Call for Ootann Road to be sealed as mine traffic increases

The 95-kilometre Ootann Road, a strategic north-south link between the Burke Developmental Road, the Peninsula Developmental Road and the Kennedy Highway, provides the only triple road train access into the upper Gulf and lower Peninsula.

During major weather events the mostly gravel road offers an alternate access route to the Bruce Highway, and links up to the Hann Highway for an alternate route out of the Atherton Tableland when natural disasters are occurring.

Mareeba landholder Tahna Jackson expressed her frustration with the state of the road on social media when she and husband Simon brought four decks of drought-affected cattle in from Clermont.

It took two hours to drive 40km and the whole 95km stretch took four hours to complete.

"I'm not having a go at the (Mareeba) shire; they are doing their best," Ms Jackson said.

"This increased volume of traffic is putting pressure on the road.

"We have seen some bitumen laid but the state government needs to put extra money in.

"If we want to develop the north let's start with our only alternate road for road trains."

While state Transport Minister Mark Bailey was unavailable for comment on Tuesday morning, a Transport and Main Roads spokesman outlined two packages of work that were underway to progressively seal the Ootann Road from Almaden to the Kennedy Highway.

Both part of the $100m Northern Australia Beef Roads Program and funded by federal and state governments plus Mareeba and Tablelands Shire Councils, the first was completed last August and the second, scheduled to start in April, is set to be finished by October.

The spokesman said TMR was also expecting to start a project to progressively seal two sections of the Burke Developmental Road between Almaden and Chillagoe in late 2019.

Ms Jackson said the road works had sealed 6km of the 95km local road of regional significance but there was still a long way to go.

The only other access to the region when the Ootann is unusable is via the Palmerston Highway from Innisfail to Malanda, restricted to B-double class heavy vehicles.

Ms Jackson said sealed triple road train access would mean the larger properties in the lower Peninsula trying to get triples out of the Cape, such as Wrotham Park, wouldn't have to backtrack to Karumba to move their cattle at strategic marketing times.

"If we had triple access from Cape York through Mareeba and then via Ootann and beyond, market options increase for all producers," she said.

"If the Ootann was upgraded, cattle producers would have better access via cheaper freight to the Townsville port for live export too.

"The Hann is the bigger project but this would link the top bit up."

She said the Tablelands supplied vast amounts of produce and fodder, which could be expanded with a sound route, allowing for competitive pricing and a consistent supply.

"A lot of fruit and vegetables go down the Bruce - the traffic is phenomenal there, so why not try and take some of the pressure off," she asked. "The main thing is, in wet season disasters all traffic goes inland anyway."

According to the TMR spokesman, the Mulligan Highway between Mareeba and Lakeland is currently unsuitable for Type 2 road trains due to steep grades, curve widths and bridge capacity.

He said while they would continue to upgrade sections of the Mulligan Highway on a priority basis, there were no plans to permit Type 2 road trains to travel between Mareeba and Lakeland.

Rehabilitation works on different bridges on the Mulligan Highway were being undertaken to strengthen and extend their service lives.

They include:

"Earlier this year we completed the $34.6 million Cape River Bridge upgrade on Gregory Developmental Road, funded by the Queensland government.

"This provided an alternative inland freight route during the recent flooding when the Bruce Highway was closed."