Quaid Road

Southedge-Wangetti Road (formerly and unofficially Quaid Road) is a 32-kilometre-long (20 mi) stretch of road in Far North Queensland. The road was given corridor approval by the Queensland Government and completed in early 1989 through some rainforest areas that were later declared Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in late 1989 and links the Captain Cook Highway at Wangetti on the coast just north of Cairns, to the Mulligan Highway at Southedge, just south of Mount Molloy.

Southedge-Wangetti Road

Queensland
General information
TypeRural road
Length32 km (20 mi)
Location(s)
Major settlementsWangetti, Southedge
Highway system

Route description

Southedge-Wangetti Road links Wangetti on the coast just north of Cairns, to Southedge, just south of Mount Molloy, over a distance of 32 kilometres (20 mi). The road is currently closed to public access and has a number of locked gates along its route.

The road was built as a private access road and a potential supplementary route to the Atherton Tableland and the Mulligan Highway, not as an alternative to the Kuranda Range Crossing. Travel times from Cairns CBD to Mount Molloy are cut from 1hr 45 min to less than an hour.

The design and construction of the Southedge-Wangetti Road was carried out under N.A.A.S.R.A (National Association of Australian State Road Authorities) guidelines.

History

Ever since its construction as a private road, the road has been a hot issue in Far North Queensland. For years after its construction, the road was suggested as an alternative route to the Atherton Tableland for everyday traffic as well as evacuations during cyclones. However, in 1997, Transport and Main Roads Minister Vaughan Johnson announced that the state government was no longer considering gazetting the Southedge-Wangetti Road as a State-controlled road because it would put additional pressure on the Captain Cook Highway and divert funding away from upgrades of other parts of State road network in Far North Queensland.[1]

During Cyclone Larry in 2006, all road access to the major regional city of Cairns was blocked and the city was isolated from surrounding areas for three days. This was caused by flooding south of the city near Innisfail and landslides near Port Douglas and on the Kuranda Range Highway. After this period of isolation, Tablelands MP Rosa Lee Long proposed that Southedge-Wangetti Road be used as another route to truck food into Cairns and evacuate people but the Queensland State Government again rejected the proposal.[2] The Cook Shire Council expressed Council's disappointment with this decision by forwarding a letter to the current Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Paul Lucas.[3]

After the Cairns tsunami scare of April 2007, this idea has become more popular with the city's population once again.

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gollark: I mean, when it functions.
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gollark: `chronyd` is seemingly powerless to stop this?

See also

 Australian Roads portal

References
  1. Government not considering Quaid Road Gazettal Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine - www.Ginfo.cpl (Originally published on 17-09-1997)
  2. Quaid road use rejected Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine - The Cairns Weekend Post, 10 June 2006
  3. Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council of the Shire of Cook held on 17-18–19 July 2006 - "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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