgrade of the network will improve resilience and connectivity for the efficient delivery of goods, such as fruit and vegetables, the delivery of service to communities and productivity for industries and businesses along the supply chains. It will also help attract new investment into rural and regional areas.

The IQ-RAP is not just about improving the road network. It is also about connecting communities and creating more jobs in rural and regional areas, which in turn helps these communities to retain vital skill sets.

For more information on the IQ-RAP, visit: http://rdanwq.org.au/iq-rap or contact Glenys Schuntner on 07 4410 3655 or e-mail.