qld road conditions - need to travel North past Rockhampton
Submitted: Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 at 22:22
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CSeaJay
Guys,
Need help from locals or others who may have travelled the route. I need to travel over the weekend from
Bundaberg north to
Townsville. The Bruce at Rocky remains cut but no-one can advise until when,.
Looking at the DMR website and RACQ, it appears as if I can cut through some of the inland developmental roads - but the websitre is silent on conditions.
The webiste is also silent on reason. A road is simply shown as closed - it may be due to metres of water over the road (in which case it will be weeks before it opens) or it may mean that it is a foot under water (meaning pewrhaps a day before opening) or indeed it may be that a
bridge has been washed away (year before opening)
Can anyone assist?
CJ
Reply By: Member - Andrew (QLD) - Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 at 22:36
Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 at 22:36
There was a statement released (somewhere, can't recall now) the other day saying the supply route was open to NQ, via an inland detour. IIRC it was from Calliope to Biloela, to Westwood, to
Emerald (alternatively the beef development road at middlemount), then north to Mackay. Might worth a look on the various closure sites.
I'm off on the weekend from South of
Brisbane back
home to the Whitsundays (north of Mackay) so will be investigating the route sooner to the day due to the dynamic nature of this Event.
Good luck,
Andrew
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Reply By: dereki - Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 at 22:45
Reply By: Member - Matt L (WA) - Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 at 23:17
Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 at 23:17
Mate,
road closed means just that CLOSED. Supply road means SUPPLY ROAD.
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Follow Up By: CSeaJay - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 00:04
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 00:04
Matt,
Either assist or don't - it is a legit question - no cowboy stuff - you don't know the background
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (QLD) - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 09:29
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 09:29
Let's keep it civilised guys, it is a question many may want to know the answer to. Matt, in my mind CJ wasn't hinting at going through a
road closed, rather he seems to be interested as to when a road may open when the water recedes, whether it be 1 day, 1 week or 1 year.
Andrew
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Gavin W (QLD) - Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 at 23:52
Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 at 23:52
Let me know how you go as I've been waiting for a week now to travel from west of
Cairns down to Burpengary. As soon as some western roads open, others close.
I'm not leaving until I can get all the way through. No use spending time and money waiting in a motel somewhere!
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Reply By: CSeaJay - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 00:06
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 00:06
ndrew, Dereki and Gavin - thank you for your pointers, I will follow up on investigating these routes. I too, from another source found out that Calliope is open
Cheers again
CJ
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Reply By: cycadcenter - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 02:57
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 02:57
I heard that Lindsay Transport is supplying Rocky from the north from the
Childers Depot using the inland route. It is a 1000 km plus detour for a normal 250km trip.
The drivers report that the roads are all in shocking condition and wish all the tourists would stay put as they are trying to supply food to
places which are running short.
Also heard that a Coles and Woolies in
Gladstone have closed as they cannot supply any food. No milk is available and bread has to be ordered from the
Bakery 24 hours in advance.
Bruce
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Reply By: cycadcenter - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 07:44
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 07:44
Just heard that Woolies in
Childers has closed and will close in Bundy tomorrow due to lack of supplies.
I'm currently in the USA and have had two friends email to find out what food we may have at the
farm in
Childers.
Servos are also running low on fuel.
Good luck to all.
Bruce
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Follow Up By: Member - Kevin J (Sunshine Coa - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 08:04
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 08:04
CJ,
Sounds as though you have a reason to want to get through so I wish you luck. The lack of solid info has always been a problem for as long as I've been driving in Queensland and that unfortunately has been a while.
From all the info available through my personal contacts in and around the Central region it will depend on what you are driving and even then you may
well be excluded from using some of the roads. Police are being very 'careful' about people going into water and getting in the way of 'supply'.
There are still areas on these inland roads where water is holding up to 1.2m on some of the low dips along the roads. There are lots of lesser water hazards but it is then the condition of the road surface. Long sections of surface have just disappeared and reports of pot holes up to 300mm deep are frequent.
Your other problem is fuel unless you carry long range. Most areas of Central and Nth Qld are running short due to either damaged equip or lack of resupply.
Watch the area north from
Emerald and the entire Callide Valley. There have been some landslide on the Middlemount - Mackay section too.
Good luck
Kevin J
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Reply By: Glastonbury - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 07:56
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 07:56
Gents,
The only way I know of is to go up to Calliope thru to Bilo, then Moura,Bauhinia Downs, then up the Fitzroy Dev rd via Woorabinda which will bring you out 6kms west of Duaringa, then it's out to
Dingo, up the beef rd which will bring you out east of Copperbella, turn right to Mackay then you're back on the Bruce Hwy. The Capricorn hway is still shut I think from Westwood to Duaringa, the
bridge over the Dawson River maybe still flooded/damaged. I have travelled this route in the last week, except I turned at Bilo and came south via
Monto and Gayndah which is shut at the moment. The Bauhinia to near Duaringa road may have 5 tonne load limit still.
Cheers Drew
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Reply By: Rock Ape - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 13:12
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 13:12
Mate,
went through to
Townsville from Mackay and only encounted 100mm of water over the road at the Reed Beds 45k south of
townsville.
If you are in North Rocky try contacting a trucking firm for the latest info between Rocky and Mackay. NQX will know.
Just remember conditions change quickly with all the streams and tabledrains loaded with water.
This is a good site to see the amount of water falling in the areas concerned and the height of streams.
http://reg.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/rain_river.shtml
Have a good one
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Reply By: Stevo_62 - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 14:25
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 14:25
Local advice here in Rocky is that Bruce Hwy may open as early as Fri night but probably Sat, only 150 mm water over road today . Roadtek are carrying out repairs tomorrow . Alternative would be Bundy>Biloela>Bauhinia Downs>Duaringa>
Emerald>
Clermont>Mackay
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Follow Up By: Stevo_62 - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 14:27
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 14:27
Update - Dawson River on Capricorn opened yesterday afternoon so you can go
Gladstone>Gracemere>
Emerald
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Reply By: CJ - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 17:10
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 17:10
Thank you Stevo, Rockape and Drew. Most valuable info
For what it is worth I heard from a local that the Bruce at Rocky will only open for trucks in the first 10 hrs to a day before other traffic can go through
Cheers again
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Follow Up By: Stevo_62 - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 17:26
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 17:26
A Roadtek Engineer told me "open to trucks at 4pm and unoffically open to the rest of us at 5pm"
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Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 17:38
Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 at 17:38
Was talking to a guy today who had to fly his wife
home to Brissy from
Gladstone and get the car trucked back next week.
So dont know how you will go.
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