THE LNP's election promise of $375 million for an inland alternative to the Bruce Highway was been met with amusement and frustration from groups west of the Great Divide.
The proposal would result in road upgrades from Cairns, through Charters Towers, Emerald, Toowoomba, Warwick to NSW to create freight links and an alternative route during coastal flooding.
"It's pork barrelling at its best," Flinders Shire Council Mayor Greg Jones said.
"The highway the government has suggested is all in low-lying areas and they would have to build six bridges."
Only B-Double tucks could travel this route, Cr Jones added.
Instead, the inland route should come through the Hann Highway, through Hughenden, east to Torrens Creek and then south all the way to Burke in NSW, where trucks could pull three trailers the entire route, he said.
"It runs at the top of the watershed, so there are no bridges to be built and truckies can go all the way inland to Burke, and if they need to drop off freight they can have freight depots built."
It would also result in 34 kilometres of dirt road between Aramac and Torrens Creek being sealed, a sore point with the council after having funding pulled over the past three years.
The council's proposal was also supported by the Regional Organisation of Councils, made up of nine councils, Advance Cairns, Hughenden Chamber of Commerce and Mareeba Chamber of Commerce.
At a forum in Mareeba last year, trucking companies said that although it was an hour less using the Gregory Highway, they used an extra 1200 litres of diesel because the road was hilly, Cr Jones said.
He said the highway would only cost $90-$100 million and would be flood-proof.
"When we have big rain, you ought to see the trucks coming up our road."
This was the case during the 2011 floods, when Woolworths road trains travelled to the centre of the state in search of ways to resupply the cities of Rockhampton, Mackay and Townsville.
Cr Jones said the government was not listening, despite several trips to Brisbane to see the Minister of Transport and Main Roads.
"We have provided all the solutions but they don't want to hear because we have an independent state member."
Flinders Shire Councillor Shane McCarthy said the Hann Highway had been identified in World War II as an alternative to the north during the wet season.
"It was also mentioned in the recent white paper on developing northern Australia as the number two priority," he said.
"The federal government can also see the advantage in sealing [Torrens Creek Road] as it takes eight hours off the trip from Cairns to Melbourne, but not the state government because the alternative route doesn't run through the deputy premier's electorate, I suppose."
Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said this was not a matter of 'either or' and the "government already has the runs on the board in improving this stretch of road".
"The LNP remains committed to sealing the Hann Highway and if we are re-elected, $1.5 billion from our Strong Choices plan will be made available to invest in rural and regional roads like the Hann."
Mr Seeney said the government had already begun work on sealing a major stretch of the highway, 24km, in the Flinders Shire, which demonstrated its commitment to the region.
Meanwhile, Queensland's construction industry warns a major maintenance backlog on the state's road network is reaching crisis point after decades of insufficient spending.
The Civil Contractors Federation Queensland Branch (CCF QLD) said the situation was only going to get worse, and called on all sides of politics to make a pre-election commitment to lift maintenance spending to a sustainable level.
CCF QLD chief executive Robert Row said the current Queensland budget for road maintenance was inadequate and simply wouldn't cut it when it came to sustaining the network into the future.
